Meet the Expert | Seeds: Social Empowerment and Equity in Disability and Gender by Carla Maria Reale

This presentation introduces Project SEEDS (Social Empowerment and Equity in Disability and Gender in South Tyrol), a research initiative conducted at Eurac Research’s Institute for Minority Rights and funded by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano-Bozen – South Tyrol (Decree: 14101/2025 – CUP D53C25001180003).

The project explores a central question: How can South Tyrol develop intersectional and gender-sensitive disability policies that promote equality, inclusion, and self-determination? To address this challenge, SEEDS combines interdisciplinary socio-legal research with qualitative methods, drawing on intersectional feminist theory and critical disability studies.

By examining both institutional frameworks and the lived experiences of individuals, the project seeks to understand how disability and gender intersect to shape access to rights, opportunities, and services. A key feature of SEEDS is its participatory and community-engaged approach, which places the experiences of marginalized groups at the centre of knowledge creation.

Through collaboration with local stakeholders, SEEDS aims to co-create evidence-based policy solutions that promote social empowerment, equity, and meaningful inclusion. The project highlights the importance of listening to lived experience and ensuring that policies are developed with communities, rather than simply for them.