Page 67 - Tehelka Issue 8&9

column

Differently-abled mustn’t

be treated differently

The LasT aking life convenient for one Central government, in general, have loop-
and all is the key to overall
holes when it comes to serving people
Word development and growth with disability.
of a family, locality, country,
The railways, for example, provides
Abdul WAsey M or the world. Measures and wheelchairs to differently-abled persons at
reforms aimed at uplifting individuals in the station. But they are of no use to 50 lakh
disadvantaged positions go a long way in visually-impaired people of the country.
adding to peace and prosperity. Among The Delhi High Court, while hearing a case,
other deprived individuals, disabled peo- rightly pointed out that a visually or speech
ple — who continue to struggle to secure impaired person does not require a wheel
employment and navigate their way chair as they walk themselves but need
around with poor infrastructure and are human assistance.
still treated as “others” — need more atten- Women and girls with disabilities in
tion and care. India, where around 2.21 per India, according to the latest Human Rights
cent of the total population is incapacitated, Watch report, are at a higher risk of sexual
is making efforts — both at the Centre and violence. And the challenges faced by its
state-level — to provide equal rights along survivors to get justice are even greater.
with better facilities and opportunities to Nidhi Goyal, one of the authors of the
the special people. 61-page report “Invisible Victims of Sexual
The Odisha government, for example, Violence: Access to Justice for Women and
has initiated steps to empower disabled Girls with Disabilities in India”, said the
persons with skills, acumen and entitle- infrastructure in the country is not
ments, so that they can be employed to friendly for a person with a disability and
eventually become economically stable. being a woman adds an additional layer
For recruiting the disabled persons, the of difficulty.
employer’s contribution towards the ESI The recent gangrape of a physically
and the EPF for five years would be borne challenged Dalit woman in Vijayanaga-
by the state government. Punjab too has ram district of Andhra Pradesh is just one
come up with new schemes on the same of the many cases. The woman was going to
lines. Few other states are also report - her sister’s house in a three-wheeler when
edly trying to make the implementation of the auto driver, accompanied by two other
“Rights of Persons with Disability (RPWD) men, took the victim to an isolated place
Act, 2016 a success. and violated her.
But majority of the state governments The only good thing amid all the recent
do not seem to take right to dignity for peo- developments is that the general public and
ple suffering from disability seriously. The judiciary are assuring that right to dignity,
recent scolding from the Supreme Court which is ensured in the constitutional set
makes it more evident. up for every citizen, is applied with much
Last year, the apex court had directed more vigour in cases of persons suffering
all the states to provide proper and safe from disability.
access to roads, transport, buildings and If the RPWD Act, 2016 — which rec -
public places to differently-abled per - ognises 21 kinds of disabilities com -
sons by June 2019 as per provision of pared to the previous seven, including
the RPWD Act. Only six states and two dwarfism, speech and language disabil-
union territories have so far filed their ity, and three blood disorders — is properly
status reports in the matter. implemented, India will become a better
Even the entities that come under the place for special people.

Tehelka / 15 may 2018 66 www.Tehelka.com

66 The Last Word-Abdul-Column.indd 2 02/05/18 5:51 PM Add.indd 9 02/05/18 4:41 PM