letter from the director - Keystone Institute India

letter from the DIRectoR - KII

Dear colleagues, friends, and fellow change agents across India,

A Glimpse is a fleeting image to capture our imaginations and give us great hope, and it can serve as a source of optimism for the positive and possible futures for people with disability and their families across India. At Keystone Institute India, we have committed from our beginnings in 2015, to share ideas that matter, such as personalization, Social Role Valorization, person centered thinking and planning, and designing responsive supports and service for people with disability. Our commitment goes further than that, though. We have made a promise that we will build networks across the country to put ideas into practice – to move beyond theory and make the difference that makes a difference.

It is my great pleasure to share, in words and images, a few of the small yet consequential actions in the lives of people with disability that have unfolded over the course of our work together. In the past few years of conducting workshops, establishing leadership networks spanning across India, and mentoring and supporting new emerging leaders, our colleagues and partners from many places have contributed these small glimpses of change. Ideas surely have consequences, and the ideas that we are working together to share, simply require that we put them to use.

It is my perspective that these small yet powerful actions herald a movement of change that will grow and thrive – a movement towards the recognition that people with disability must have a full and valued place at the Indian table, and that the pathway towards realizing it is clear. So, enjoy these bellwethers of change, these small yet potent signs, that together with our shared vision of a society that works for everyone, is appearing before our very eyes.

Indeed, it is my pleasure to offer Volume 1 of Jhalak, to share accomplishment and forward movement.

With deep respect and great hope,

Elizabeth Neuville Director Keystone Institute India