Mad Thinking is launching a new space! Mad Café is a monthly virtual open-format space for disabled and Mad activists, organisers, and allies to connect, touch base, exchange, think together, be challenged, and play with new ideas. Or to simply hang out.
At Mad Thinking, we believe that friendships, relationships, humour, and light-heartedness are not distractions from organising and activism, rather they are a part of it. Inspired by crip cafés across the world, we are experimenting with a recurring informal gathering which will provide space for conversation, relationship-building, and the sharing of experiences and information.
Held on the last Thursday of every month, the café will be open for 2 hours. In the first hour, we will have a discussion or conversation focussed on a theme (ranging from geopolitics and capitalism to pop culture and humour). The second hour will be a community meet-up space — no agenda, no theme, just a space to hang out and make friends. Join for either space or both.
See you at the Mad Café!
Akriti and Alberto
Our first conversation: 28 March 2026
When the International Order Fractures, What Happens to Disability Rights?
A conversation with Catalina Devandas
The international order is in crisis. States are retreating from multilateral engagement. Global institutions are increasingly criticised, defunded, or side-lined, and their relevance is openly debated. For disability movements, which have invested decades in building international visibility and legal standards — particularly through the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities — this raises urgent questions. What happens to rights frameworks when the institutions that host them weaken? What role can the UN and other global institutions still play in advancing disability rights? And what does this moment mean for grassroots disability organising?
Event details
Access: International Sign interpretation and English CART for both hours.
Date and Time: 28 March 2026; 3 pm CET
Featured Image: Poster by Aparna Konat
Mad Thinking 