Disability issues, activism, legislation, rights, and anything related to disability, good or bad, particularly in India.

This is my second personal post in succession and writing this is not easy. To begin with, I request that if anyone connected or interested in disability movement reads this post, please write a few lines expressing your views on this issue since I am personally looking for a few answers here.
And like my previous post, I am staring with unfolding some of the pages of my life, which are now a part of history.
Let me start with long back as my first thoughts go to the year 1979, only within six months after The Spasics Society of Northern India or AADI as we know it now, came into existance. At that point of time, we were working with a man, Oh how can I forget his name since I shared mine with him. Yes his name was Alok, Alok Roy to be precise and being a direcor and head of a threater group in Delhi, he along with his group was helping us enact the famous play Animal Farm. You may have heard this famous story of of two Pigs, who motivate a group of animals to kill a ruthless farm owner, who beats all animals at his farms mercilessly. Once the farm owner is dead, the animals decide to set-up a democratic governing system at farm but slowly the Pigs themselves turn into dictators, even more ruthless and cruel than the original farm owner ant thereafter for their selfish interest, they themselves destroy all the principles, they once stood for.
Now, let me take a leap forward and turn to the year 1993. Being a young adult with disability, as I was trying to understand the concepts of disability and the movement itself, I got the unique opportunity to visit Kolkata, where I along with some of my friends was to take part in one of the biggest event in the history of the disability movement in India, the meeting of Disability International. I can still recall that on being not allowed to raise a point, when I objected, I was told, “In the disability community, who listens to persons with Cerebral Palsy (Cerebral Palsy means a group of non-prograsive condition of a person charecterized abnormal motor control posture resulting from brain insult or injuries occuring in the pre-natal or infant period of development) anyway? You people are actually considered bastards in the disability community.” Yes, at that point of time, those words pierced right through my heart.
I am now taking the libery of clubbing the next three incidents that I want to recall together. Year 2002 it was when, while undertaking a computer course in ASRA computer centre, a special computer training centre in Delhi for persons with disabilities I came across Saurabh Kumar, a person with Polio. Soon, as we became friends, Saurabh asked me, “What’s your disability?” I replied, “I am a person with Cerebral Palsy.” “Oh Yes,” said Saurabh, “Though I have never met or interacted with a person with Cerebral Palsy, I have heard about this disability” About a year later, I received a phone call from Nitasha T Kachru, who at that point of time being associated with Balloons and the their disability related project Disha requested me to be a part of a awareness raising program at a premier school in New Delhi’s Dhaula Kuan Area. On the day of the program, she introduced me to a young Visually Impaired person and tried to explain my disability to him. “Oh Yes,” said the Visually Impaired person, “I know what C P means. You don’t have to explain.” Again, in 2005, when through Saurabh Kumar, I was introduced to Association of Disabled for Development (ADD), an organization by persons with disabilities working for their own cause, I did not have much problem in explaining about my disability to the office bearer of the organization including Sonu Bhola, Kundan and Pradeep Raj, who despite being persons with polio, were all quite familiar with the term C P and therefore accepted me as a part of ADD in the most natural way.

