From the States

Chennai

Mumbai

Lucknow

New Delhi

Helpline to be launched for the disabled…

As a pioneering initiative of the State Congregation for Disabled, a Disability Helpline using Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) will be set up to benefit disabled people. The software for the IVRS alone would cost about Rs 20 lakhs.

A Chidambaram, General Convener of the congregation said that they were trying to get clearance and a toll-free number allotted from the Office of the Special Commissioner of the Disabled. He claimed that their petition was pending at the Commissioner’s office and that though the helpline would function as an IVRS facility, counselors would also be there to attend to calls from those in need. The initiative would be launched in the city and other parts of the state would be linked to it. Those calling from the districts would be connected through too.

The caller would just require to dial the toll-free number and choose between the manual operator or the IVRS. The IVRS would then provide information about disability, rights of the disabled and places where assistance would be available for them.

Chidambaram added that the computer would also record all the details about callers with grievances to enable a feedback mechanism.  The need for a helpline arose due to the extreme paucity of easy to access information on disability in the country. Chidambaram said that there were many cases of disabled people suffering from sexual assault and being unable to do anything about it because either the district rehabilitation officers were not accessible or they did not know where to contact these officials.

Meanwhile, Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped (AYJNIHH) functioning under the Government of India, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, is also planning to launch a disability helpline operating in a similar fashion. This helpline called Dil was launched as a pilot project in Maharashtra a year ago. Now, it is functioning in Goa and Delhi as well and plans are a foot to launch it in Chennai soon.

Source: Disability helpline to be launched soon. Indian Express, Chennai, 26th May 2006.

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Disabled friendly buses to be introduced

After many requests and representations from the elderly and physically challenged passengers, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has decided to introduce low footboard buses for their benefit.

A senior MTC official said that two buses with low footboards were ready with the MTC. The court had ordered to bring 10 such buses on the routes at MTC’s discretion. He added that they were planning to roll out two buses first and then gradually increase the number. The buses have to be produced before the Court before starting operations.

The MTC is waiting for the court to give approval for the buses. The official added that once the Court’s holidays were over and it reopened by the first week of June, the buses would be produced before it and once they had the approval they would be on the roads.

Source: Disabled friendly buses soon. Indian Express, Chennai, 25 May 2006.

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The handicapped welfare department in need of some people and a new home

The government has made a threefold hike in the grant for the pension disbursed by the Handicapped Welfare department and has also increased the number of beneficiaries but inadequate staff is affecting the implementation of the scheme.

According to official source, the department is badly understaffed even 11 years after its formation as no fresh recruitments have been made. In fact, the Handicapped Welfare department does not have representatives in all the districts of the State putting a big question mark on the sincerity of the government in introducing the scheme.

Out of the 70 districts of the State, in only 18 the Handicapped Welfare Department has its representatives, most of them on deputation.

So in districts where the Department has no officers, it is dependent on officials of other departments like Minority welfare and Backward Class Welfare departments. And that is why the work and projects are often delayed as they become additional burden for officials of other departments.

The Department director, Sushil Kumar said that as the government increased the number of beneficiaries under the handicapped pension scheme from Rs 2 Lakh to Rs 7 lakh, the workload has also increased and the department requires its own staff at various districts for the successful implementation of the scheme. They had been demanding recruitment of officials in all the districts since the last year. This year the government is going to recruit 40 new officials for the first time.

But the problem is not just limited to inadequate staff. The department also lacks proper space for its office. Despite repeated requests, the regional office of the department has not been able to get a place for its office. In the absence of a proper place, the regional office of the Handicapped Welfare Department at Lucknow is housed in a small room of the home for the mentally challenged girls at the City station. But this place is already crammed and has a pending dispute over it in Court.

Source: Staff crisis cripples dept for welfare of disabled. The Pioneer, New Delhi, 25 May 2006.

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Vocational training helps change their lives

The little hands keep moving tirelessly to make candles, incense sticks and beautiful paper crafts. As one looks into their innocent eyes and their beautiful creations, one finds it difficult to believe that they are mentally handicapped girls staying in a small home of the Handicapped Welfare department near the City railway station. In this small home, the department is not only providing shelter to 43 mentally handicapped girls but has also found some occupation for them, giving orientation to their lives.

Besides providing education to these girls, the department also imparts extensive vocational training to open up employment opportunities for them. The only school of its type for girls, it has 27 residential students and 16 day scholars.

In the last few years, the school has been imparting training to these girls in areas like candle and agarbatti making, cutting and tailoring. From this year, the department has included soft toys, chicken and zardosi work, food processing and food preservation in its training programme. The department also plans to start a beautician’s course.

Rachna Srivastava, superintendent of the school said that once the girls start earning, they would no longer be considered a burden on their family. The vocational programs would not only give them confidence but also provide them a status in their own families.

