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Visually impaired cricketers need some impetus to explore their potential..

Cricket stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Irfan Pathan command mammoth popularity, the world over. But back home, talented visually-impaired cricketers allegedly face step-motherly treatment at the hands of government bodies and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Officials of the Association of Cricket for the Blind in India (ACBI), a Delhi- based NGO working in association with the World Blind Cricket Council (WBCC), allege that the lack of government recognition and the huge deficiency of financial resources have not allowed the sport to flourish.

PS Naidu, senior manager of ACBI said that ever since its inception in 1990, they have been at the forefront of promoting this sport by organizing regular tournaments at the state, zonal and national level. They successfully organized two world Cups for the visually impaired in 1998 and 2002.

He added that nobody could forget the bonhomie generated by the Indo-Pak series held in the last few years. It was tough to manage such a huge event. They have been trying their best to get the sport recognized, but lukewarm feedback from the BCCI and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) is all they have received so far.

He also said that at a time when cricket for the visually-impaired has received government support in countries like Pakistan and England, the scenario remained bleak in India. He said that it was a poignant tale of discrimination and indifference towards visually-impaired cricketers.

George Abraham, chairman, ACBI said that they had also sought help from SAI so that their plea could get heard by the BCCI, but it was to no avail. He added that organizing an event as big as the recent national tournament in Bangalore was an uphill task for a cash-strapped body like theirs.

They managed to pull it off after their tie-up with 'Samarthanam', a Bangalore-based NGO working for the disabled. What keeps them going is the huge reservoir of young talent among the visually-impaired players.

Citing the ongoing preparations for the next World Cup for the visually challenged, to be held in South Africa in December 2006, Manvinder Singh, who captained the Indian team twice, said that the corporate world did not want to promote their game, so sponsorship remained a dream.

The problem of accommodation, food and infrastructure during their tours always haunts them. Another visually-impaired player from Delhi, Kishan Chaure said that despite such extensive cricket infrastructure in the country, the visually-impaired cricket was still not recognized.

The English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) recognized the Blind Cricket England and Wales (BCEW) as the governing body of blind cricket on March 1, 2006 and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) too recognized the Pakistan Cricket Board for the Blind (PCBB) recently.

Moreover, the Development and Chief Executives Committee of the International Cricket Council (ICC) also recommended in March 2005, that the body formally recognizes the WBCC. They also said that every ICC member must check that any national cricket body for the visually-impaired they recognize or work with, is an official member of the WBCC.

Sources: BCCI turns blind eye towards cricket for visually-impaired, complains ACBI, Asian Age, New Delhi, 21st March 2006.

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Kiosks offered for rehabilitation demolished by MCD

MCD's anti-encroachment drive at Lajpat Nagar's Krishna market brought down the world of 24-year-old Naresh Gupta, who suffers from speech and hearing impairment. He had made a modest living by stitching clothes in a shop that had been allotted to him by the Rotary Club in1990.

Sangeeta Grover, his sister said that in all, eight handicapped persons were allotted kiosks in Krishna Market as a part of a rehabilitation plan. A large number of traders had set up illegal kiosks next to their shop - but the MCD's bulldozers made no distinction between those who had valid documents and encroachers.

Besides his handicapped wife and 10-year-old son, Naresh also supported his elderly parents from his earnings from the shop. He said that when he offered to show MCD officials the documents, he was whisked away by the police. They told them that he could show the documents to them the next day.

Tempers ran high at Krishna market, where other handicapped persons too came up with documents claiming that the Rotary Club had taken land from the MCD and allotted kiosks to them.

In all, MCD removed 35 shops on pavements; including booths allotted to disabled persons and demolished illegal extension in 250 flats. Wheelchair-bound Arjun Kumar (41), who runs an automobile repair shop, was just as upset. He said that he was having a bath when he came to know of their shops being demolished.

By the time he reached there, everything was gone. They did not even get enough time to remove their goods. Naresh Bhalla (40), who suffers from a problem in his leg, runs a motor-pump repair shop.