The next experience I want to recall is my visit to Bangalore in 2006, where I was accompanied by my friend Zamir Dhale. I can never forget my introduction to Zamir. Since Zamir is a deafblind person and cannot even speak, his interpretator, while using a special touch and sign language, which Zamir uses for communication said, “He is Alok Sikka. He is a person with Cerebral Palsy and will be travelling with us to Bangalore.” A nod by Zamir said it all since being familar with the term Cererbral Palsy, he needed no further explaination as to what my disability was.
A couple of days after my return from Bangalore, when I got the opportunity to attend the World Disability Day function at India Gate in New Delhi, everybody present there was not familiar with AADI as an institution but also with the word Cerebral Palsy.
Further, Cerebral Palsy is now a part of both the Disability Act 1995 and the United Nation Charter for Persons With Disabilities, to which India is a signatory, making the disability well known both within and outside the disability sector. One of the major factor that has contributed to this change in a short time span of 1993 to 2008, is that institutions like AADI, who originally worked only for Cerebral Palsy are now working along with the rest of the disability sector. As a result, they have been able to draw the attention of people working for various disabilities towards Cerebral Palsy and make them understand about this disability in a better manner.
So far so good. But if you thought I had finished recalling my memories, you are wrong since I am still not through with it. I now jump to just recent past, December 2008 to be precise, when I met with a serious accident and was bed ridden for around 5 months. And it was somewhere in the beginning of May 2009 that I informed my friends that after the tough time that I had been through, my life had started getting back to normal and I was back to driving.
Of course, as expected, when some of my close friends heard this piece of news, they were more than happy and we decided to meet and celebrate both my recovery and getting back to driving on my own. So three of us, my friend Mr. S, Mr. M and myself decided to make use of holidays at AADI and meet one fine afternoon.
As we met for the get together that we had planned at AADI, I realized that I had some work at the first floor of the building and I requested Mr. M to help me propel my wheelchair and take me to the first floor of the institution, something he readily agreed to. But as we passed through the corridors of the first floor Mr. M stopped for a moment to have a glance at one of the rooms and what he saw was shocking for him. Though, officially the institution stood closed for summer vacation, some of his friends were not only present in the institution but were also working as usual. Mr. M, who was visibly upset to see his friends there complained, “They always call these fellows for all extra work because their hand function is better than mine and I get left out because being a person with Cerebral Palsy, my hand function is slow.”
No, it is not as if whatever my friend saw and whatever happened with him that particular morning was intentional in any way. After taking over as the governing body member at AADI, this was one of the first issue that I attended to. Whereas at that point of time, I had mistakenly proposed a program where preference should be given to a few selected students, my suggestion was rejected by the governing body at once saying that equal opportunities need to be all persons with disabilities along with giving priorities to those, who need maximum help. Countering some of the claims that I had made in my discussion with her, the executive director of AADI told me at that point of time that policies should be such that they benefit the maximum number of people in the best possible way, with emphasis on those, who need these services the most.
But just like what my friend Mr. M saw in that room, though unintentional on part of everyone concerned, the story of the disability movement is similar to that of the animal farm, where the power rest with only a few less disabled persons, who utilize the movement to the best of their personal advantage and speak just for themselves, leaving millions suffering and wondering what are they achieving from this movement. It is a terrible situation, where even the so called self-advocates speak only for themselves, leaving behind million of persons with disabilities speechless. This is specially true with regard to the persons with neurological, including the mentally retarded, mentally ill and other severely disabled persons, who neither have the platform nor the ability to express themselves.
A very good example of this is my friend Mr. M, who is struggling to come to terms with the fact that the best of opportunities in the organizations working for the persons with disabilities go to those who either are less disabled or are having other disabilities apart from neurological disabilities. Further my friend Mr. M has no one to speak to. Can one imagine the state of mind he must be going through at present? And if you thought it was the plight of one person, think again. You will be shock to know that thousands of persons with disabilities suffer from this problem as the problem does not exist only in case of cross-disability but within each sector itself. For example, a couple of years back when I had an opportunity of attending a meeting of an organization of a visually impaired persons, those totally blind complained all the opportunities in the sector go to people with low vision and they ultimately get nothing.
Its very easy for we, the pioneers of the movement, to proudly raise our head and say we r working for each and every disabled. But in doing so, if we are ignoring the interest of those, who need us the most, we are a failure.

At the end, I would just want you to stop for a moment and think from the point of view of Mr M. Is the price he is paying for integration of Cerebral Palsy into disability sector worth it? Please pen down a few words about this issue and let me know.

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Here is a note from The Group Convenor Ms. Radhika Alkazi giving update on the ongoing fight for restoring RTE to all children including those experiencing disabilities!
regards
Subhash C Vashishth

Dear Friends,

As some you may be aware, we held a meeting on July 28, at the Disability and Information Resource Centre of AARTH ASTHA. The meeting was about non-inclusion of children with disabilities and the lacunae in the Right to Education (RTE) Bill that was due to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on July 30.

