Hi all,
This is the update so far on the committee set up by MSJE on revisiting written examination guidelines for people with disabilities of 26-Feb-2013. Urged by the UPSC, which is expressing 'difficulty' in implementing current guidelines 3 out of 14 members of the committee are representatives of the UPSC acknowledged disabilities alone - people with visual impairment, hearing impairment and locomotor impairments. The letter below was one of many sent seeking a more representative group given the diversity of problems faced by disabled candidates - the committee needs to finish its report in 2 months. <http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/om-CEC-WEforPwD.pdf> Update based on today's phone call: Mr. Panda says many emails have come, > they have decided to co-opt one or two more members (mentioned autism and > mental disability vaguely and said there was discussion about adding CBSE > etc too). Details of additions should be up on the website by end of the > month. They have already had one informal meeting on 13th April if I'm not > mistaken where all of this must have been discussed. > > Given that UPSC is likely to play hard ball and tricky negotiations are > anticipated, I would think that ideally there would need to be at least > 50:50 representatives (DRA submission had additional 6 disability > representatives and 5 others) to the current 10 Government official > representatives. > What I'd suggest is that different groups put pressure on the Ministry for > representation if you are keen on it - anything further in common interest > will require physical meetings and negotiations by folks in Delhi. Over to you. Vaishnavi http://about.me/vjayakumar ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Disability Rights Alliance India < [email protected]> Date: Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 9:12 PM Subject: Constitution of DEPwD committee to ensure equitable examinations for all 8 April 2015 To, The Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, New Delhi. Subject: Constitution of Expert Committee to look into issues relating to implementation of guidelines for conducting written examinations for persons with disabilities. Sir, We write to you on behalf of the Disability Rights Alliance, a cross disability collective that works towards the empowerment of persons with disabilities in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We are aware of the constitution of the abovementioned committee, and we applaud this effort. Though the Department of Disability Affairs (as it was then known) has released a detailed Office Memorandum detailing the guidelines for conducting written exams for persons with disabilities <http://www.ccdisabilities.nic.in/content/en/docs/omguide.pdf> (F. No. 16-110/2003-DD.III Dated: 26th February, 2013), in practice, many establishments were refusing to implement the same on some pretext or the other. On many occasions persons with disabilities have had to rush to the Courts at the last minute to seek interventions to enable their effective participation. In one such case, a blind candidate with a hearing impairment, Miranda Tomkinson, got a last minute reprieve from the Madras High Court <http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/Visually-Challenged-Candidate-Makes-UGC-History/2013/12/30/article1971713.ece> (WP 35157/2013) against the decision of the University Grants Commission, conducting the National Eligibility Test, to provide him only with a scribe, and not a Braille paper. There are countless examples of persons who did not have the ability to move the Courts and have been immensely disadvantaged on account of the same. There is additional ambiguity as to the mode of conducting internal examinations and ensuring that the same is made accessible as well. You are also aware, of course, of the expansion of the understanding of which impairments constitute disabilities under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, as opposed to the limited approach of the currently in force Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995. While technology and awareness have benefitted persons with certain impairments, persons with newly recognized impairments have the added disadvantage of a lack of needs assessment as to the accommodation that they require in the examination hall. In light of the above we respectfully submit that the constitution of the Committee by your Ministry is not adequately prepared to meet the very delicate task at hand. This is mostly on account of the lack of representation of persons with disabilities which are traditionally ignored or newly acknowledged. To this end, we would make the following recommendations which we genuinely feel will make a huge impact on the outlook and approach of the Committee. 1. Constitution of the Board: At present, there are three representatives from amongst persons with disabilities i.e. from “visual impairment, hearing impairment and locomotor disability”. We strongly feel that the need of the hour is to include the viewpoints of persons with other impairments. The list of representatives should be as follows: 1. A person with cerebral palsy (preferably with a speech disability). 2. A representative from an Autism Spectrum Disorders group. 3. A person representing psychosocial disabilities. 4. A person representing medical / invisible disabilities. 5. A person representing multiple disabilities 6. A representative for people with intellectual disabilities. It is also felt that the inclusion of the following professionals would be of immense value to the Committee. Where possible, preference should be given to persons with disabilities themselves. 1. A professional with expertise in specific learning disabilities and cognitive disabilities 2. A doctor / rehabilitation professional 3. A lawyer with experience of relevant disability legislation and recent case law and international standards 4. An expert in accessibility standards 5. An expert in Alternative and Augmentative Communication 1. A representative of the Examination Board of the Ministry of Health is essential. 2. Controller of Examinations of respective states and in case of Central, CBSE 3. UPSC, State Public Service Commission, IBPS, Railway Board officials who are responsible for announcing and conducting examinations 4. A representative from the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in States responsible for Inclusive Education It is additionally hoped that the Committee give precedence to the views and challenges expressed by these experts and then consider the means of accommodation of the same. Clearly there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach possible, but in the light of practical considerations it is necessary to establish certain possible procedures, which has been done in the 2013 Office Memorandum as mentioned above. The need of the hour is to ensure that the same are implemented without confusion and stress for the student with disability concerned, and we sincerely hope that a strengthened committee in the manner that you have suggested will ensure that this is done. Regards, TEAM DISABILITY RIGHTS ALLIANCE Campaign Contact : Ms. Smitha Sadasivan Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ 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 Disclaimer: 1. 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