He said that the SBI had invested in this rehabilitation project. His two kids were appearing for their final exams and he did not know what to do. DC (Central Zone) Gyanesh Bharti said that encroachments posing traffic hazards were targeted.

Source: Town Hall's body blow to disabled. The Hindustan times, New Delhi, 11 March 2006.

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Not very difficult to make a city disabled friendly

Transport scientist and engineer, Kit Mitchell said that it did not take any complicated engineering to make a city accessible for the disabled and the elderly; just some thinking. He was in the city to attend the First National Conference on Accessible Transportation - Mobility for all, 2006.

He presented a paper, drawing examples from various countries across the globe and making relevant suggestions in the Indian context. He started by talking about sidewalks. He said that in order to make a town accessible for everybody, sidewalks should be the first priority.

They must be wide, have no rubbish or parked vehicles and must be safe for everyone. Most sidewalks in Delhi, he felt, were too high and therefore, inaccessible to anyone who has a disability. He added that ramped-kerbs were very useful.

According to him pavements or sidewalks that are low and come with a gradual incline are very useful for anyone using a wheelchair. Apart from him the three day conference also had experts from Canada, US, UK Japan and the World Bank making key presentations. Organizations such as the Railways, Road and Highways, RDSO, SPA, CRRI, IITs, and AAI also participated.

Source: Disabled- friendly Delhi: 'Sidewalks must be priority', The Times of India, New Delhi, 17th March, 2006.

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Mughal gardens open for specialized groups on specific days

The Mughal Gardens and Herbal Gardens of the Rashtrapati Bhavan will be exclusively open for physically and visually disabled people, defence and para-military persons and farmers for four days.

While on Thursdays the gardens will be open for physically disabled persons, on Fridays they will be the exclusive domains of the visually disabled. On Saturdays, military and para-military persons will get to visit the majestic lawns, while on Sundays they will be thrown open to farmers.

For the physically challenged, entry and exit will be through the Rashtrapati Bhavan reception; while for the visually challenged it will be through Gate No. 12, which faces North Avenue. For military and para-military persons and farmers, the entry and exit will be via Gate No. 35 of the President's Estate.

Source: Mughal Gardens to be open for the disabled, The Hindu, 16th March 2006.

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Blindness, an important problem in India, seeks redressal

Blindness is emerging as one of the most dreaded diseases. A population based study revealed that almost 24 million people in India required low-vision treatment, which is higher than most nations.

However, no help is available in India from the government to low vision patients covered under the CGHS or ECHS schemes. While the government provides reimbursement up to Rs 60,000 to the hearing-impaired, there is no provision for the vast population suffering from eyesight related problems

The Asia Pacific Optometry Council said that this was a cause for worry since no provisions existed either with the Central or the state government or the Army for people suffering from vision impairment.

Dr Ajeet Bhardwaj, governing board member of the World Council of optometry and the president of the Asia Pacific Optometry Council said that all developed countries had eliminated preventable blindness.

But in India, government and eye care professionals need to address the issue with more seriousness before India is labeled as a country with excessive untreated blind population.

According to World Health Organization standards, a person with visual acuity less than 6/18 or a visual field of less than 10 degrees suffers from "low vision".

Source: Blindness a growing problem. Asian Age, New Delhi, 22 March 2006.

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Union government hands over charge, state doesn't take over..

While the Centre and the State tussle over who should be responsible for the disabled, the District Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) at Virar is falling between two stools. The 20 year -old DRC, which provides services to mentally and physically challenged children in the state, will shut down in April 2006.

The DRC, which helps NGOs in Talasari, Dahanu, Jawhar, Mokhada and other parts of the district with equipment and technology, is funded by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

The Ministry wants the State government to take charge of it as no budgetary provision has been made for it in the next financial year. But the state is delaying a decision in the matter. The Centre had handed over 10 such DRCs in the country to the States in which they are run.

