Equal opportunities & Non-Discrimination not restricted to PWD Act

Please refer to my earlier article "Disabilities can't be restricted to those in the PwD Act 1995" wherein I insisted that disabilities or medical conditions can not become grounds for discrimination in accessing services and the concept of reasonable accommodation has to become the hallmark to test whether the fundamental right of Equality was denied to individuals.

In a recent incident, covered in The Hindu below, a school asked the parents to take a Transfer Certificate and take the boy living with diabetes out of school.

School shows the door to diabetic boy

HYDERABAD:, August 11, 2013

Parents asked to seek a transfer certificate and take 9-year-old Tanishq out within a week

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. Tanishq Jaiswal has learnt it the harsh way. For no fault of his, the boy is being denied education. His only fault is that he has contracted diabetes at an early age.

St. Paul’s High School, Hyderguda, where he is studying fourth class, has served marching orders on the nine-year-old kid. The school authorities have asked his parents to seek a Transfer Certificate (TC) and take the boy out of the school within a week. Tanishq has been taking insulin injections during the lunch break for the last one year. But now the school management feels enough is enough and has asked the parents to withdraw their child at the earliest. The boy’s parents are already upset at their son falling prey to diabetes. But the stubborn attitude of the school has shattered their peace of mind and shocked them beyond words. “Diabetes is not a disease, much less infectious. Moreover, our son has been taking the insulin injection on his own without causing disturbance to anyone. How can the school remove him?” asks Neeraj Jaiswal and his wife, Vaishali Jaiswal.

The world of the working couple came crashing down when their son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in April 2012. An insulin-dependent diabetes, it occurs when the pancreas fail to produce enough insulin to control the body’s sugar level. It is not hereditary, but could be triggered by environmental factors, doctors feel. The number of children affected with Type I diabetes is said to be on the rise.

Insulin Shots

Right now Tanishq is under the treatment of endocrinologist Dr. Bipin K Sethi. He has learnt to take four insulin shots everyday, one in school, on his own. “My son has never poked the syringe at any other child or created nuisance as the authorities fear,” says Ms. Vaishali in a choked voice. A teacher herself at the Azra Public School, she is worried about the psychological effect of all this on her child.

Last year itself, school principal Bro. Sudhakar Reddy reportedly objected to Tanishq taking insulin injections in the classroom. But a Good Samaritan teacher intervened and the boy stayed put. But two days ago the principal called the parents and told them to take away their child. “Worse, he asked us to pay the fee for the entire year as well,” Mr. Neeraj said. The principal was not available for comment.

Interestingly, despite his diabetic condition, Tanishq is regular to the school with 98 per cent attendance. His academic record is also equally good. Penalising a kid for what? For getting an ailment he has no control on?

Source: The Hindu

Gujarat to offer Online appointment with Doctors for Disability Certificates

Online facility to help the disabled get certificates

Monday, Aug 19, 2013, 10:08 IST | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

Smitha R

Ability Gujarat, a web-based application, will help people with disabilities get online appointment with doctors.

Soon people with disabilities (PwDs) need not do the rounds of government hospitals time and again to know the availability of a doctor who can examine them and issue a disability certificate.

For, the health department is mulling to provide a facility, where the PwDs can get an online appointment with the concerned doctors. 

Speaking about the initiative, commissioner of health, PK Taneja, said that Ability Gujarat, a web-based application, is already in place to effectively deliver services to PwDs. “The service is already a hit. And now, we are planning to provide the online appointment facility to the PwDs. To get a disability certificate, a candidate after filing the registration form, needs to be examined by a doctor. 

Many times, candidates are not aware about the time and place. 

However, through the new facility, candidates will get to know online the time when a doctor will be available and they can appear for the examination. This will save their time,” said Taneja.

As per the 2001 census, the prevalence of disability in Gujarat is 2.1% and as per the estimate, the state is likely to have at least 12 lakh PwDs. Another official in the health department, who did not wish to be named, said that despite the online facility, those who want to register through manual forms can continue to do so. 

“Often in case of obvious disability, a doctor can examine a patient and issue a disability certificate. But in case of multiple disabilities and where the disability is not so obvious, a panel of doctors examines the patients.

Now, the panel may consist of doctors with different specialisation, and a patient may not know when the doctors will be available. Therefore, using this system, patients can get to know about their timings, when each panel of doctors will be available at the hospital. This will save their time and energy,” said the official.

Source: DNA

Inaccessibility keeps students away from Colleges in Coimbatore

Dear Colleagues,

This seems to be the condition in most Indian Institutions including the Delhi University wherein even the minimum seats reserved the students with disabilities go vacant each year. In Delhi Univeristy alone roughly close to 500 students take admissions against the 1500 reserved seats for the students with disabilities and even this number gets reduced due to drop outs who do not find accommodation or have problem of transportation. 

In the instant case in Coimbatore, it is not because the students with disabilities  are not interested in pursuing higher education that seats remain vacant, but because the institutions do not provide an environment conducive to them.

