You’d expect the biggest hurdles in a PhD journey to be academic — complex research, endless citations, the pressure to publish.
But for Shorya Sood, a third-year PhD student at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, India the challenge wasn’t intellectual. It was something far more basic, yet deeply degrading: Using the washroom.
As a disabled person, Shorya uses a wheelchair. For the past two months, the only disabled-accessible toilet on the ground floor of his department — the School of Social Sciences 2 has had a broken flush.
“I am physically challenged and a wheelchair user,” Shorya wrote in a now-viral LinkedIn post.
“The flush of the PWD washroom hasn’t been functioning. The washroom is extremely dirty and unhygienic.”
His complaint wasn’t just about inconvenience. It was about dignity, the kind that most able-bodied people take for granted.
Despite writing multiple times to the Dean of SSS and the Vice-Chancellor, Shorya received no response.
What happened instead?
“The washroom was locked for everyone’s use,” he wrote.
No apology. No repair. Just locked.
And there’s no alternative. No other accessible washroom exists on that floor.
To make matters worse, the building lift stops working in the evening, leaving students like Shorya with zero options.
“I may have to stop coming to the campus if this problem continues,” he said.
Think about that for a second. A PhD student — someone dedicating years of his life to research, problem-solving, and contributing to the nation’s knowledge is contemplating dropping out because his campus can’t maintain a single washroom.
“This has affected my peace of mind,” he wrote, and who could blame him?
On social media, people were furious. “It is sad to learn, Shorya, that in a prestigious institution like JNU, this is the case,” one user commented.
Another said, “India dreams of being a developed nation, but if we can’t handle basic needs, we’re failing. We must speak up even if it doesn’t affect us directly.”
Shorya’s story isn’t just about plumbing. It’s about how disabled people are still treated as afterthoughts even in elite spaces that pride themselves on being progressive. As one user aptly put it:
And that’s exactly it.
It’s not just about toilets. It’s about how disabled lives are still treated as afterthoughts.
One commenter said it bluntly: “This is India. Where education, sports, and student health are never the priority — only the fees are. The civic sense, the basic public cleanliness — it’s missing. And being disabled here? It’s unbearable.”
Some even argued that the only way change might come is if the world saw this clearly. “Massive public trolling. International embarrassment. Maybe that’s what it’ll take.”
But should it really take that much — just to fix a freaking toilet?
Well, I write daily (mostly the weird stuff I find interesting). If you like this whole no nonsense approach, feel free to bookmark and come back tomorrow or continue reading other stories to make up your mind.
See ya, internet friend.