Following the meeting, we have some good news to share. As a result of the advocacy initiatives all over the country on the inclusion of children with disabilities in the RTE, the Prime Minister has given us assurance today, August 3, that children with disabilities are legally going to be a part of the RTE Bill.

Some of you may also be aware that we had met Mr. Kapil Sibal (Min. MHRD) on Friday, July 31 in the morning. Subsequent to his initial refusal to include children with disabilities, there was a protest march from Jantar Mantar to the Parliament Street on the same day at 4 pm. The marchers were representatives of many organisations who marched to court arrest.

The same day Dr. Mithu Alur, Chairperson and Founder of the Bombay Spastic Society issued a press release. On Sunday, August 2, a press conference was held in Delhi.

Today, August 3, a number of us from the sector participated in a protest across the country including Delhi.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister gave us an appointment. Dr. Alur and Shyamala, AADI attended the meeting, on behalf of the sector and that is when the assurance was given.

We believe that Mr. Sibal will make a statement in the Parliament before the discussions start about the commitment to children with disabilities.

Some of the demands that we have all put forward to the Prime Minister and Mr. Kapil Sibal are as follows:

§ Include disability under the definition of “disadvantaged groups”
§ Include special schools and other necessary infrastructures under the definition of the term “school”
§ In the rights section, mention the 1999 National Trust Act along with the 1995 Disability Act of 1995.
Our task now is to monitor how the inclusion happens in the months to come.

We would also like to have a follow-up meeting soon regarding collaborations with other sectors and/ or issues.

Best regards,

Pauline, Hina and Radhika

Disability and Information Resource Centre
Aarth – Astha Basti Vikas Kendra, Bal Mukund Khand, Giri Nagar,
Kalkaji , New Delhi-110019. Phone No. 011-26449026, 011-26466251 Aarth
(Astha) – National Trust Hepline -011-26466250

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To, 29.07.2009
Shri Anand
Maxbalaji Hospital
I P Extension
Patparganj
Delhi – 110092.

Sub : Unpalatable behaviour of your subordinate Shri Avinash.(9971726789)

Dear Sir,

The Equal Opportunities Act for Persons with Disabilities was implemented by the Indian Parliament in 1995 but regretfully even after fourteen years it is not being followed in true spirit. The essence of this act is on inclusion, participation

Your organization takes diesel from us on credit. One day my father diverted a call from Shri Avinash to me because he was busy. Shri Avinash started addressing me with derogatory “TU”. I requested him to use respectful “aap”. At this he got charged up, banged the phone down, and had his need of purchasing Diesel by once again contacting my father overriding me.

Today, I sent a copy of a pending bill to him through my driver to know how soon will I get the payment. He informed my driver that there is some procedural delay and it would take a few more days. At this point, without informing my driver, he started dialing my father’s number to convey the same thing. My driver enquired who he was speaking to and on being told requested Shri Avinash to dial my number since my father was having his afternoon siesta At this he expressed his reluctance to call me saying I will not understand such things since I am slow due to my disability.

Appearance can be deceptive. I don’t command respect from such persons because I sit crookedly in my wheelchair or speak haltingly due to my disability. These persons need to be sensitized about our needs and aspirations. He should remember even Mahatama Gandhi was clad in a simple dhoti for most of the freedom struggle.

In order to make me more prominent while dealing with the day to day affairs of the Retail Outlet, my father is planning to take a short leave for Haridwar. Then I would have the complete administrative powers to deal with my employees, visiting clients and Indian Oil officials. Would Shri Avinash shy away from the responsibility of calling me up then.

I suffer from adult incontinence. To cleanse themselves, some people do community service with the under privileged section of the society. I invite Shri Avinash to spend a few days with me to make him realize what disability is all about.