On the 25th of January a meeting was held at the 'Mantralaya' to discuss the issue. While the official line was that no decision had been taken, senior officials, who did not wish to be named, said that the centre should nurture the DRC. This meeting was chaired by Baldev Chand, Principal Secretary, Social Welfare Department.

In a letter, of which the Mumbai Mirror has a copy, the state was asked to convert the DRC into its permanent asset and if the government did not take any initiative, the DRC would be closed down. According to the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) Act, 1995, providing services to the handicapped is more a responsibility of the State.

Keeping this in mind, the Centre has decided to hand over all DRCs to the respective state governments. The Project Director for the DRC Scheme, Sunita Singh confirmed that the ministry was withdrawing from all centres.

She said that it had already handed over those located at Mysore, Kota, Kharagpur, Sitapur, Bhubaneshwar, Bhiwani, Chinganpattu, Vijayawada, Jagdishpur and Bilaspur.

About the District Rehabilitation Centre

The Centre set up the District Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) in the 1980s when the coastal areas of Vasai and Palghar reported a high number of polio cases.

The DRC not only disseminates information and vocational guidance but also distributes calipers, wheel chairs, hearing aids, crutches, Braille kits and other equipment for the physically challenged.

The DRC also houses a school for special children on a two-acre plot. The school will, however, not be affected by the decision as it is managed by the Shri Trust, and of which Dr M Mankekar is chairperson. The school is attended by 400 children from Virar, Palghar, Nallasopara, Vasai, Navghar and surrounding areas.

The Virar DRC has had an annual funding of Rs 55 lakh from the Centre and also an additional Rs 35 lakh for purchase of equipment for the physically challenged.

Source: City's centre for disabled to close, Mumbai mirror, 20th March 2006.

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Court came forward to help a visually disabled person..

The Bombay High Court asked the State government to try and provide employment to Pankaj Choudhary, a visually disabled person, in any government department.

The direction was passed while hearing a petition filed by Pankaj, who was found ineligible for the post of clerk typist at the charity commissioner's office despite having the requisite qualifications and securing the highest marks in the written test.

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Research to include the disabled

This is an area of research thrown open for the first time in the country. It is for the postgraduates to understand and suggest solutions for problems faced by the physically, intellectually, hearing and visually-challenged individuals.

Solutions that could result in audio assisted computing devices to make call centre jobs a reality for visually-challenged persons or lead to the development of creative learning tools for children with dyslexia or create accessible roads and public transport systems.

Two Supervisors:

The national institute for the mentally handicapped along with the central University of Hyderabad, NALSAR, and CIEFL will start 10 new PhD programs from the next academic session where students of different fields such as law, technology, sciences, journalism and social sciences would take up research in disabilities from their subject's point of view.

Research Associates will be chosen through a national level test, which will be advertised soon. For each project, there will be two supervisors - one from the university encouraging the research such as university of Hyderabad and the second from the NIMH.

Selected candidates will go through a six-month or one-year training programme during which they will be exposed to all research areas and will identify their areas of interest. The research will not be classroom or library-based but will have a large field component.

Research associates will get a stipend of Rs. 10,000 per month. L Govind Rao, Director, NIMH, Secunderabad said that the need for this collaborative research stems from the fact that there is a need to change the attitude of society towards disabled persons.

The identity of a disabled person gets reduced to a visually-challenged or mentally retarded person - words that are not only crude and limiting, but which throw no light whatsoever on the individual as a human being, his role in the family, his culture, and most importantly his vast untapped abilities.

Source: Reaching out to the disabled through research. The Hindu, Chennai, 6th March 2006.

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Mukti - a thriving endeavour towards freeing people from crutches

After giving the finishing touch to an artificial limb, Sagar lets you in on a carefully concealed secret. He removes one of his shoes to reveal a foot that is made of rubber.

Sagar is a classic example of what Mukti has been doing for 20 years - 'liberating people from crutches by providing them with artificial limbs and sometimes rehabilitating them by employing them in its units'.

