Voices

Bangalore: Justice Patil speaks for the Disabled

The rights of disabled people have to be recognized to help them contribute to the overall development of the country, Justice Shivaraj V Patil, Member, National Human Rights Commission, said on August 19. He was delivering the key-note address at a one day national conference on ‘Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Role of the Executive and the Judiciary’.

“The disabled are pushed down by social, economic and cultural problems, apart from attitudinal barriers that hamper opportunities to enjoy their rights like others,” he said.

Pointing out that around five crore people in India were disabled; Justice Patil pointed out that the visually challenged constituted the highest percentage, with 48.5 per cent. People with disability in movement (26.9 per cent) were placed next.

He said that the Judiciary had been pro-active in ensuring the Constitutional rights guaranteed for the disabled persons.

The one-day national conference was organized by the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities. Justice Patil inaugurated the conference in the presence of the Union Minister of State for Shipping and Surface Transport K H Muniyappa.

Source: Let disabled exercise rights: Justice Patil. Deccan Herald, Bangalore, 20 August

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New Delhi: 60 years of Independence and Education is still denied to the Disabled

Even six decades after attaining Independence and the nation passionately chasing the dream of “Sarva Siksha” or “Education for All,” in the 21st century, education and access still elude over sixty million disabled men and women in India.

Putting the pathetic scenario in figures, a recent National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People research revealed that out of the total number of 713167 university students in India , merely 1,500-odd were disabled. Out of them, while 1,163 were orthopaedically disabled and 307 were visually impaired, only 38 were deaf.

Peeved about the plight of the disabled, Mr. Javed Abidi, executive director, NCPEDP, argues that almost half a century has been wasted in doling out charity to the disabled but no serious efforts have been spared to make them self-dependent. “They do not need to be economically self-sufficient. But even after 60 years of Independence, education and access remain a distant dream for over 60 million disabled in India,” he states.

“The net result is that even as we commemorate India 's 60 years of Independence , Pooja Saxena, a bright disabled wheelchair user, has been turned away by the Symbiosis Institute in Pune because their hostel is inaccessible for her. Earlier, Delhi University had crushed the spirit of another wheel chair user girl, Sanghamitra and NIIT had turned the career of Aqeel for the same reason.” Mr Abidi further citied more examples to prove that education was still a luxury for the disabled.

Similarly, to even think of a barrier-free environment in a country such as India is almost nightmarish, laments Mr. Abidi, adding that the many builders and architects all over the country are alien to the concept of a ramp for the wheelchair users or guiding blocks for the visually impaired. “In this dismal scenario, to even raise the issue of educating our children with either a mental or neurological disability would be like cracking the proverbial bad joke”, he sums up.

Source: Education dream for disabled. Asian Age, New Delhi, 16 August 2006.

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