Thank you,

Komal Gupta (9999028468)
THIS LETTER/ARTICLE IS KOMAL GUPTA, A 37 YEARS OLD PERSON WITH CEREBRAL PALSY WHO RUNS A PETROL PUMP IN EAST DELHI

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Hopefully, my next two posts are going to be a few pages from my personal diary, which are going to take me on a trip down the memory lane.
Beginning of August 1993, I was back to figuring out what to do next after completing my graduation, when one fine evening, in fact quite late by my standards in those days, I received a call from my good friend Amrit Pal Singh. All Amrit said, “There’s a meeting scheduled for 2 p m tomorrow at The Spastic Society of Northern India (SSNI). I have been asked to inform you. Kindly be there.”
The next morning, I took my Scooter and I was off to SSNI. And, as Amrit reached the institution, which at that point of time was primarily working for persons with Cerebral Palsy, I came to know that the scheduled meeting at 2 P M was with none other than the then Chairperson of the institution Mrs. Sushmita Nundy herself.
Of course, as expected, Mrs. Nundy was not only pleased to see us but she was thrilled to know that both of us, whom she had seen from lower classes were now graduates. Further, I can never forget her words that particular afternoon as she told both of us, “The disability movement the world over is going through a change and young guys like you are coming up as self advocates and taking up their own issues and speaking for themselves. Its time young boys like you come out of your shell and throw yourself out in the world, and just like other self advocate, take up your own cause. This has nothing to do with disability. When I was your age, my parents too asked me to look after myself. You will fall once, twice but third time, you will be able to stand and be successful.” She said.

Though I officially entered the self advocacy movement after those inspiring words from Mrs. Nundy, my true introduction to the concept of self advocacy came only in the year 2004 when along with a couple of other friends, I attended the disability and leadership workshop in Mumbai.

The visit to Mumbai in 2004 was very special and important considering that it reaffirmed my faith in the fact that though I have always been identified with my disability, I am first an individual with same need, desires and rights as any other individual in this world. In a way, it also reconfirmed what Mrs. Nundy had told me approximately 10 years back, this is my life and therefore, despite being disabled, like any other individual in the world, the right to decide what’s good and bad for me and what is the best in my interest, lies only with me and if the need so arises, I need to stand-up and speak for myself. Moreover, while deciding and speaking for myself, I may falter not only once or twice just as any individual but being a disabled that I am, I may need endless opportunities to prove my worth. But, that by no means takes away my right to take control of my life. In short, my Mumbai visit was an eye opener, which made me realize that the self-advocacy movement apart from teaching other people, which includes both disabled and non- disabled, about the rights of persons with disabilities and the disability movement, is also about teaching yourself and ensure that first of all you as a person with disability have a control over your own life and the freedom to take your decisions, however big or small they may be.
It’s as simple as this. If I want to see a late night movie on the television today, then like any other individual of 38 years of age, I have a right to do so. Nobody has the right to enforce a decision on me, just because I am a person with disabilities and therefore cannot do certain things the way others can. My disability does not take away my right to decide about issues of my own life, how ever big or small they may be. My life as an activist in the field of disability starts from here, when I first start to take the basic decision of my life according to my liking and choice and speak for my own self.
But, what I forgot in all my enthusiasm is that like in any other aspect of life, even in the case of disability, the theoretical and the practical aspects are entirely different from each other. Whereas the concepts that I had learnt in Mumbai taught me that my life as an individual and my disability are two totally different aspects of my life, back home its one and the same. It means your ability to make choices and lead your life your way depends entirely on your disability. The more disabled you are, the less freedom you get to live your life the way you want to. This is a hard reality of disability in India, which throw all the concepts of self-advocacy out of the window.
So, whereas the concept of self-advocacy are doing wonders in western countries, the disabled in India have in fact not come out of the charity mode. They still do not know what speaking for themselves means and therefore accepted their present condition as their fate. Many persons with disabilities unfortunately are still following the medical model of disability, where there is a clear distinction between service provider and a service user and a person with disability is just a service user, having no say in his own life. Further, the situation is so bad that even if someone tries to help the disabled by showing them the right way, they tend to resist.
According a consultant working in the field of disability for more than 25 years, “The problem is that in India life takes a set pattern. You are born, at the age of 3, you go to school, complete your 10th, go to high school, college, settle down with a job, get married, have kids, who then will follow this pattern all over again. The parents attitude towards a child changes as he grows up and goes through these transitions to slowly be an independent man. If you miss even a single link in this chain, you are considered abnormal and your life is considered incomplete and meaningless and thereafter you are not taken seriously by anyone. And since a person with disability does not go through these transitions to ultimately be independent, he is also not given the independence and the liberty to take his own decisions.”
Yes, some self-advocates have come up, but having them as self advocates is even more dangerous than not having self advocates at all. We will try to understand this in greater detail in the next post.

