Another way of being

Another way of being
Anuradha Kumar

This is in continuation with Archna Jain’s piece on the disabled in India (‘Intervention’, February 13). Awareness of the ‘‘differently-abled’’ remains sadly absent in India.

Budget 2001: Full Coverage

It took the visit of the world renowned scientist, Stephen Hawking for the ministry of welfare and the ASI to take heed of certain provisions in the Indian Disabilities Act and introduce permanent ramps to may access easier for the disabled. While over half a decade has elapsed after the passage of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection Of Rights And Full Participation) Act, 1995, it is only now that some of its provisions are beginning to see the light of day.

India still has a long way to go before she can catch up with the developed world. For instance, out of the top 61 Indian companies (from a sample of 100) that responded to a survey on employment of persons with disabilities, only nine were found to have one per cent or above disabled employees. This despite the provisions of the Disability Act guaranteeing incentives to both private and public sector employers if their workforce comprises at least five per cent disabled persons.

In the developed world, awareness and support for civil rights for the differently abled is widespread, and even technology and recreational tools have been roped in to help this category of people. In the US, websites will increasingly have to pass the Bobby Test an internationally adopted standard on web accessibility for disabled people. Passing the test requires websites to supply text alternatives for all images and graphics. Another provision bars the use of colour to convey information unless explanatory text is also available. Other requirements prohibit the use of multiple languages on the same page, because that can hinder translation by Braille readers, and discourage the “use” of tables and other formatted material.

Bobby is actually a free software, posted by the Center for Applied Special Technology (www.cast.org) illustrated with an image of a jovial policeman. The logo doubles as a seal of approval that can be downloaded and used by websites that meet Bobby’s accessibility guidelines. A number of widely used websites, it is believed, has already flunked the Bobby Test, including the White House site, where the software identified “13 accessibility problems’’.

More memorable was the protest launched on April 28, 1997, by over 50 million disabled Americans, who were invited by the US Park Service to preview a sprawling monument for Franklin Roosevelt in South Dakota. To their acute disappointment, the $48 million monument had not depicted Roosevelt in the wheelchair he used for 24 years. The objections raised by the disabled community did not go unheard. At least 16 Roosevelt family members appealed for a design alteration. Former Presidents Bush, Ford and Carter urged an additional sculpture to show Roosevelt in a wheelchair, and every historian of consequence who considered the issue concluded that the monument was a tragic misreading of the spirit of FDR and a grave distortion of history.

It would hearten profit-driven companies to learn that products especially adapted for the disabled has led to several popular innovations that have appealed to a wider public. People with disabilities led the move to having the on-off button in front of the computer, instead of in the back where no one could reach. Vibrating pagers are another innovation spurred by the hearing-impaired, but now popular with the general population. And, more interesting, kitchen utensils have been developed with excellent grips that appeal not only to people with arthritis but to anyone who prepares food!