Why despite good intentions India has not been able to help its disabled people

One appreciates the focus and enthusiasm of the government and higher judiciary in trying to bring the 21 million disabled perople of India into the mainstream. Parliament has already enacted a law on persons with disabilities that conferred several rights and entitlements on the community.

However, poor implementation of norms and hostile social attitudes make life and acquiring life skills a difficult for disabled persons across the nation. The struggle to access public spaces or transportation and public resources continues to pose a challenge for this segment of the society.

Neither the neighbourhood nor the societal system is designed to provide the necessary socialisation inter se. Till the society steps forward to embrace the disabled children into its fold by way of socialisation, it will be very difficult for this segment to join the mainstream. The absence of active socialisation further alienates disabled people from society and vice versa.

The lack of socialisation leads to breakdowns at every step of human interaction at later stages. Understanding the basic needs of the disabled persons needs significant efforts in the light of the gaps that are opened up.

The only recourse offered by way of special schools for disabled children is inadequate and lacks the spirit of assimilation. Children with hearing impairments continue to live in silos as the rest of the society hasn't learnt their language leading to a breakdown of communication. It is high time we stopped turning a deaf ear towards these children and initiate the much needed dialogue.

The infrastructure being developed as barrier-free fails to address the basic needs of not just the disabled persons but also a larger segment of the society including children, the elderly and the women.

It also fails to meet the standards of prescribed norms and guidelines. Despite free-flowing knowledge, advanced technology, and customised systems, the absorption of innovative practices in civic infrastructure is hardly visible failing thereby in making a difference to the lives of the disabled persons and the elderly.

A lot of effort is needed to sensitise all stakeholders involved - be it engineers, municipal bodies, public sector workers or contractors, who are the most critical functionaries in infrastructure development.

The administrative set-up - though being pushed into developing accessible and barrier-free infrastructure as well as practices - still fights shy of diligently adopting appropriate measures to roll out effective strategies.

Despite allocation of funds, the government's intent is simply not translating into reality. Nor is there any accountability if the infrastructure put in place falls short of meeting the prescribed standards and fails to be of help for the target group.

The goal to integrate disabled persons well into the society and turn them into economically productive and self-reliant citizens needs a concerted and sustained effort of the society in general and the government machinery in particular.

The society continues to treat the disabled population with a condescending attitude treating them as inferior. The society elevates people with disabilities merely symbolically by assigning sublime expressions, such as Divyangjan or especially abled, but never accepts them as equals.

As a first step we must unlearn our attitude towards disabled people and step down from our patronising pedestal. We need to accept them as complete equals, no less no more.

It is high time the society and the government work in tandem towards providing the disable people equal access to opportunities and public resources. Inclusive education in letter and spirit must be made accessible to the disabled persons. It is time the disabled people have an effective voice in the political process of the nation and are welcomed into the political mainstream too. The process can be rolled out at the level of the local municipal bodies to begin with.

Even though it is a difficult task, it is not impossible to bring this transformation, as all it needs is a mindset change, sincere effort and supportive attitude.

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