Well, keeping all this in mind, while discussing the issue of future program for personas with disabilities in a meeting held recently, when a proposal was made to call self-advocates and other professionals in the field of disability from developed countries to hold seminars and train persons with disabilities in India, I had opposed a proposal. Unless the trainers know the ground realities of persons with disabilities in India and as Mrs Nandy said, the so called advocates are not ready to come out of their self-imposed shell and take some initiative, the advocacy movement isn’t going to go far.
So, what is the way out because when there are questions, alongside there also have to be some answers. Unfortunately, when I thought of writing this post, I thought of putting it into two parts. One of course, was this particular post and then another of about 400 words, which would try to address some of the issues raised in this post. But, as I showed some of the contents of other post to some of my friends, they said that I must be the most foolish person on this planet to even think of writing such a post. I haven’t given up though and hope that surely at some point of time, I will write that post.

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An excellent article written by Anita Ghai.

Feminists have failed to recognise the different experiences of disabled women in a sexist and able society. This neglect has been felt acutely in western societies too, though there, feminists who have either become disabled as a result of a chronic illness, or acquired disabilities at a young age, did take up this issue. These scholars have to some extent redeemed the situation. In India, though, the feminist discourse continues to exclude the concerns of disabled women. It is true, though, that disabled women in general do not have to deal with the same oppressions that non-disabled women have to deal with, primarily because disabled women are not seen as women in an able-bodied society. For example, women with disabilities have not been ‘ensnared’ by many of the social expectations that feminists have challenged. However, this is actually indicative of a negative rendering of their lives, as the usual roles such as marriage and motherhood are out of bounds for them. While it is true that the specific issues for women with disabilities may vary from those of non-disabled women, the reality of womanhood, which includes the usual experiences and fears of a patriarchal society, are bound to be similar. However, with a body that does not ‘measure up’ to society’s norms, the situation becomes precariously unbalanced.

Read the whole article.

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Accessible public places in India are often an after-thought, and more than that, a “favor”. It is rarely an integral part of the architecture, design and construction. Nonetheless, smaller steps lead to bigger changes. Subhash, in his FaceBook profile, has expressed his informed thoughts on a recent government initiative to make 1500 railway stations accessible to the disabled. With his permission I’m publishing the text here.

By Subhash Chandra Vashishth

Indian Railways have been sitting over the access improvement plans over 10 years now. Several Writ petitions followed, but nothing more than assurances and promises came out.

The Indian Railways have decided to address access issues at some odd 1500 stations now which is nothing but a miniscule in such a vast country.

My Fears

And mind you, they say that they are doing it not because it is mandated under a binding Central Law called The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation)Act 1995 but because of the continuous requests which are being received from the physically challenged people from all over India. What a cruel joke on the 14 year old Legislative Enactment of Indian Parliament!

If Railways execute the access solutions at the standards at which they are currently doing at many of the stations, I fear whether we will ever have accessibility at Indian Railway Stations and trains !

As long as you call alternate access ramps, reserved parking slots, low height water taps and accessible toilets to be special facilities, I doubt it would be sustainable! Answer lies in Universal Design!

Why can’t the stations be designed to be accessible to all based on universal design rather than special access to some. Today, in the name of low height water taps, inaccessible taps have been built. There is no awarness in the implementing contractors and engineers. What they consider accessible is actually not accessible.

Perceptions about Accessibility Differ from Actual Accessibility

The simple question- do you involve competent consultants and users to ensure that the end product is fault free?

