Introduction:

Dr. Afaf Manzoor is a social scientist with strong organizing, presentation, leadership and counselling skills as well as strong research and empirical abilities who was awarded a highly competitive scholarship by the Punjab Higher Education Commission and became the first female Pakistani to complete a Post-Doctorate (research and teaching) in the field of inclusion and special needs at the Department of Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education (ranked No. 1 in the world), University College London, UK. She is a well-known and experienced educationist with 18 years of experience, who also serves as an inclusion advisor, special needs and rehabilitation consultant, international speaker, faculty trainer, author, researcher, and HEC-approved supervisor. She is also one of Pakistan's top proponents of the inclusive education movement. She is a unique individual in Pakistan who began working as a special education teacher in 2004 and rose to the top of her profession. She is a HET (Higher Education Teacher) who began her career at the grassroots level by instructing children with special needs in the districts of Lahore, Sheikhupura, and Kasur. Her experience is exceptional. She was given the assignment to work as an administrator of several schools in these districts after teaching marginalized children for three years and successfully bringing those kids to life. She is bringing her 11 years of experience working as a principal administrator in the schools of Lahore, Kasur, and Sheikhupura to the university level, where students who will one day teach at schools are trained. She has been, a highly regarded special and inclusive education teacher in these districts, where social activists, educators, academics, and policymakers all praise her work on behalf of people who are frequently ignored in our society.

Her position as an Assistant Professor since 2016, at the University of Education Lahore, which she joined after serving as a visiting faculty member at the University of Management and Technology Lahore—the same institution from which she received her PhD in Inclusive and Special Education with a meritorious “Prof. Hassan Sohaib Murad Scholarship” is a direct result of these twelve years. She has a number of accolades in both her academic and professional backgrounds. With this distinction, she represents inclusive education and is driven to improve the lives of the nation's marginalized people through her practice, research, and writings. She successfully represents the amiable image of Pakistani academics on many national and international platforms through her committed research work. She participates in numerous national and provincial policies and memberships on inclusion and special education. On account of her exceptional representation for inclusive education, she holds the position as Associate of Center for Inclusive Education at University College London.    She serves on the board of the Asian Comparative Education Society and presenting Pakistan regularly in various Asian countries since 2014. Inclusive education, leadership, teacher education for all, Universal Design of Learning, disability assessment & studies, and consultation for varied & special needs are some of her research and training interests. She travelled to many different nations, gave more than 35 research presentations at conferences abroad, published several research articles in journals recognized by the HEC on a national and international level, and wrote newspaper columns (Daily Times & Minute Mirror) on a range of educational topics. Recently, she has designed and conducted workshops for faculty from HED govt. of Punjab and Govt. College University on Higher Education Policy for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities. She can also be reached on LinkedIn, Research-Gate, Academia and Google Scholar @ “Afaf Manzoor”.