-----Original Message----- From: Mahesh Chandrasekar [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 1:13 PM To: CBR Forum: Admin Subject: April 2009 - CBR Forum - E- News Bulletin CBR Forum E-News Bulletin - A Compilation of News, Information and Updates April 2009 - CBR Forum - E- News Bulletin Networking, Advocacy and Lobbying - in promoting the rights of persons with disabilities and enhance the potential to exercise these rights. Compiled by: C. Mahesh, Advocacy Coordinator [email protected] A: INDIA A1: India - Lok Sabha Election 2009 Bringing awareness among disabled voters Elections 2009 is said to be historic for persons with disability since this is the first ever accessible general election in the country. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr92009/panorama20090408128971.asp Disabled on an equal footing this election By Shampa Sengupta If Supreme Court guidelines are obeyed, the forthcoming Lok Sabha election will be a historic one. For the first time the poll process will be disabled-friendly, with ramps, separate queues and Braille-enabled voting machines that will allow disabled voters to enjoy the same rights as everyone else http://infochangeindia.org/200904117687/Disabilities/Features/Disabled-o n-an-equal-footing-this-election.html Visually impaired to cast votes independently Mysore: The visually impaired electors will be able to cast their vote during elections to Lok Sabha without any assistance from family and friends. http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/12/stories/2009041253400300.htm Braille Ballots Ordered By The Punjab CEO For 19000 Poll Booths To Allow Visually Impaired To Vote It has been found out that a large number of persons who are visually impaired have been deprived of their right to vote. A TOI report has made such revelations. Following this, the Chief Electoral Offer, CEO, of Punjab had passed orders for Braille stickers and ballot papers on all the 19,000 polling booths on Saturday. http://www.encyclocenter.com/Braille-Ballots-Ordered-By-The-Punjab-CEO-F or-19000-Poll-Booths-To-Allow-Visually-Impaired-To-Vote-27172.html Disability voters have a rare bargaining power L Subramani, Bangalore, DH News Service: Thiruvallur district in Tamil Nadu has presented the model that could inspire disability activist groups across the country. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Mar302009/national20090329126967.asp
Disabled, but ready to decide India's future KOLKATA: Saswati Acharya has had a voting card for 16 years but never cast a ballot. That's true for 35-year-old Jija Ghosh, 42-year-old Kuhu Das and nearly 25 lakh adults, who have voting rights without knowing what it means to exercise it. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-4382649,prtpage-1.cm s Physical disability can't stop his MP dreams Sanjay Pandey,DH News Service,Lucknow: He is blind as well as physically challenged yet there is no dearth of enthusiasm and willpower in him for it is these qualities which prompted him to aspire to become an MP. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr32009/national20090403127839.asp A2: India - Lok Sabha Election 2009 - Reality Check Polling hurdles for disabled L Subramani,DH News Service,Bangalore: Visually challenged faced problems while exercising their franchise. Polling day for the 20 visually challenged persons in Lakshmidevi Nagar (Vidhana Soudha Layout, close to Peenya) turned out to be a frustrating one due to the ignorance of the electoral officer here. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr242009/state20090423132065.asp Disabled voters disenchanted with poll facilities 26 Apr 2009, 0311 hrs IST, Sumir Karmakar GUWAHATI: Once bitten, twice shy. Silsila Das doubts if she will ever vote again. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Guwahati/Disabled-voters-disenchanted -with-poll-facilities/articleshow/4449752.cms At many booths there were no Braille-enabled stickers or dummy ballot papers BANGALORE: Nandini (35) was one among scores of visually impaired persons, who had been looking forward to this "historic election", ever since the Supreme Court ordered in 2007 making it mandatory to make elections disabled-friendly. However, she was disappointed to find that at her polling booth in Laxmi Memorial School at Lingarajpuram there was no Braille-enabled stickers or dummy ballot papers. A dejected yet angry Ms. Nandini was forced to request her relative to vote on her behalf, as she had done in the past. http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/24/stories/2009042456920400.htm Blind to Braille voting While EVMs with Braille strips were available only in select booths, few had facilities necessary for the disabled voters http://www.bangaloremirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=10&content id=2009042420090424011218836216ce6b8§xslt= No provisions for the disabled in polling booths, reveals survey NGO to move court on poll gaps Guwahati, April 25: The disability law unit (Northeast) of Shishu Sarothi, an NGO, has decided to file a case in Gauhati High Court against the chief electoral officer of Assam and deputy commissioners for their failure to make polling booths disabled-friendly during the Lok Sabha polls. