Dr. Kuli Kohli (born 1970) is an Indian-British disabled writer, poet, social activist and council worker of Punjabi descent. She is known for her literary works and has conducted several live performances. She was born with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

, and confronts difficulties with handwriting, speaking, walking and hearing in her performances.

Biography

Kuli (short for Kuldip) Kohli was born in 1970 in a rural remote village in the state of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

, Northern India. She was born as the eldest child in her family and her birth was regarded as a curse in the typical Indian society which prefers a boy rather than a girl. It was also revealed that she was born with cerebral palsy and the neighbours suggested her parents to throw the child in the river. Kuli was almost thrown into the river until her father intervened physically to save her life. She along with her family migrated to the UK in 1973 when she was just two and a half years old. She joined the Penn Hall Special School at the age of 3. She faced humiliation at her secondary school as she was referred by her schoolmates as "handicapped". She also struggled to communicate with her friends at school and was also advised by her teachers to learn to handwrite. However, Kohli left her school at the age of 16 after failing to obtain the required grades in most of her

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

examinations.

Career

She was enrolled in a youth training scheme after dropping out of school. After her marriage, she became a council worker in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

. She pursued her career as a poet in around 2013 after being influenced by Simon Fletcher who was a literate development officer at Wolverhampton library. Simon mentored her for her poetry works and Kuli Kohli wrote a poetry titled ''Patchwork'' which was published in 2016 and then a full collection 'A Wonder Woman' published in 2021 by Offa's Press. She released a collection of her poetry titled ''The Rag Doll'' in 2013 and was self-published in 2014. She revealed that she was inspired to write a poem titled ''The Rag Doll'' as she was used to have a big

rag doll A rag doll is a doll made from scraps of fabric. They are one of the oldest children's toys in existence. Today, many rag dolls are commercially produced to mimic aspects of the original home-made dolls, such as simple features, soft cloth bodies, ...

during her childhood. She established the Punjabi Women's Writing Group in the Black Country to empower Punjabi women in

, UK. She assisted Blakenhall Writers' Group and writes for Disability Arts Online. In 2017, she gave her first live performance on stage about her work ''I have a dream'' which was a 15-minute set of poetry. In March 2020, she wrote a poem titled ''Black Country Wonder Woman'' for the Sandwell Stories/Stories I solation project after a request from Multistory commission. She wrote her debut novel ''Dangerous Games'' based on living with cerebral palsy in an Asian family. Her life story featured on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

News homepage on 29 August 2020 titled ''They wanted to drown me at birth - now I'm a poet''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohli, Kuli Living people 21st-century British women writers Indian women poets Indian women novelists British women poets British women novelists Indian expatriates in the United Kingdom 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers Writers from Uttar Pradesh Writers from Wolverhampton 1970 births