From the president
Rishika’s journey in civic leadership began in high school when she volunteered at the Colorado Center for the Blind. Motivated by a desire to create a more equitable world, she envisioned making spaces, products, and experiences accessible to individuals with disabilities. To pursue this, Rishika founded “Touch and Create Studios,” a platform that collaborates with healthcare organizations, local artists, public schools, and centers for the blind nationwide to develop accessible art programs for the blind and visually impaired community.
As an undergraduate, Rishika participated in the Royce Fellowship, conducting ethnographic research on the role of tactile art in rehabilitation for blind communities. In collaboration with the Hasbro Children’s Eye Clinic, she designed a tactile wall art installation to serve as both a therapeutic tool and a navigational aid for children. She also co-authored a paper on disability bias among healthcare providers. Currently, she volunteers as a patient advocate at Connect for Health in Rhode Island.
Rishika’s impactful work earned her a place in Prevent Blindness’s 2023 ASPECT Patient Engagement Program, where she advocated for H.R. 8400, a bill aimed at establishing nationwide childhood vision loss screening. She has delivered keynotes and workshops on accessible design and disability inclusion, including her widely viewed TEDx talk, “Creativity is More Accessible Than Meets the Eye,” with over 1.1 million views on YouTube and has been featured by the National Federation of the Blind.
Personal Statement
As a rising senior at Brown University creating my own major in “Accessible Design," I focus on making art, healthcare, and public spaces more accessible for people with disabilities. An accessible world benefits everyone, uniting us in the desire to live fully—regardless of age or disability—while opening new ways to learn, connect, and experience life. I founded “Touch and Create Studios” and the “Vision of the Artist’s Soul” grant project to challenge narratives about blindness through public art exhibitions, accessible workshops, and inclusive curricula. My TEDx talk, with over 1.1 million views, and keynote speeches at organizations like Johnson & Johnson and CU Anschutz Medical Campus have helped push accessibility into broader conversations. I see this work as the result of years of collaboration with blindness advocacy groups, museums, schools, and hospital systems, ensuring that solutions reflect real needs—not assumptions. I design with communities, not for them, using research and evidence-based methods to build trust and impact. I am honored and humbled to receive The Newman Civic Fellowship. I look forward to collaborating with others who are committed to creating a world where accessibility is no longer a goal, but a given.