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090426/jsp/northeast/story_10875636.jsp Democracy challenged Aniruddha Chowdhury A certain campaign even mentioned that the country needed a 'billion votes', but it seems the whole nation is completely oblivious - or at least is pretending to be so - to a segment of people which is almost 60 million strong, but won't vote this time. http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Democracy+challenged &artid=MRZEm4l%7ClOg=&SectionID=Qz/kHVp9tEs=&MainSectionID=wIcBMLGbUJI=& SectionName=UOaHCPTTmuP3XGzZRCAUTQ==&SEO= A3: India - Other disability related news Banks to set up 'speaking' ATMs On April 13, the RBI directed all scheduled commercial banks to ensure that all ATMs are made disabled-friendly. http://www.hinduonnet.com/2009/04/16/stories/2009041655050500.htm Visually challenged say they are denied ATM cards by banks CHENNAI: The visually-challenged are up in arms against several nationalised banks saying they are being denied the use of automated teller machines (ATMS) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Visually-challenged-say-they-a re-denied-ATM-cards-by-banks/articleshow/4452404.cms Bank access for mentally disabled The Delhi High Court has directed the Reserve Bank of India to ask all banks in India to accept guardianship certificate issued under the Mental Disability Act for opening of a joint account. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Bank-access-for-mentally-disab led/articleshow/4427518.cms Disabled teacher moves court for civic amenities Mumbai: Constant load-shedding and irregular functioning of amenities in a CIDCO-constructed building has forced a permanently disabled woman to move the Bombay High Court after failing to get any relief from the authorities concerned. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/disabled-teacher-moves-court-for-civic -amenit.../448746/ Disability status sought for autism DH News Service,Bangalore: The Autism Society of India has demanded to declare autism as disability under the Persons with Disabilities Act. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr32009/city20090403127860.asp Autistic 7-year-old swims across Mandovi Devika Sequeira, PANAJI, DH News Service: In the early hours of Thursday Joshua Parulekar became the first autistic person in Goa to swim across the Mandovi river. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr32009/national20090402127810.asp Disabled or differently-abled? By : Pradeep Baisakh, Orissa Twenty six-year-old Buddhadev Nayak from Rangamatia village in Mayurbjanj district of Orissa suffers from muscular dystrophy. http://www.pressinstitute.org/scripts/grassroots_english_popup.asp?id=35 2 No jobs for disabled at Special Employment Exchange Kaushik Chakravarthy, Bangalore, DH News Service: According to records available at the Exchange, the special wing of the Directorate of Employment and Training has not aided the recruitment of a single disabled candidate since October 2007. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr92009/state20090408128992.asp Disabled women feted for their feats Bangalore, DH News Service: She said that society should contribute to the welfare of the disabled and not rely on the government and a few NGOs. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr92009/city20090409129091.asp Disabled women leaders: the new face of disability The face of disability in South East Asia is changing. Disabled women are becoming more visible in the disability movement and getting their voices heard. Kuhu Das, a disabled woman activist and Director of the Association of Women with Disabilities (AWWD) in India tells of her struggle and how a unique project is training disabled women to be new leaders. http://healthexchangenews.com/2009/02/20/disabled-women-leaders-the-new- face-of-disability/ Looking challenges in the eye Self-belief: Subramani M is amazed by the resilient spirit of Shakila Maharaj, a visually challenged entrepreneur who today, runs four companies no less! http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr252009/she20090424132174.asp Distance education for the disabled By Sharada Prahladrao Distance learning is emerging as a powerful tool. