From the States

Agra

Bihar

Goa

New Delhi

Now, a 'wheel-chair' for physically challenged tourists at Taj Mahal

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has decided to provide a special facility to physically challenged tourists so that they can enjoy the magnificence of the Taj Mahal from inside.

The ASI has planned to provide a 'wheel-chair' or a 'battery-operated auto-rickshaw' as per the need of tourists. With the help of this special vehicle, they can now see the beauty of the 358-year-old monument from the inside.

ASI Superintending Archaeologist D Dayalan said that earlier, physically challenged tourists who came to visit Taj Mahal had to return as there was no facility to reach the entrance of the monument located at a height of six feet.

But now with the provision of this new facility, challenged tourists can easily enter the monument from a special entrance.

Dayalan also said that the need for a special entrance arose as the one presently available was unsuitable.

Source: The Hindustan Times, June 9, 2006.

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NHRC responds to the condition of the mentally ill

The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo-motu cognizance of a media report which showed gory details of inhuman treatment meted out to inmates of an unlicensed mental asylum run by a quack at Saharsa in Bihar. Reacting to the CNN-IBN news report, the Commission said that the treatment methods shown in the report are primitive as the patients are tied to the tree and buckets of cold water poured on them. The video clipping also showed mental patients being chained and brutally beaten up.

The Commission said the contents of the story, if true, were an affront to human dignity and raise an issue of violation of human rights of mental patients.

The Commission has directed the Chief Secretary, Bihar to get the matter enquired into and submit a factual report within two weeks. It further directed that if the contents of the story are found to be true, the Chief Secretary would intimate the Commission regarding the steps being taken for release of the mental patients and the steps taken to ensure that they are provided proper medical and psychiatric treatment.

The matter will be placed before the Full Commission on 5th of July for further consideration.

Source: http://nhrc.nic.in/dispArchive.asp?fno=1247, accessed 27 June 2006.

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Expanded notion of disability

Goa has become the first state in the country to expand the definition of disability beyond the seven types of disabilities mentioned in the Centre’s disability Act. The State recently filed a policy on disability in the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in 2004 by two students of Salgoankar Law College against the non-implementation of the Act and absence of a barrier-free environment for the physically-challenged.

Advocate Jamshed Mistry, who appeared for the petitioners, said that Goa for the first time had defined physically and mentally challenged people as ‘differently-abled’.

The policy, likely to be implemented by 2008, focuses on prevention and early detection of disabilities, rehabilitation services, education, employment, barrier-free environment and assistive devices for differently-abled persons. It also includes a social security plan for the disabled.

Incentives, including the best employer award, best employee’s award, best district award, best NGO award, would be given to agencies implementing the policy.

The new policy also seeks to amend the building bye-laws to make them friendly for the disabled; an audit report carried out by architects after a court order, found that only 30 buildings in the State were disabled-friendly.

Mistry added that syllabus would be revised and training would be provided to architects and construction engineers to sensitize them to the needs of the disabled.

The policy also envisages that normal children and special children study in the same classroom. Avelino Desa, Disability Rights Group, Goa said that there were extensive provisions to increase the infrastructure for the disabled like hearing tools and Braille books.

Incidentally, the Bombay High Court is hearing a similar matter filed by the India Law School, Pune which has been pending since 2001.

Source: New Goa policy enables the disabled 14 June, 2006, Indian Express, Mumbai.

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Dealing with Cochlear implants

Out of 1,000 births in India, almost four babies are born with congenital hearing loss which can be triggered by many factors like suffering from jaundice and viral infections at the time of birth.

And to make things worse, a parents’ refusal to accept their child’s impairment delays the treatment which could otherwise begin at the earliest. Dr Sunil Katharia, ENT surgeon from Gangaram Hospital says that in most cases, parents refuse to accept that their child is hearing impaired and think they can be cured through some miracle.

The solution

There is hope for such hearing impaired children in the form of cochlear implants. The implant which is a small, complex electronic device is surgically placed under the skin behind the ear, and if administrated at the right age helps restore hearing abilities in a profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing child. But as the doctors say, a cochlear implant is very different from a hearing aid. While hearing aids amplify sound, implants compensate for damaged or non-working parts of the inner ear.

Great result

The success rate for cochlear surgery has so far been quite good. The minimal invasive surgery is the most preferred cure for hearing impaired children in Delhi.

Source: A cure may fall on deaf ears. The Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 19 June 2006.

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Disability Theatre

Members of a theatre group for disabled children will put up a show on martial arts in the Capital next week. The proceeds of the show will go to helping other disabled children.
Director of Abilities Unlimited, Syed Pasha, says that theirs is the first professional group for disabled people. They have toured the world and will now hold a show in Delhi. The money they raise from ticket sales will be donated to charities for the disabled.

Fourteen-year-old Gulshan Kumar, whose father irons clothes for a living in Vivek Vihar, East Delhi, says that Guruji (Pasha) had come to their area to hold a community show, and he wanted to join them. But his parents opposed the idea. He, however, met Guruji, who convinced his parents. Now, he has been to America and England. He hopes that they will tour Mumbai someday. He says that all this could not have happened without Guruji’s help.

The group has put up a number of performances including a version of the Ramayana, the Gita and the Thaanta, a traditional Manipuri dance with swords, which has been adapted for their wheelchairs.

Pasha says that it’s only when people see the children perform, they realize that disabilities can be overcome. Thaanta for example requires them to spin around the whole stage, lots of swordplay and to be thrown from their wheelchairs and climb back on.

Manoj Baraik, assistant director of the group, says that they have to work really hard. He has been on a wheelchair since birth because of a muscular problem. He was always interested in theatre and dance but before he met ‘guruji’, he did not know it was possible for him to take part in these too.

Source: Theatre group of the disabled plans show for charity, 20 Jun, 06, Indian Express New Delhi.

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