PhD in Disability Studies from Leeds University, she taught disability and development at the Athena Institute of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and International Public Health at Amsterdam University College. She was Project Manager of the SARI project of the Athena Institute, whose objective was to reduce the impact of stigma on the lives of people affected by leprosy and associated conditions in Indonesia. Later he coordinated the "Bridges" project whose objective was to explore, under a comparative perspective between Brazil and Indonesia, the factors that impact on the sustainability of organizations of people with disabilities and leprosy. She has been involved in the field of disability and development since 1994, working with international cooperation agencies in Latin America. He has participated in academic research related to the lives of people labeled as "intellectually disabled" in Belgium, India, China, Ecuador and Colombia. His main fields of interest and lines of research are family, ethnicity, postcolonial issues, intellectual disability and ethics. Currently, he coordinates the area of critical studies of "disability" in 17, Institute of Critical Studies where he also directs 17, Consultancy, the application arm of the institute.