India: With more and ‘exclusive’ hands, disabled welfare dept overcomes its disability

Nearly 15 years after it was formed, the Department of Disabled Welfare of the state government has finally overcome its “disabilities”, as it will have its own officers posted in the districts.

So far, the responsibility of district disabled welfare officer was discharged by officers from the social welfare department.

The first batch of 25 disabled welfare officers, who have been recruited by the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC), will be posted in 25 districts. The department hopes that by the end of the year, all 71 districts will have their disabled welfare officers.

On Wednesday, the 25 officers attended a sensitisation workshop in Lucknow along with director disabled welfare and other senior officials. The workshop was jointly organised by the state department and Sense International (India), a Gujarat-based NGO working on multi-disabilities.

First Disability Survey in Pakistan by end of August

After negotiating for a period of six months, the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education and World Bank have entered into a final phase to conduct the First National Disability Survey, TheNation has learnt on Monday.

As the project was supposed to be implemented by the end of March but due to some impediments it was delayed. And now it is being expected to execute the plan by end of August.

In this connection, a high level meeting is being held today (Tuesday) between the high–ups of Ministry and the World Bank to give final touch to the proposed plan.

A delegation of the World Bank would meet the Minister for Social Welfare and Special Education Samina Khalid Ghurki to brief her on the said project and after getting a nod from her the survey would be conducted.

The proposed survey project is a brainchild of the Ministry while the World Bank is the donor agency.

According to an official of the Ministry, Federal Bureau of Statistics would conduct the survey and initially, the survey would be carried out in selected cities of the four provinces, including AJK. In first phase, the survey would be executed on pilot basis, later a full fledge survey would be conducted across the country.

The official opined that the findings of survey would help the Ministry in policy–making and strategising plans and projects to address the grievances of marginalised segment of the society.

"The first ever survey has been planed with an aim to acquire exact data of disability prevalence in Pakistan as currently authorities are without any authentic statistics regarding disability ratio in Pakistan," the official noted.

He was of the view that the project would help getting first hand information about the social, economical and political situation of the special persons in Pakistan and their access to the basic necessities of life, including health and education.

"During the 1998 census disability related questions appeared for the first time. It is anticipated that during the next census, scheduled for 2009, questions of disability will also be included," he added.

However, the official said, "It would not help to get comprehensive information regarding all types of disability prevalence and its causes in the country". "Whereas this survey is one of its kind and never before in the history of Pakistan such initiative was taken in this regard," he added.

Films: The best source to bring awareness on disability and new entry "My name is Khan"

Being touted as one of the biggest blockbusters of the year even before its release, Shahrukh-kajol starrer 'My Name is Khan' recently touched upon another landmark.

Fox Star Studios, who distributed oscar winner 'Slumdog Millionare' in India have reportedly picked up the rights of the Karan Johar biggie for a whopping Rs. 100 crore.

The movie has been receiving rave reviews from the critics who have managed to catch rushes of the movie. 'My name is Khan' has been receiving a lot of audience attention as it brings back the legendary pairing of the Raj and Simran of Bollywood aka Shahrukh-Kajol.

The critics who managed to hear some of music from the movie composed by trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy were overwhelmed and consider the album to be potential chartbuster.

Wiritten by Shibani Bhatija, the movie deals with a Muslim (Shah Rukh) who suffers from the Asperger syndrome, a form of autism that impacts social interaction abilities, who is arrested as a suspected terrorist in post-9/11 Los Angeles after authorities mistake his disability for suspicious behaviour.

Just as it is said, nothing sells better in Bollywood than Shahrukh Khan.. all of us await the arrival of 'Khan'.

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ASIAN ACADEMY Of Film And Television along with the social organisation 'Brotherhood' organised “Look Back We Care Film Festival”- an event of films on Disability at Marwah Studios, Film City, Noida. The collection of films on different issues of disabilities were projected to the large crowd, film and television students of AAFT, ASMS and ABS with an idea to evoke emotions towards people who are sometimes ignored by the community and society for no rhyme or reasons.

“We have joined hands with Brotherhood only to promote the idea of creating awareness towards disability,” said Sandeep Marwah, President Marwah Studios.

“We at brotherhood have pledged to promote our disable brothers and sisters to come forward in life and become independent” said Satish Kapoor, the director of the Festival .The festival is supported by the information Centre of United Nation, National Trust, Shivkala Motion Pictures and International Film And Television Club.

