From the States

New Delhi

Tamil Nadu

Disability Issues Reconsidered

On the second day of the national symposium on "Disability Studies in India: New Directions For Future", held recently, a number of scholars and experts on disability stressed the need to strengthen the office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities so as to empower it to deal with the violations of the rights of differently-abled persons working in different sectors.

Views on a number of topics ranging from disability laws and human rights, disability and accessibility to globalization, disability and gender discrimination were aired by a number of eminent persons including T.D. Dhariyal, Deputy Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Jawaharlal Nehru University's Ehsanul Haque and Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Studies honorary president G.N. Karna.

Source: Spotlight on disability studies. The Hindu, Delhi 7 July 2006.

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How Casteism affects the Disabled

The insensitivity of the rest of the world to the disadvantaged knows no limits. We inhabit an environment where the "survival of the fittest" is the norm and we, the non disabled, the privileged, and natures favorites, have accepted it unhesitatingly.

However, there are those among us who have been marginalized out of the structures of power at all levels and spheres of life. Life for them is a struggle at each step, where earning even meager subsistence for is a challenge. There is no dignity accorded to their existence and even the refuge of religion is not readily available for them.

In a fine example of the miseries of the downtrodden, dalits in a remote hamlet, K. Velayuthapuram, in the southern district of Thuthukudi were ostracized by the caste Hindus because they celebrated the annual festival of their temple without obtaining the caste Hindus' "prior-permission", as they used to. In the face of such crippling social norms, the right to livelihood and equality becomes a fight.

However, the effects of a physical or mental disability accompanied by an imposed dalit identity become twice as crippling. In an instance of acute insensitivity, S. Ganesan(25), a physically disabled person, could not for a long time use the tricycle presented to him by the government because the caste Hindu "road rules" could not be violated. It needed a lot of "recommendation" and persuasive skill to convince them of his need for a vehicle.

It is time to wake up and fight for an honorable living for everyone!

Source: S. Viswanathan, Defying Casteism. Frontline, Chennai 14 July 2006

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