Disabled communities in the West are still fighting or truly equal rights, but they’re a long way ahead of India where being disabled is still seen as being less than “normal”.
For Lata Umrania who’s been totally blind since she was two years old, her handicap has closed her out of the job she’s trained and qualified to do perfectly well – teach.
In Australia, I knew a blind geography teacher who taught at university level, was the most popular teacher of his year and a fantastic pianist to boot. But when Lata went looking for a teaching job, the people at Mumbai Municipal Corporation told her that because she couldn’t write on the board she wouldn’t be able to cope as a teacher. So despite her degree in Education, she now works as a receptionist at the Blind School.
Even mundane things like taking a train, or crossing one of Mumbai’s busy roads is a terrorizing and humiliating experience for her:
“I stand by the side of the road saying ‘excuse me, excuse me’ but sometimes no one stops to help and once after waiting 15 minutes I started to cross on my own and a lorry came at me and would have run me over if a man hadn’t pulled me back in time.”
And being disabled is also hard for those in the marriage market, as Shailesh Kulkarni found out. Born with cerebral palsy, he was rejected by several marriage bureaus till he found Prabha Panse, who runs a unique service – she arranges marriages specifically for disabled people. Her ledgers have hundreds of names of people listed by name, ethnic group, caste and economic background and disability. And it was from those ledgers that Shailesh found his Vinita.
I wish we could start realizing the extraordinary adaptability of people like Lata and Shailesh - rather than treating them as less then normal, we should take our hats off to them for surviving in a world that’s geared against them in every way.
on Nov 23rd, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Really being disabled is so hard i can understand, I appreciate your post, thanks for sharing the post, i want to hear more about this in future.
i you need any help you can contact us.
on Mar 25th, 2011 at 6:58 am
It is not encouraging at all to go through the stories. Though India is well beyond in the economic sphere looking for the top slot, the mindset of the Indians still is the same. All the provisions given in the Disability act are hollow sham. We should be ashame that such injustice exist in our country cos we consider ourselves as civilzed and developing. But these is totally uncivilized especially those who are in the position and are not doing their homework.
on Jul 7th, 2011 at 9:42 am
Matrimonial, Employment and Social Networking Website for Disabled Launched in Delhi
New Delhi, 6th July 2011
Jeyem Foundation, a Delhi based charitable trust has launched a new web-portal for the differently abled in India. The portal (www.ablepartners.org) have three components 1) matrimonial, 2) employment and 3) social networking. The portal names http://www.ablepartners.org is part of the efforts of Jeyem Foundation to mainstream the people with disabilities. The completed portal would be dedicated to the public on the occasion of the World Disability Day which is observed in December 2011.
According to the Census 2001, there are 2.19 crore persons with disabilities in India who constitute 2.13 percent of the total population. This includes persons with visual, hearing, speech, loco motor and mental disabilities. Seventy five per cent of persons with disabilities live in rural areas, 49 per cent of disabled population is literate and only 34 per cent are employed. The earlier emphasis on medical rehabilitation has now been replaced by an emphasis on social rehabilitation. There has been an increasing recognition of abilities of persons with disabilities and emphasis on mainstreaming them in the society based on their capabilities.
Choices are limited for the physically disabled wanting to get married. A recent survey shows that 59% women and 48% men refuse to marry anyone with a physical disability. About 34% women and 37% men said it depended on the situation and extent of the disability. Only 7% women and 15% men and said that they would marry someone with physical disability. (Times of India, May11, 2011).
It is in this background that Jeyem Foundation has initiated the project, which has the following objectives.
Project Objectives
1. Engage in constructive dialogue and proactive support for the matrimonial and family life needs of the people with disabilities
2. Creating employment opportunities and developing employability skills, and making these information accessible to all
3. Providing a single window platform that meets the connectivity requirements of the service needs and service offers that would better the lives of the differently abled.
4. Drawing public attention to the issues of differently abled and building civil society pressure on resolving them.
5. Towards the achievement of these objectives, the following programmes are planned for implementation in the year 2011-2012.
Proposed Activities in 2011
Developing and launching a web-portal for the differently abled population. The portal is to have modules of
• Matrimonial matchmaking
• Online and offline counseling
• Job posting, job searching and career tips
• Information repository of relevant schemes and resources
• Social networking
Take up accessibility and discrimination issues affecting the differently abled population in Delhi. As a starting point, Jeyem Foundation would be undertaking an accessibility audit of major roads in Delhi. These would be documented and published in all the leading news papers and would trigger wide discussions in the civil society which would in the course of time become a system changing force.
Do a research and document the international best practices in place on the welfare and mainstreaming of the cause of people with different abilities and skills
Time lines and Targets
1. The matrimonial module and counseling services of the website would be launched and activated by July 2011
2. The job portal would be functional by August, 2011
3. The social networking part would be launched by September, 2011
4. Accessibility audits would be conducted in August, 2011
5. The documentation of best practices would be complete by November 2011
6. The project would be dedicated to the public on the International Disability Day of 2011.
For More Details, contact
Jince Michael Mathew
Chairman, Jeyem Foundation
Mob: 9910011030
E Mail: jince@jincemichael.in
Jeyem Foundation
75, BBC Complex, 150 Kilokri, Maharani Bagh, Ring Road, New Delhi-14
http://www.jeyemfoundation.org
mail@jeyemfoundation.org