Perceptions of accessibility differ from person to person and this subjectivity kills the design and the usage of end product for the end user in absence of uniform universal design standards being adopted.

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Ramgarh (Jharkhand): It’s a boarding school in Jharkhand where almost every child dreams of becoming a doctor, teacher or engineer. Yet it is no ordinary place – every student, teacher and staff member there is a disabled person.

The Rajrappa Handicapped School in Sukrigada village of Ramgarh district, with its 150 students in Classes 1 to 10, has become a source of inspiration to physically and mentally challenged people.

Every morning, the school is abuzz with the chorus of students, some of whom are paralysed in their hands and legs or have lost their limbs in accidents.

Avanti Kumari, a Class 9 student who hails from Ghahari village in Bokaro, has been there for the last eight years. Her parents died when she was just two. At the age of three she was afflicted with polio, but the school has helped keep her spirits intact.

“I want to become a teacher to serve handicapped people back in my village,” she told sources.

Arvind Kumar Mahto, a resident of Salvanda village in Ranchi, also studies there. A mentally challenged boy, his parents virtually dumped him at the school three years ago. And now he doesn’t want to go back.

“I don’t want to go to my parents’ house. I am fine here. I want to help deprived people,” said Arvind.

Like Arvind and Avanti Kumari, most students at the schools want to become teachers, engineers, doctors and want to serve people in the state.

All the staff members are physically challenged. But that doesn’t stop them from doing anything. Buying cereals and vegetables, cooking the food and everything else required to keep the school running is done by the disabled themselves.

The school management charges no fees, and the food and lodging are free.

The Rajrappa school, located 50 km from state capital Ranchi, was started way back in 1997 by a group of four disabled people with just eight students. Students from Bokaro, Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur and other districts come to study there.

It is the brainchild of Bhuneshwar Mahto and Deodhar Karmali. Mahto was working with a private security firm in Ranchi. In 1983 when he was travelling in an auto-rickshaw, it collided with an ambulance. In the accident his right leg was badly damaged. Doctors had to amputate it to save his life and Mahto was bedridden for three months.

“Life had become difficult for me. I could feel the burden on my family members. I had to depend on others for everything and used to be depressed,” said Mahto.

But things changed when he met another disabled person, Deodhar Karmali, who too had lost his legs in an accident.

In 1987, they approached government officials for handicapped certificates that are helpful in getting admission in schools, colleges, hospitals and for jobs. But the officials said no handicapped person lives in the area.

Karmali and Mahto started surveying the disabled in the area. Around 30 handicapped people were brought under one banner and then they met government officials. After struggling for two years, the government officials issued handicapped certificates in 1989 to several of them. But even then no government support reached them.

In 1996, Govind Prasad Verma, a vetenary doctor, donated land in Sukrigada village, which was then part of Hazaribagh district. Now the village is part of Ramgarh district.

The same year, the school was started there with one room and eight disabled students. Now the school has 16 rooms and 10 teachers. There are 13 staff members, including 10 teachers.

The school provides clothes, books and other things to students and it manages everything on the money donated by individuals and NGOs. In the last 11 years, the Jharkhand government has given Rs.240,000 in assistance to the school.

“Someone has to take the lead to fight for handicapped people. We cannot depend on the government for education and jobs,” said Karmali, president of the school.

“Our effort is to produce good human beings at our school. Only a good human being can serve society and the country. We are also trying to make our students capable of rubbing shoulders with general students.”
THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY THE GENERAL SECTARY ASSOCIATION OF DISABLED FOR DEVELOPMENT MR. SONU BHOLA

