Towards Inclusive and Intersectional Philanthropy: Centering Disability in India

People with disabilities make up nearly one-sixth of the world’s population, and yet they remain the most consistently overlooked minority, especially in the Global South. Disability is never a uniform or singular identity; it is shaped by gender, caste, class, sexuality, geography and other social locations that deepen discrimination and exclusion. These intersecting barriers shape everyday access to education, employment, healthcare, safety, justice and public life – not only for persons with disabilities, but also for those who support and care for them.

The philanthropic and CSR ecosystem has mirrored these structural gaps. Although the scale of need is immense, disability continues to receive less than 2% of global development funding, and an even smaller share reaches the Global South or disability-led organisations. Resources focused on women and queer-trans persons with disabilities are rarer still. Much of philanthropy has long been rooted in charity-driven or medicalised approaches – fixating on the individual rather than the systemic barriers that perpetuate exclusion. Even well-intentioned funders can inadvertently reinforce inequity through narrow definitions of “impact”, inaccessible grant-making processes and compliance requirements that exclude the very communities that need to be at the centre.

A moment of reckoning

India’s philanthropic sector stands at an inflexion point. Over the past decade, it has grown in scale and ambition, driving transformative work across education, health, livelihoods and gender. And yet, one truth remains unavoidable: persons with disabilities – especially those with psychosocial and invisible disabilities – are still largely missing from the funding landscape. This exclusion is not accidental; it reflects the extent to which ableism has shaped our understanding of social impact itself.

It was this reality that informed the Funder Roundtable on Inclusive and Intersectional Philanthropy hosted by Rising Flame and the Mariwala Health Initiative (MHI) at the International Purple Fest 2025 in Goa. Bringing together funders, philanthropists and disabled founders, the discussion became more than a dialogue – it became a mirror. Funders openly acknowledged where their commitments to inclusion had fallen short, while disability rights leaders advocated a shift from viewing persons with disabilities as “beneficiaries” to recognising them as partners and leaders in social change.

As one funder noted: “A lot of these places are designed to exclude. Whether it’s the venue, the language, or even the agenda. If funders don’t commit to resourcing participation — interpreters, support persons, accommodation — inclusion won’t happen in any real way.” The message was clear: inclusion requires investment, not just goodwill.

Rights not charity

Despite the progressive Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (2016), funding in India continues to frame disability narrowly – often through the distribution of aids and assistive devices, or one-time campaigns. Systemic reform, leadership development or movement building rarely receives sustained support. The disconnect is even sharper for persons with psychosocial disabilities, who are often excluded both from mental health programming and disability initiatives.

Prasad Joshi from the Goa Association for the Deaf spoke to the precarity faced by disability-led organisations:

“There are seven to eight funders I went to, but still, the barrier remains. They understand the problem, but the gap doesn’t close. We receive a one-time grant, maybe twice, and then they move on to a different NGO because they want to increase their list.”

Short-term funding cycles may look expansive on paper, but they do little to shift power or sustain change.

Moreover, disability inclusion requires reasonable accommodations and other costs. Budgets that support full participation of persons with disabilities, such as costs for a personal assistant, a sign interpreter, or a certain travel time, are higher because they have to account for inaccessibility, barriers, and discrimination. Participants reported that often investing in the growth and learning of persons across disabilities, therefore, is not supported, citing the cost-impact ratio. However, in the long run, the cost of exclusion is way higher than the short-term cost of inclusion.

Intersectionality must be the starting point

Disability cannot be understood – or supported – in isolation. Barriers compound for people based on gender, caste, class, sexuality, geography and other identities. A Dalit woman with a mobility disability, an urban blind man and a queer person with a psychosocial disability do not navigate the same world. Yet philanthropy often treats “disability” as a single, homogeneous category.

This is often because of unconscious biases within funders and their practices. Therefore, it is critical to shift from inclusion as an external goal to inclusion as an internal practice.

Disabled founders illustrated these intersecting barriers powerfully. Kiran Nayak, founder of Karnataka Vikalachetanara Sanghatane, shared:

“As someone who is trans, disabled, and from an Adivasi background, I’ve had to keep proving that I belong — even in movements that talk about inclusion.” He went on to say that for persons who sit at multiple intersections, recognition is easy, but funding remains scarce. This is particularly because he deals with complexities that don’t fit in neat buckets -  blind women with HIV, rural, Dalit, queer, disabled persons and so on.

If the most marginalised voices remain peripheral even within social justice spaces, philanthropic approaches must be fundamentally rethought.

From representation to agency

One of the most glaring gaps in philanthropy is the near absence of persons with disabilities in decision-making roles. Representation cannot end at visibility; people with disabilities must shape priorities, strategies, and policies. Being invited into a room is not the same as having power inside it.

The path forward is clear:

• Shift from welfare to rights-based philanthropy, recognising persons with disabilities as leaders and thought partners.
• Fund disability-led and psychosocial disability-led organisations consistently and long-term, not as a token gesture.
• Embed disability across thematic portfolios – health, gender, climate, livelihoods, education, violence prevention—not as a separate category.
• Ensure accessible grant-making processes, from plain-language applications to flexible reporting formats and reasonable accommodations.
• Create spaces for dialogue, co-creation, and humility, where philanthropy listens and learns from lived experience.

True disability inclusion is not about expanding a list of beneficiaries – it is about shifting systems of power.

A call to the philanthropic community

India’s philanthropic sector has played a decisive role in shaping our imagination of equity and justice. At this moment, its responsibility – and its opportunity – is greater than ever. The challenge before us is not simply to “include” persons with disabilities, but to redesign funding ecosystems so that disability is recognised as intrinsic to every question of rights, equity, and social change.

Intersectional philanthropy is not charity. It is not generosity. It is an ethical imperative – and the only path to a more just future.

Nidhi Goyal is Founder and Executive Director of Rising Flame. Raj Mariwala is Director of the Mariwala Health Initiative (MHI).

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.