Malvika Iyer
Malvika Iyer is a social worker and disability rights activist having lost both her hands as a child when she picked up a grenade. She is also a model for accessible fashion. Iyer obtained her doctorate in social work from Madras School of Social Work in 2017. Her doctoral thesis is on the stigmatization of people with disabilities.
Early life and injury
Iyer was born on 18 February 1989 in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu to B. Krishnan and Hema Krishnan. She grew up in Bikaner, Rajasthan, where her father worked as an engineer at the Water Works Department. On 26 May 2002, at the age of 13, Iyer lost both her hands when she accidentally picked up a grenade that exploded in her hands at her home in Bikaner and sustained severe injuries to her legs, including multiple fractures, nerve paralysis and hypoesthesia.Education
Following her hospitalization, Iyer appeared as a private candidate in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate examination in Chennai. Writing the exam with the help of a scribe, she secured a state rank among the private candidates. She was invited to the Rashtrapati Bhavan by the then president of India, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.Iyer moved to New Delhi, where she studied economics at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, followed by a Master's in Social Work at the Delhi School of Social Work. She did her M.Phil. and Ph.D. in social work at the Madras School of Social Work, where she secured first class with distinction and won the Rolling Cup for the Best M.Phil. Thesis in 2012.