Malvika Iyer
About
Malvika Iyer , a disability rights activist is a bomb blast survivor & a bilateral amputee. She has come a long way from surviving a gruesome bomb blast at the age of 13 that blew off her arms & severely damaged her legs, to winning the highest civilian honour from the President of India.
She is a Ph.D. scholar, with a doctoral thesis on ‘Stigmatization of people with disabilities’. She works towards creating awareness about disability & advocates for building an inclusive society.
Malvika was invited to speak at the TEDxYouth in Chennai in 2013, followed by speeches at The United Nations in New York City, IIM Kozhikode, Norway, Indonesia & South Africa, where she highlighted the importance of inclusion.
She hosted the ‘India Inclusion Summit’ in 2013. She has also walked the ramp as a showstopper for NIFT & ‘Ability Foundation’ in Chennai where she emphasized the need for designing clothes with functionality & style for people with disability.
She was invited to the Rashtrapati Bhavan by the then President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
Awards and Accomplishments
Awards and Accomplishments
Malvika Iyer has won the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar’, ‘National Award’- the highest civilian honor for outstanding contribution to women’s empowerment from the President of India.
She has been the recipient of multiple awards, including ‘Outstanding Model Student Award’ by Wisdom International Magazine, REX Karmaveer Chakra Global Fellowship in 2014, the first Women in the ‘World Emerging Leaders Award’ in New York in 2016.
She was recognized as one of the ‘100 Change Agents & Newsmakers of the Decade’ by Deccan Chronicle in 2015. She was featured in the 3rd edition of Vodafone Foundation’s coffee-table book ‘Women of Pure Wonder: Vision, Valour, Victory & Gifted: Inspiring Stories of People with Disabilities’.
She has a strong online presence with verified accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, which enables her to engage one-on-one with thousands of people. Her ‘Be unstoppable’ posts on LinkedIn have received over 100 million views.
Why Malvika Iyer ?
Malvika has given keynote speeches and TED talks, conducted workshops and seminars on resilience, breaking barriers, growth mindset, positive self talk, body positivity, and overcoming adversity. With many years of experience in motivational speaking, mental health advocacy & diversity training, Malvika has spoken globally, advocated & raised awareness on several issues such as inclusion, gender equality, child rights and accessibility.
