Niluka Gunawardena

Disability Rights Advocate

Niluka Gunawardena is an educator, researcher and a disability rights advocate based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Niluka earned a Master of Arts degree in Disability and Gender (Distinction) from the University of Leeds, and she teaches Disability Studies at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. She is currently a consultant, visiting lecturer and curriculum developer for the University of Colombo. She is also a faculty member of the Disability Sexuality and Rights Online Institute (DSROI) hosted by CREA. Niluka has taught Geography and Earth Science to secondary school students for several years and is currently working on introducing Mindfulness to school children and teachers in conjunction with Mindful Educators. Niluka regularly conducts community training workshops on Disability Rights for NGOs and DPOs while also influencing disability inclusive corporate policy by leading disability rights awareness sessions for corporations. 

As a researcher, she has worked on evidence-based policy for organizations like the Human Environment Research Observatory, Equal Ground and BBC. She is a Board member of Women Enabled International and serves on the Advisory committees of Arrow, HYPE Sri Lanka and LIRNEasia.