Disability and Eugenic Ideology ft. Forgive Us Our Trespasses
- Admin Ohana
- Mar 15
- 1 min read
14 March 2026 marked the third session of Chaar Kadam with Smilo. It started with the screening of the short film ‘Forgive Us Our Trespasses’ directed by Ashley Eakin, followed by a presentation by Abhinav (Smilo) and a thematic group discussion.
In his presentation, Smilo talked about the prevalent eugenic ideology in Hitler’s regime, and offered a brief overview of the history of euthanasia and nuances of the Aktion-T4 programme started by the Nazi government, which aimed at the systematic extermination of people with disabilities dwelling in the German territories. Using newspaper reports, he sought to establish the relevance of the theme in today’s age by sharing some incidents of attempts of killing children with disabilities in the previous one year in India.
The discussion primarily revolved around societal attitude towards disability and intersection of disability and gender. It also incorporated medical, charity and social models of disability; roles of education and the financial divide between rural and urban parts of the country in the ex-/inclusion of disabled people in the mainstream society; and the notion of eugenics in the modern world. Participants with their active engagement significantly contributed to the session.
Ohana envisions more of such student engagements in the upcoming future.
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