Prof. Shubhangi Vaidya  is a Sociologist by training, and an alumna of the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. She has nearly two decades of experience in Open and Distance Learning, and has worked in both, the Regional Services Division as well as the School of Interdisciplinary and Trans-disciplinary Studies, IGNOU. She has contributed to programme development in IGNOU’s programmes in Sociology, Anthropology  Women’s and Gender Studies and Environmental Studies. She is currently engaged in developing interdisciplinary programmes and guiding research in the School of Interdisciplinary and Trans-disciplinary Studies. Her major areas of research interest include disability studies and gender studies. She has published book chapters and research papers in the interdisciplinary areas of disability and gender, particularly autism, and is the author of two books, Autism and the Family in Urban India: Looking Back, Looking Forward (Springer, 2016) and Embodying Motherhood: Perspectives from Contemporary India (Sage-Yoda Press, 2016), co-authored with Anu Aneja.