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Apr32009/panorama20090402127766.asp B: INTERNATIONAL NEWS Police Arrest 91 With Disabilities Demonstrating Outside White House (Updated: April 27, 2009 at 6:25 PM CT) U.S. Park Police arrested 91 people, many in wheelchairs, outside the White House Monday afternoon. Those arrested were part of a group demonstrating in support of legislation that would allow people with disabilities to use federal funding to pay for attendant services in the community rather than nursing home care. http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/04/27/white-house-protest/3023/ Miss International, Jayna Altman, and Ashley Fiolek, women's fastest motocrosser racer. Both women happen to be deaf. You can access the digi-version via the home page www.abilitymagazine.com <http://www.abilitymagazine.com/> or http://www.abilitymagazine.com/Miss_International_Issue.html More with learning disabilities forced to wed By Poonam Taneja, BBC Asian Network An increasing number of young people in the UK with learning disabilities are being forced into marriage by their own families. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/lancashire/7986821.stm Ombudsmen call for review of care for people with learning disabilities In a report laid before Parliament on 23 March 2009 Ann Abraham, Health Service Ombudsman and Jerry White, Local Government Ombudsman, called for an urgent review of health and social care for people with learning disabilities. http://www.lgo.org.uk/news/2009/mar/ombudsmen-call-review-care-people-le arning-disabilities/ Disabled patient strangles The woman was left unattended at O'Berry state treatment center. http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1471141.html Advocates for blind protest loss of Kindle's voice function The controversy regarding the text-to-speech function offered by the Kindle 2 digital book reader from Amazon.com appears to be heating up again. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10214427-93.html C: RESOURCES - Reports, Guidelines, Publication, Website 'Inclusive Education of the Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS)' Govt. of India - Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) of IEDSS http://education.nic.in/secedu/IEDSS.pdf Report - Status of (Inclusive) Education in India - 2008 Ministry of Human Resource Development - Govt. of India www.ibe.unesco.org/National_Reports/ICE_2008/india_NR08.pdf 'Integrating mental health into primary care - a global perspective' New joint WHO/Wonca report. http://www.who.int/mental_health/policy/Mental%20health%20+%20primary%20 care-%20final%20low-res%20120109.pdf New policy brief on disability and HIV The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) have collaborated on a policy brief that explores the links between HIV and disability and makes recommendations for policy change. http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/Resources/FeatureStories/archiv e/2009/20090409_Disability_HIV.asp Click here to view the DISABILITY AND HIV POLICY BRIEF http://data.unaids.org/pub/Manual/2009/jc1632_policy_brief_disability_en .pdf 'Simple Guide to UN Treaty Bodies' http://www.ishr.ch/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108&Itemid= 419 A Manual for Integrating the Programmes and Services of HIV and Violence Against Women. http://www.dvcn.org/Documents/ManualHIVVAWEN.pdf Multiple Faces of the Intersections Between HIV and VAW published by DVCN, UNIFEM, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and others. Go to http://www.dvcn.org/Documents/HIVVAW4.pdf D: ANNOUNCEMENTS Regional Abilympics - South Zone, May - 21 - 23, 2009, Bangalore Abilympic is an event of Vocational Skill Competitions for Persons with Disabilities to showcase and enhance their Talent. For details about participation and sponsoring for the event contact Mr. Vijay Kant, Vice-President, South Zone KPAMRC , AMC Compound, Near Kidwai Cancer Hospital, Off Hour Road, Bangalore - 560 029. Tel: 26563267/ Telefax: 26564608. Email: [email protected] / [email protected]/ [email protected] For previous editions of e-news visit www.cbrforum.in/news.htm Kindly email [email protected] for - Contributing news/ events to this E-news bulletin - To unsubscribe this E-news Bulletin Disclaimer: This e-news is a collation of articles/ news from national and international sources. The contents of the same do not necessarily represent the views of CBR Forum. -- C. Mahesh Advocacy Coordinator CBR Forum 14, CK Garden, St. Thomas Town Post Wheeler Road Extension Bangalore - 560 084 Tel - 080- 2549 7387 or 2549 7388 [email protected] [email protected] www.cbrforum.in "The issue is not the absence of equal rights but the inability to exercise them" "When Policies weaken, Rights must be strengthened" To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
