Standing on a bus stop one busy morning, I was dreading the daily pushing and fighting that has to be undertaken in order to get on and survive in a bus. A man walked past the bus stop and all the waiting passengers including me stared as he walked by.This was because he carried a blind man’s stick and wore dark glasses. I noticed sympathy on the faces of most of the people at the stop.But I instead felt happy and proud of the man who very confidently tap-tapped his way along the street.
The issue that I am trying to raise here is not about my ‘noble feelings’ but about the millions of disabled people in our country. How many times have you come across a disabled person out in public like most of us? Maybe once, twice or thrice on an average and that too over considerable periods of time.
What most of us do not know is that, India has some 40 to 80 million persons suffering from disabilities of various kinds. They definitely constitute a major part of our population. But low literacy, few jobs and widespread social stigma are making disabled people among the most excluded in India. Children with disabilities are less likely to be in school, disabled adults are more likely to be unemployed, and families with a disabled member are often worse off than average.
Some common issues faced by disabled people and their families.
1)Large numbers of children with disabilities remain out of school. They are 4 to 5 times less likely to be in school than SC/ST children. If they do stay in school,they rarely progress beyond primary levels. This leads to lower employment and
incomes
2)Even though many disabled adults are capable of productive work, they have far lower employment rates than the general population. In fact, employment of people with disability actually fell from 43% in 1991 to 38% in 2002, despite the country's economic growth.
3)Negative attitudes held by the families of the disabled, and often the disabled themselves, deter disabled persons from taking an active part in the family,community or workforce.
4)There is stark regional disparity. In general, states that lag in health service also lag in caring for the disabled. Those disabled from birth, women, and ST/SC/OBC are less likely to seek health care.
In the years to come, the number of disabled people in India is expected to rise sharply as age related disabilities grow and traffic accidents increase. This is borne out by the fact that internationally, the highest reported disability rates are in OECD (organisation for economic development) countries.
Despite the many challenges, concerted efforts by the Government, civil society, the private sector, and disabled people themselves, the untapped potential of this large group of citizens can be released for their own benefit as well as for society at large.
With better education and more access to jobs, India's 40 to 90 million disabled people will generate higher growth which will benefit the country as a whole. India has a growing disability rights movement and one of the more progressive policy frameworks in the developing world. But, a lot more needs to be done in implementation and “getting the basics right”. Newer thinking and better coordination of programs is called for. Preventive health programs need to be deepened and all children screened at a young age. People with disabilities need to be better integrated into society by overcoming stigma; disabled adults need to be empowered with employable skills; and the private sector needs to be encouraged to employ them. The scale of disability in India needs to be better understood by improving the measurement of disability. Most importantly, persons with disabilities should themselves be made active participants in the development process.
“The problem is not to wipe out the differences but to unite with the differences intact”
-Rabindranath Tagore
