Ability is there, inclination isn’t

From my vantage point in Colaba Causeway, I watched with helplessness the devastating events happening around us in Mumbai. My heart went out to all those families who lost their loved ones who are injured, disabled, for no fault of theirs. Reflecting, on the International Day of the Disabled, I thought of the 4-8 per cent of our people, disabled, acutely marginalised, trapped, some lying on their backs at home without any service because of a systemic failure and a lack of political will. Why are they who constitute 40-90 million people (still no proper count of them) consigned to remain with no education, no healthcare, and no rehabilitation services?

The disabled in India are in a political wilderness. Since Independence, they have been classified with other vulnerable sections such as women, scheduled castes and tribes, but without a proper inclusive definition which says that disadvantaged groups include the disabled. The result is that 80 per cent of the disabled population is excluded from the government’s existing programmes — and that too in the poorest sector.

There are two ministries dealing with disability issues — the social justice and empowerment ministry, and the human resource development ministry. Contradictions abound — for instance the ministry of social justice, supposed to be the nodal agency for the disabled, does not have education but rehabilitation as their agenda, and openly say that it is not their job to educate. They rely on NGOs to do this work, knowing that this will leave the disabled stranded with no service. The HRD ministry has recently addressed education for disabled children in their policy formulations, (through their flagship Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programmes). Yet, without monitoring and cohesive action, operationalisation has not happened. According to a World Bank report brought out by the government, 75 per cent of such children are left out due to the physical inaccessibility of SSA schools. The health ministry continues to exclude disability from their key training programmes. When I attended one of their programmes on HIV, I found that they had not even thought of disabled people with HIV! This lack of ministerial convergence on the subject is an issue one constantly encounters.

Not a single political party has disability on their manifestos. Although Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh are particularly supportive of people with disabilities, the system lets them down. The ministries and departments do not follow through. The first issue is the right of disabled children’s right to education. The disabled should not be recipients of welfare. The ministry of social justice should not tinker with education and hand special education to the HRD ministry.

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