Even those who choose to pursue higher education are those with lesser percentage of disability.  Therefore, reservation of seats in higher education for the disabled is of no consequence if the physical infrastructure (of institutions/ hostels) & the transportation systems to reach institutions are not inclusive and barrier free!  Here is the news from The Hindu:

Lack of facilities keeps differently abled away from Coimbatore's educational institutions : Coimbatore

AMUTHA KANNAN

Focus on use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), to ensure differently abled lead an inclusive life, has stolen the attention from the real difficulties they face from the physical barriers. This is significant from the representations they have time and again made demanding a barrier-free environment.

While, most differently abled have easy use of audio-visual aids, equipment, computers and softwares to assist them, what remains elusive is the physical access to various places by virtue of these not being disabled-friendly. This is in terms of absence of ramps, lifts to accommodate wheel chairs, modified washrooms, etc. This becomes critical when these places are schools / colleges / universities. 

This year, only a few higher education institutions have been able to admit students under the three per cent quota for the differently abled. Out of these, only a handful of colleges have admitted students in double digits. And, this is not because those with disability are not interested in pursuing higher, but because the institutions do not provide an environment conducive to them.

Even those who choose to pursue higher education are those with lesser percentage of disability.

Persons with disability of 70 per cent and above, and others who are confined to wheel chairs do not prefer to go to colleges because the infrastructure is not suited to their condition.

Though there is an Act – The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 – to ensure equal opportunities, higher education still remains a distant dream.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has schemes to provide grants for creating facilities in colleges that are 2 (f) and 12 (B) approved, and universities, but since the institutions do not take interest in applying for these, the schemes go unused.

But the recent State Government Order Ms. No. 21 (Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Rules 2013 of February 1, 2013), the implementation of which comes with a time frame of 180 days, has brought some hope. The G.O. calls for making public and multi-storeyed buildings disabled-friendly in six months.

R. Rajendran, Principal of PSG College of Arts and Science, says, “The college has used the grant from UGC under the XI Fiver Year Plan, along with its own funds, to make existing buildings disabled friendly. Work is going on in phases to put up ramps, modify washrooms, etc. Some washrooms are already in use.”

More than 90 differently abled applied here for UG admission and the college admitted nearly 40 students based on eligibility and three per cent quota.

Visually challenged, and those who are hearing and speech impaired prefer to go to institutions that are exclusive for persons like them. However, there are only special schools and not colleges to accommodate them.

Nevertheless, Nithya Ramachandran, Deputy Joint Director, Sankara College of Arts and Science, says the college admits those with hearing and speech impairment.

“Special infrastructure, aids and faculty have been arranged to cater to these students. It requires special effort to provide them with an atmosphere that is conducive to study,” she says.

On colleges constructing infrastructure suited to the differently-abled, Ms. Ramachandran says that self-financing colleges do not get any provision from any source for taking up such activities.

Though the UGC provides grants, these are restricted only to colleges that have been approved under Sections 2 (f) and 12 (B) and not those recognised under Section 2 (l), which are not declared fit to receive central assistance.

The Hindu

Disability advocates prefer social media to highlight disability discrimination

Disabled make a point in social media to highlight inaccessibility in Australia

ONE afternoon last month Stella Young went to the Glenferrie Hotel in Hawthorn to have a beer with some friends. But she found the disabled bathroom stacked with cases of wine and it was impossible to get her wheelchair inside.

Earlier Ms Young had been told by staff that the toilet was out of order. Hotel manager Mark Henderson now admits that was a lie. The cases of wine from another hotel were put in the disabled bathroom by Mr Henderson's business partner, and had been there for 10 days.

''Look, it was a huge amount of stock and there was nowhere else to go,'' Mr Henderson said. ''I came in to find it here. I just took too long in getting it out.''

The episode is not uncommon. Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes, who is blind, has had similar experiences. ''It's unlawful to discriminate against people on the grounds of their disability,'' Mr Innes said. ''If you have an accessible toilet and effectively block its use, then that is just the same as not providing one.''

Patricia Wilson runs excursions for the disability support service, Inclusion Melbourne. She said she stopped going to one council-run facility after it become too burdensome to clean away drug-injectors' blood in the disabled toilet.

Ms Young said she was frustrated with the Disability Discrimination Act, which requires a formal complaint, and now prefers social media. 

Stella Young at the hotel where the disabled toilet (inset) became a
storeroom. Photo Courtesy Angela Wylie  (theage.com.au)

Rather than use the hotel's female toilets with the door open, which she said ''isn't very dignified'', she left, but not before tweeting an image of the crammed room, which has now been viewed almost 3000 times.

Ms Young, a comedian who edits the website Ramp Up, wrote two emails to hotel management, but it was only after she wrote on their Facebook page that she got a response.

''People with disabilities too often feel as though we don't belong in public spaces,'' she wrote. ''We'd really love your help in changing that.'' Four hours later the hotel wrote back, apologising for their ''blatant ignorance [and] rash, senseless and absent-minded decision-making''. The space has since been cleared.

Kelly Vincent is a member of the South Australian Legislative Council and uses a wheelchair for her cerebral palsy. She has seen disabled toilets used for storage at an Adelaide restaurant, and elsewhere to store furniture.

''Having an accessible toilet that is unusable is maybe worse than not having one at all because it sends the message to people with disabilities that it is just a symbolic cross to bear for these business owners,'' Ms Vincent said.

Source:  The Age(dot) com