But the task has not been easy. She said that it was very difficult to give vocational training in severe cases where the IQ level was less than 40. Such people mostly remain dependent and they can only train them to take care of themselves while the moderate cases could be given basic education and taught minor work like chalk making. She also added that mild cases were very good learners if they were trained properly, but it required a lot of patience.

And the response from parents has been great. Encouraged by its two years’ experience, the department has decided to introduce many more vocational courses. Rachna said that they had already tied up with the Khadi Gramodyog Centre at Daliganj and chickenkari artists from Chowk to train them and they are also trying to secure some employment for them.

Source: Lighting up their lives. The Pioneer, New Delhi, 25 May 2006.

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Mental Health eludes attention

There is an alarming rise in the number of farmers committing suicide, incidents of stress-related ailments are higher and rage is apparent on the streets. Maharashtra’s cup of mental woes is overflowing but the Mental Health Authority seems unconcerned. How else does one explain the fact that it has not met for over 18 months?

The mental health fraternity believes that the failure to meet exposes the State’s cursory concern for the mentally ill.

Maharashtra setup the MHA almost 10 years ago, in accordance with the recommendations of the Mental Health Act of 1987, to identify problems faced by the ailing and find solutions. The MHA is meant to check on mental health facilities and most importantly, devise norms for working of rehabilitation centres, half-way homes and nursing homes in the concerned States.

The need for such agencies and their policing skills was underlined in 2001 when 28 mentally-ill patients, who were chained, perished in a fire in Erwadi in Tamil Nadu.

A doctor said that the MHA is supposed to meet every six months but hasn’t met in the last couple of years.

A member of the MHA said that the last meeting she was called for was held over 18 months back. She did not remember the exact date but they discussed the need for viable options for the mentally ill as opposed to expensive nursing homes.

The State director-general of health services, P Doke admitted that the MHA had not met in over 18 months but he did not have any specific reason for it. He pointed out that though no formal meeting had taken place, the members were in touch with each other regularly.

Doctors believe that the MHA could play a great role in improving the quality of life of mentally ill persons. Mumbai, for instance, has one lakh people suffering from schizophrenia; the figure is 6 lakh across Maharashtra. A mental health activist pointed out that around 15% of these patients needed rehabilitation services but Maharashtra has only 10 rehabilitation homes and those too are run by private entities. The MHA could look for solutions to such problems.

Additional health director N J Rathod, who took charge of mental health in December 2005, said that the next meeting would be convened either in the last week of May or the first fortnight of June. He said that they had been busy in the first quarter of the year with public health menaces such as bird flu, but the nine-member team would meet at the earliest.

Source: Health body ‘forgets’ meet. The Times of India, Mumbai, 24 May 2006.

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Scribes for orthopedically impaired in Civil Services exams

There is good news for physically challenged youth aspiring for the civil services!
In a significant move that will help empower the disabled youth, the Union Department of Personal and Training has, in principal, agreed to provide a scribe for orthopedically handicapped candidates whose arms are affected and cannot write, or have inadequate speed due to some kind of impairment.

An official in the DoPT said that they had sent the proposal for the necessary change to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Till last year, the facility of providing scribes was available only to visually challenged candidates. Hence, when IAS aspirant, Sunita Dogra of Chandigarh, who was suffering from 90% disability in her upper limbs, approached the DoPT for a scribe to write the Civil Examination (Preliminary), she was told that she had to write the papers on her own as the facility was available only to visually disabled candidates.

Not ready to give up, Sunita approached the Court of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities. The CCPD told the DoPT that such candidates could need the services of scribes as they were not able to write themselves, or if they could, they were not able to do so with adequate speed.

After several hearings, the DoPT officials agreed with the CCPD’s observations and said that the matter had been considered and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had to take a decision. If the proposal finds favour, the department would make the necessary changes in the CSE rules to provide scribes. As a rare gesture, the DoPT also provided scribes to Dogra and three others with similar disabilities for the CSE (prelims).

Dr Manoj Kumar, Chairman, CCPD, said that this would encourage more and more disabled people to participate in decision making policies. In a similar case, the Rajasthan High Court had ruled in favour of a disabled boy with muscular dystrophy who wanted to appear for the Sate Public Service Commission examination. Several examination bodies have brought reforms in the last few years and the facility of a scribe is permitted to people with upper limb disability.

Source: Disabled may get scribes soon. Asian Age, New Delhi, 26th May 2006.

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Need for disability studies to be constituted as an academic discipline

Disability studies expert at Jawaharlal Nehru University, G. N. Karna, has stressed the important role of universities and other institutions of higher learning in promoting teaching of disability studies as an academic discipline.

Presenting a paper at the sixth Annual Disability Studies in Education Conference held at Michigan State University’s College of Education recently, Dr Karna underlined the need for addressing the problem of disability as a human rights and development issue.

He said that the recent policy announcement of the Indian Government recognizing the discipline of disability studies and instituting the Rajiv Gandhi Chair in universities and colleges was a landmark development.

Source: Need to promote disability studies. The Hindu, Delhi, 27 May 2006.

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