Mumbai highly insensitive to needs of the disabled

Facilities non-existent in schools or public places

Mumbai may boast of being the nation's commercial and industrial capital but is highly insensitive to the needs of disabled people. Facilities for disabled people are non-existent in schools, colleges, residential and public buildings, shops, parks, trains, buses or just anywhere.

Except for Delhi that is beginning to show concern for the disabled, the 60-millon disabled population is an "invisible minority." So much so, this potential workforce forming six per cent of the population remains confined to their homes since venturing out into the open can be both unsafe and humiliating.

Even the forthcoming World Social Forum (WSF), that is sensitive to social problems, has ignored the concerns of the disabled, says Javed Abidi, Executive Director of Delhi-based National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP).

The WSF has exclusive seminars on women's issues but not on the disabled women whilst child rights would be extensively discussed but not on the disabled child, he told a press conference yesterday.

"If a disabled child does not have the right to education, how can he or she aspire for a college education or later seek a job on a level playing field?" asks Abidi, who is himself disabled.

He says his middle class parents worked hard to help him through an education but after he returned from the USA with a degree in journalism, he found it difficult to get a job. And that is when his fight for the rights of the disabled began.

"We do not want charity but only our rights." The disabled people of India are yet to find their voice because of a lack of awareness amongst the disabled, their parents and NGOs as well as an apprehension among them to make use of the legal process for justice.

The Disability Act, 1995, categorically mandates incentives to employers who must ensure that at least five per cent of their workforce is composed of persons with disabilities. But the Act has never been enforced by the states.

The NCPEDP, along with the India Centre for Human Rights and Law, will launch a campaign to sensitise Mumbai's residents by holding a Solidarity Rally on Friday a.t the Gateway of India.

A memorandum will be submitted to Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde demanding rights and facilities for disabled people in Maharashtra. Alongside the WSF, the National Assembly of the Disabled People's International, a self-help movement, will be held on Sunday.

Focusing on Mumbai, Abidi says, "The Disability Commissioner, who is supposedly the watchdog for implementation of disabled friendly environment in education, access and employment, sits in Pune, far from the city where the actual activities take place."