In the world of the disabled
Hindu national page
Rahi Gaikwad
Under the banner of ADAPT, their rights and their cause come into
focus
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Let the voices of the disabled heard in Parliament
Seeks certain percentage of public funds for the disabled
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Mumbai: 'Why do you want to vote?' 'Why do you need education?' 'Why do you
need to do a B.A?' These are the kind of questions often posed to disabled
people
by society, according to Mithu Alur, founder-chairperson of the Spastics
Society of India, now renamed 'Able Disabled All People Together,' or ADAPT.
On the eve of the general elections, she is pushing for the civil rights of the
disabled under the banner of ADAPT.
The campaign seeks to make the rights of the disabled a part of political
manifestos and the common minimum programmes of parties and alliances. It seeks
the allocation of a certain percentage of public funds to the cause of
disability. It is trying to make a case for a national commission on disability.
It wants to ensure that the voices of disabled persons are heard in Parliament.
There are specific instances that are held out in this context. When
wheelchair-bound Malini Chib, who has a speech defect, went to vote during the
last
elections, she had to be assisted by a person in casting the vote, and thus the
secrecy of her ballot was lost.
"People think, because I can't speak properly, I don't have brains," said Ms.
Malini, a senior events manager at a bookstore in Mumbai.
Neenu Kewlani, who moves around on a wheelchair, complained that at the
Guruvayur temple in Kerala she was not allowed to use her own wheelchair - and
that
she was given a cart instead. She said she was generally unhappy about the
treatment that she received as she sought to have an early-morning darshan at
the temple.
These stories are neither rare, nor amongst the most brutal, according to Dr.
Alur. "In slums, and in the rural and tribal areas there is an even more cruel
kind of exclusion." Government policies for the disabled never saw the light of
the day in such areas, she said.
Even schemes made for citizens at large simply excluded the disabled, she
added. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) means education for all, but disabled
children
are often excluded. The same is the case when it comes to health rights and the
right to employment.
Dr. Alur spoke of a social approach to the issue, where society becomes
responsible for accommodating the disabled rather than finding fault with them.
"If a disabled person cannot access a place, it's not his or her fault; it's
the fault of the place," she said.
Mothers of some disabled children described tearfully how their wards were
often ridiculed and pushed away on a day-to-day basis, on buses, in streets...
One mother spoke of how entire families are affected.
She asked: "Governments just look at the numbers. What about the families of
the disabled?"
The campaign now seeks to give the disabled a political voice. As part of the
Disabled Vote movement, ADAPT will hold solidarity marches in Mumbai, Ludhiana,
Lucknow, Ranchi, Jaipur, Kolkata and Chennai on April 9.
Rajesh Asudani
Manager
Reserve Bank of India
Nagpur
09420397185
O: 0712 2806676
Res: 0712 2591349
Does Lord expect daylabour, light denied?
John Milton
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