“We have to look back into Hindi feature films like Black, Dosti, Tare Zameen pain, Koshish that share quite some information highlighted the problems of disability” said Sameer Sen Chief Guest of the day and renowned music director who has given music to 150 feature films like Jalwa, Arjun Pandit, Anari No 1, Achanak, Salakhen, Kartavaya etc.

BB Choudhary IPS, Sanjeev Sachdeva, Rajeev Chandran of United Nation Information Centre, RKSingh former Engineer in Chief, Doordarshan, Raghaveddhiraa of Mangolore Port Trust, Sharad Dutt of Channel P7 were the other speakers of the day. The programme was followed by screening of 15 selected short films on disability.

Man accused of raping relative with disability

This story shows power of law, if most of countries have such laws the violance against people with disabilities can be reduced.

A man was charged Thursday with sexually assaulting a female relative with a mental disability.

Raymond Burroughs, 61, was charged with first-degree rape and incest. The 58-year-old woman told relatives on March 25 that she had been assaulted, said Capt. Loyd Baker of the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit.

Tests at DCH Regional Medical Center confirmed that she had been assaulted. Investigators questioned Burroughs on Thursday and arrested him that afternoon. They collected a DNA sample that will be tested by Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences investigators.

Rape is classified as first-degree if the victim is incapable of consent because he or she is physically helpless or mentally incapacitated, according to Alabama law.

Burroughs was in the Tusca- loosa County Jail on Friday morning with bail set at $30,000 for the rape charge, $15,000 for the incest charge and $300 for a harassment charge.

India: Implementation of Job quota

Section 33 of the Persons with Disability (Equal Opportunity, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 provides for 3% reservation in government employment, including 1%each for disabled persons suffering from (i) blindness or low vision; (ii) hearing impairment and (iii) loco motor disability or cerebral palsy. Moreover, a special recruitment drive has been initiated recently to fill up backlog vacancies for posts reserved for persons with disabilities.

No directions have been issued to the private sector to create jobs for disabled persons. However, a new Scheme of Incentives to the Private Sector for Employment of Physically Challenged Persons has been launched, w.e.f. 01.04.2008. Under this Scheme, the Government of India provides the employer's contribution for Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees State Insurance (ESI) for 3 years, for physically challenged employees employed in the private sector on or after 01.04.2008, with a monthly salary upto Rs. 25,000.

This information was given by Shri D. Napolean , the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

USA: Program started to provide police with information about people with disabilities

During a suspicious situation a police officer can sometimes misinterpret the actions of an autistic person.

Through a new program adopted by the Cape Girardeau Police Department, responders will be taught how to identify and help people with special needs during a crisis.

"Just by simply starting a program like this officers will start asking questions," said Cape Girardeau officer A.C. Walker, who developed the program.

Take Me Home is a database compiled by the department to help people with special needs and increase awareness throughout the police force.

"We can redirect our behaviors as officers to better provide for our community," she said.

How it works

The database includes a photo, descriptive information and contact information for people who register. It could include children who are deaf, have autism or Down syndrome, she said.

When a child with special needs is missing, for example, emergency responders will have information about their condition on hand, Walker said. She said she realized the need for a program like this after seeing distraught parents during similar situations.

"We can help alleviate that if Mom knows we already have the information," she said.

Walker said she worked with software developed by the Pensacola Police Department, which started the program in 2003. After learning about the program during a training session at the Southeast Missouri State University Autism Center in April, she said she decided to adopt it to fit Cape Girardeau.

Dispatchers will have access to the database and can relay information to police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians. The department is working with the Autism Center, the Judevine Center for Autism and the Tailor Institute to help increase awareness of the program and enroll people.

"Anytime you have an emergency situation, anyone becomes less communicative," said Connie Hebert, director of the Autism Center.

Program benefits

During a natural disaster or accident, officers will know how to address the needs of someone who cannot speak or communicate effectively because of a disability.

"These children often do not respond in usual ways," Hebert said.

The program will also help avoid miscommunications, said Elaine Beussink, director of the Tailor Institute. When questioned by police officers, an innocent situation can escalate quickly for an autistic person. Officers sometimes mistake them for being drunk or on drugs when they react to questioning, Beussink said.

"Anxiety is pretty prolific throughout the population," she said.

Walker said she hopes the program will expand to other communities. She said she will also work to include Alzheimer's patients as the Cape Girardeau database expands.

