Blind Pakistani student wins Rhodes scholarship for masters at Oxford University

For Khansa Maria, a student at Georgetown University’s campus in Qatar, her advocacy work for people with disabilities is personal, as reported by Voice of America.

Maria is blind and will head to Oxford University next fall as Pakistan’s 2021 Rhodes scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in evidence-based policy intervention and social evaluation, reports VOA.

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“I do have a disability, I am blind, and I firsthand experienced the impacts of not having an inclusive society,” Maria said, noting she wants to give back.

“I do have a certain responsibility to my community to improve things to the extent that I can or at least lend my skills or my experience to the benefit of future blind people from Pakistan,” she said.

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According to the report, Maria advocates for the disabled and educates about inclusion — whether within a friend group or a business thinking of designing its space for people with disabilities. She said she believes people should be better informed, said VOA

She attends Georgetown’s Qatar campus — called GU-Q — which follows standards set by the American with Disabilities Act and she said accommodates the disabled better than her hometown of Lahore.