We The People: Addressing Disability With Humour

One of few stand-up comedians with disability, Sweta Mantrii, a Pune-based writer and funny woman, took up stand-up comedy in 2017. Although her skits deal with an array of themes, she mostly aims to use the art to talk about disability. 바카라�People often ask me 바카라�Why don바카라�t you do regular jokes?바카라�,바카라� says Mantrii. 바카라�I have no problem doing those, but right now, I want to talk about disability because it is what I am facing, and it is what comes to mind.바카라�

For Mantrii, comedy is a medium to start discussing disab­ility, and help people address their biases. 바카라�I am in my 30s, and my parents serve me tea in my room바카라�I make jokes on such things. When people see a disabled person, they rush to help them cross the road. I say, first ask the person if they need your help,바카라� she says. Mantrii believes she needs to learn a lot more to master her craft. 바카라�Comedy is not easy,바카라� says the artist, adding, 바카라�it takes time to learn the basics. And in my case, there are more layers, because I would go to the stage with my crutches, and my humour features disability.바카라�

Mantrii thinks speaking about disability with humour attacks people바카라�s biases. She recalls when one evening after her show, a girl walked up to her and told her she did not want to laugh at the jokes about the disability as she felt uncomfortable. 바카라�바카라�You should not joke about the disability바카라�, she told me,바카라� says Mantrii. 바카라�When people realise that laughing at disability is not right, I feel my objective is achieved.바카라� She has been writing about disability since 2011. In 2015, she also released a documentary on YouTube called Disability-A State of Mind, which revolved aro­und barriers like infrastructure, mainstream education, and jobs.

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