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You know, we Indians and especially those living in Metros like Delhi are very funny people. When it comes to your ordinary day to day life, you as a citizen may actually care a damn about the law or the rules and regulations that you need to follow to prove yourself a good, educated and well-mannered citizens of the society, city or this country, but more than often, when it comes to helping and doing something for others, you suddenly remember these rules and regulations from no where. So, it means, when it comes to your own personal benefits, you may throw all the rules and regulations out of the window, but when it comes to doing the same for others, you somehow seem to show attitude and go to the extent of not understand or appreciating even the genuine problems faced by others.
This is precisely what happened with Komal Gupta, a 37 years old person with cerebral palsy who uses an automatic motor driven wheelchair to move about since he is unable to walk. It so happened that Komal, who owns a petrol pump in the Padpadgunj area of East Delhi, was sitting at the petrol pump, as he does everyday, when a young man came across to him and offered free coupons, which offered rebate at the new branch of Moti Mehal restaurant. Since Komal, despite his severe disability, loves going out and eating out, as he is fully independent on his wheelchair and has visited many malls and restaurants in the last couple of years, he decided to check out this restaurant as well. And with these free coupons in his pocket, Komal needed no further excuse to try out some delicious dishes at Moti Mehal
But here came a rude shock. As Komal reached the concerned mall, Komal was surprised to know that though it is a newly constructed site, there was neither a ramp nor a lift, which he could use to reach the restaurant, situated on the first floor of the mall. Though Komal was highly disappointed not to find a ramp, yet since he had already come to the mall and had to buy food in any case, if not from here, from somewhere else, Komal decided to send his driver cum helper along with the discount coupons to go and get the food packed for him.
This was one duty, which Komal’s driver had to undertake on a daily routine basis and as he stepped out to go to the restaurant, both Komal and his driver thought that today was no different.
But that wasn’t to be. To Komal’s disbelief, his helper came back and told him, “They are not ready to pack food. They say, if you want to make use of those discount coupons, you will first have to sit and have a bite in the restaurant itself and then they will pack the rest for home.”
Komal just couldn’t understand the logic behind this condition. “I sent back my helper explaining that I am physically challenge and lack of availability of either ramp or lift makes it practically impossible for me to reach the restaurant. But they refused to listen and said it is not possible for them to break the rule for one person only” he points out.
Continues Komal, “It wasn’t as if I was asking for a favor. When I am paying the cost of the food, what difference does it make if I have it at the restaurant or get it packed for home?” But with the restaurant not heeding to the request, Komal eventually had to throw away those discount coupons.
With society having no time to listen to their simple and basic needs, this is not a new experience for either Komal or other persons with disabilities, who face such problems on a day to day basis. But, on a closer look, you may realize that whereas the general public needs to be taken to task for the way persons with disabilities are being treated in this county, the persons with disabilities themselves and the so called pioneers of the disability movement are also equally responsible for this situation. Isn’t it sad when you note that whereas the pioneers hold regular dharna, meetings with planning commission and call for boycott of elections to raise the concerns of persons with disabilities, no one has time for incidents and issues like the one that took place with Komal that has the most direct impact on the daily lives of such persons?
Again, though those working in the sector have done a lot of hard work to sensitize the government and other officials, but unless the situation changes on the ground and the common man understands the issues and the problems of persons with disabilities, the steps taken by all these so called pioneers just mean nothing.
What discourages the persons with disabilities even further is the fact that though the required facilities are not available at most places, even where they are available, they can’t be used. Citing an example of this unfortunate situation Komal says, “I recently went to PVR in Saket’s Select City Mall in New Delhi, which screens films on the first floor of the mall. We had gone there since we had come to know about some electronic chair in that mall which can lift persons with disabilities. But on reaching, we were informed that it doesn’t work at all. My repeated requests to get it started failed and I had to be physically lifted to enter the hall causing great inconvenience to me. What’s the use of installing something which doesn’t even work?”
Agreed, since accessibility is a major problem for them, people with wheelchairs and other mobility problems face greater amount of difficulties, but does it mean that the attitude of general public towards the remaining persons with disabilities is very good? No, not really. Take this shocking incident, which Sonu Bhola, a young man with polio had to suffer sometime back. It so happened that during the recent strike of Indian Oil Corporation Employees, Sonu, a residence of East Delhi, had to rush to his office early in the morning and was there the whole day. As he stepped out of his office in the evening, he was disappointed to know that though he needed petrol to reach home, the strike still continued. Further, by the time Sonu reached Andrews Ganj he found he had no petrol in his scooter tank and had to unfortunately stop at a petrol pump in Andrews Ganj only. And, since it was not an Indian Oil petrol pump, Sonu thought he would easily get petrol over there. But that was not to be. Says Sonu, “I made repeated request first to the petrol pump employees and then to manager to help me on humanitarian grounds and even if the regular quota was finished, I would be grateful if they can give me some petrol from their personal reserved quota. But despite noticing that I was disabled and couldn’t walk properly, they didn’t help. Ultimately, with all the effort that it took, I had to drag my scooter to the next petrol pump and get the petrol.”
Of course, the solution to such problems lies in raising awareness both at an individual and social level. “To deal with the situation at an individual level” says Subhash Vashishth, a lawyer, who has worked in the field of disabilities and takes up disability related cases, “You can lodge a complaint with the Chief Commissioner of disabilities, who then will take quick and swift action on your complaint. Moreover, if you are an influential person in the disability sector and can get in touch with some like-minded people to organize a peaceful protest in front of the concerned person that may also help.”
“Further” says Saurabh Kumar, a person with Polio and a self-advocate, “For a long term solution, you need to create awareness, probably with help of the media. Persons with disabilities need to work in close connection with the Media to chalk out an effective long – term campaign in this regards.”
But Ms. Shukla Haldar, a mother of a young adult child with Cerebral Palsy disagrees to advocates like Subhash Vashishth and Saurabh Kumar insisting, “You look for an answer when you are actually experiencing a problem at given point of time What to do then and there is what matters and its when I don’t find immediate solution to my son’s problems, that it hurts the most” Yes, of course madam but may be Komal has an answer, He says, “The best you can do is to regard these as bad experiences and move on hoping for batter times ahead. That’s the best we can do. Isn’t it?”