Through two centers - one in Meenambakkam and the other in Kottakuppam, near Pondicherry - Mukti disburses artificial upper and lower limbs and calipers to amputees, polio victim and those affected by cerebral palsy for free.

Many of the workmen who make these limbs and calipers are disabled themselves while some are mentally retarded. Mukti's founder Meena Dhadha began to take in such workers following a request from Dr. Sarada Menon of SCARF.

Mukti manages to accommodate a huge number of these people because it keeps one foot in the printing business.

HDP Pipes

Mukti, however, gets its visibility through its artificial limbs. Tulsi, a technician at Mukti, said that they used high-density polyethylene (HPD) pipes as opposed to wood for the limbs as the wood breaks easily.

As Mukti's reputation for producing artificial limbs based on the latest technology goes beyond India, it gets frequent requests to conduct limb camps in other countries. It has held workshops and camps in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Russia, the West Indies, Brazil, Ethiopia and Ghana.

However, Mukti's focus has always been rural India. When Meena set up Mukti in 1986 in a little garage in her Lyolds Road residence, she did not expect it to become such a huge organization. In the initial years, it just limped along. She said that she shifted to Gowdia Mutt Road, but realized the space was still not sufficient.

Knowing she had little money to pay for more space, her mother made a hefty contribution. That enabled her to acquire some more land on lease in Meenambakkam and build Mukti's first office.

Although Mukti has been receiving assistance from Rotary Club, Lions Club, Round Table, Jaycees and other organizations, it is strapped for money most of the time because it does not say 'no' to a be beneficiary who returns for a new piece of walking gear.

A beneficiary can come back any number of times to have the walking aids replaced or repaired. To augment the organization's income, the Mukti Centre in Kottakuppam houses an art gallery, art studio, curio shop, a restaurant, guest rooms and a dormitory.

Marked by an architectural elegance, they create an ambience that a weary tourist would value. Artists are invited to work at the studio. Acclaimed artists such as Sunil Das are said to have made use of this facility. Their works are put up for sale at the gallery.

Art classes are also conducted at the studio. Mukti's biggest celebrity student till date is Ayesha Kapur, the girl who played the young Rani Mukherjee in Black.

Akarsh, their gift shop is filled with curios from all the corners of the world - artistic shelves made from bullock carts that had been stripped down, cowbells, images of animals and humans made from iron wires picked up from debris and many more. There are half a dozen guest rooms; each patterned differently.

A well-appointed suite and a dormitory add to the provisions for lodging. An all - vegetarian restaurant, Dwarika overlooks a green courtyard. Part of the earning from these facilities goes to support the cause. Visit muktiindia.org to learn more about the organization.

Source: Limbs that liberate. The Hindu, Chennai, 27 March 2006.

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Extra time for the blind and spastic giving matriculation examinations

For the first time, visually impaired and spastic students talking matriculation examination this year will get 30 minutes more than the usual exam hours. The order for implementation has been circulated to all 987 examination centres across the state.

The extra time will be in addition to the 15 minutes cool-off time also being introduced to make the examinees relax and understand the questions. The decision to grant 30 minutes additional time to examinees with special cases was taken by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) with a view to facilitate blind and spastic students to get sufficient time for dictating their answers to the scribes.

The additional time will be uniformly applicable to all subject papers, be it of 100 marks or 50 marks. The BSEB has further fixed the eligibility criteria for the writers to be appointed by the centre superintendents concerned.

BSEB secretary, Vinodanand Jha said that the writers should be from class VIII to IX and from the same school or any other institution provided they can prove their eligibility before the centre superintendent.

He added that though the BSEB would pay the remuneration to the scribes for blind and spastic examinees, in the case of partial visual impairment, the cost of hiring the scribes would be borne by examinees themselves.

Source: Now, extra 30 mins in exams for the disabled, Hindustan times, 19th March, 2006

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