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Yes, I have exercised the option ‘refused to vote’. Most of my near &
dear ones asked, why did I being a conscious citizen choose to
exercise this option instead of voting for a candidate from among the
contestants? Is it not against the democratic principle? they
wondered. To them I replied, “No, I wanted to propagate the existing
statutory facility given to the voters for refusing to vote for any
candidate, when no candidate among the entire panel of contestants
measures up to his/her choice”.

Let me speak a little more about the wisdom behind the choice I made.
Youth constitutes about 41(about 4-6 percent are disabled) percent of
the total population of the country . Moreover, needless to say,
youths are the engine of the country’s growth and as well the driving
force behind its progress. If the youthful energy can be put into
work, it can surely achieve all the laudable national objectives like
development, peace and justice, which almost all the political parties
subscribe to.

Government has failed to provide the employment to the disabled person
after making the law. There is act call PWDs Act 1995. under the act
there is provision that there should be 3% reservation for the Pwds in
all the govt sector job and govt will provide some special incentives
to private sector for provide the employment to the pwds.but till now
now government has not done any thing on the subject. And thousands of
the pwds are still unemployed after getting the higher education.

Here it is some facts related to the disabled employment in the
country which may be stressed to any sincere person. The fact says
that :-

Percentage of employees with disabilities in the Public Sector: 0.54%
Percentage of employees with disabilities in the Private Sector: 0.28%
Percentage of employees with disabilities in the Multinationals: 0.05%
When the government sidesteps the issue of formulating clear-cut
policies and enabling measures for the disabled, it is denying a
peaceful minority in this country a basic and inalienable human right
– the right to live with dignity

Not only is there any suitable policy that comprehensibly envisages
the wholesome development of the disabled youth in terms of their
physical, intellectual and educational aspirations, but also opinion
of the youths is simply bypassed in every matter, even if it concerns
th For all the above reasons I who belongs to the generation next
decided to make my voice of protest against all the parties and
candidates reflected in the electoral process. And that is precisely
the reason why I exercised the option of ‘refused to vote’ as
permissible under Rule 49(O) of Conduct of Election Rules 1961

–
SONU BHOLA Gen. Secretary Association of Disabled for
Development(Regd)9213953775

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