On Friday, Walker will be at Parks and Recreation Day at the Osage Community Centre from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to register children. The program is voluntary and information is kept confidential, Walker said. Anyone can register throughout the year, and the information will be updated once a year.

abusch@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

40 S. Sprigg St. Cape Girardeau, MO

920 Broadway Cape Girardeau, MO

India film fest on disability

AbilityFest, 3rd India International Disability Film Festival will be held in Chennai from Oct 1 to 5 '09. This bi-annual festival is organised by Ability Foundation. As part of the festival, the third edition of "60 Seconds To Fame!", a all India One minute filmcompitition on disability is open to participants. This is a great opportunity to let loose young minds to bring out some great ideas on "equal opportunity" for persons withdisability as well as to get their films seen by the doyens of the film industry who will be adjudging the winners. In the bargain, it is also a great opportunity to win cash prizes to the tune of Rs. 2.25 lakhs. "60 Seconds To Fame" is open to all Indian nationals. All that is necessary is to have a movie camera in hand, creative ways of expression, sensitivity of mind and empathy for all human beings and the sensitivity of mind to appreciate and celebrate humankind's diversity, focusing on persons with disabilities. The theme this year is thus - “Equal opportunities”.

More details and the entry forms for "60 Seconds To Fame" are available at:http://abilityfoundation.org/60sec_to_fame.html

Blind spa, deaf couriers: India and disabled rights

At a foot spa above a children's playschool in the winding backstreets of north Mumbai, Anand's busy thumbs and fingers press and pull on the soles of a client, as light, relaxing music fills the air.

In a cramped office in the south of the city, an ancient air-conditioner clanks noisily as six women quietly fill in slips of paper to accompany packages to be delivered by their male colleagues who wait patiently nearby.

The everyday scenes could be from any firm or office anywhere in the world, except at the Metta spa and the Mirakle Couriers, all the employees are either blind or deaf.

Both companies are giving new opportunities to some of the estimated 40-90 million disabled people in India, who have long been among the most excluded and stigmatised in society.

A World Bank report published in 2007 found that disabled adults in India were much less likely to be employed than the general population, with just over a third, or 38 percent, in work.

Harnessing the "untapped potential" of disabled people would not only benefit them but the country as a whole, contributing to India's economic growth, the study suggested.

But activists say that despite the existence of disability legislation and strong commitments to improving the situation, implementation of diversity policies is still piecemeal across the public and private sector.

For Jenny Figueiredo, an energetic former nurse who set up Metta in January, and Dhruv Lakra, who separately began Mirakle Couriers in October 2008, there is no reason not to employ disabled people.

"All they're asking is to be treated normally," said Figueiredo, 48, a trained yoga teacher, Thai masseuse and reflexologist who sold some of her jewellery to finance the venture.

Lakra, who used just 500 dollars in savings to get his company off the ground, agreed.

"The whole perception (in India) is that they (disabled people) are useless," said the 28-year-old former Merrill Lynch employee, who has a masters in business administration from Britain's Oxford University.

"Deafness is considered a curse rather than something you can do something about. But deaf people are productive and constructive. They can stand on their own two feet."

The first floor treatment room at Metta, with its bamboo blinds, polished white floor tiles, pot plants and pervading scent of coconut oil, is like any other spa.

The only discernible difference is the eight young staff, dressed in white polo shirts, green trousers and long green aprons, who move cautiously, reaching for door frames or the edges of the five beds to orientate themselves.

The soothing calm is broken by the sound of the staff's "talking watches" telling them a client's time is up.

At Mirakle Couriers, the buzz of office chatter takes place in sign language or text message.

Metta's chatty receptionist Monica has been blind in her left eye from an inoperable cataract since birth. She said she hoped the spa would help people realise that "blind people can do many things".

Many blind people were employed as switchboard operators until mobile phones put them out of work. A six-month reflexology course taught by Figueiredo gave them the chance of a new direction and a regular monthly salary.

"We're doing a job. We work with computers and do different massages. Some people say blind people can't work but we're not now dependent on others," said the 24-year-old, who comes from Darjeeling, in northeast India.

"That makes us happy."

Jyoti, who uses a hearing aid and speaks clearly in English, came to the company after a back office data processing job at a large IT firm in the southern city of Bangalore. The job, she says, was uninspiring and poorly paid.

Now, as she deals with staff issues and the day-to-day running of the company, she has found a new lease on life.

"I found I could stand on my own two feet. It made me see life differently, to be dependent on no one for my own money. I've grown very strong and confident on my own. I've got the world at my feet," she said.

For Figueiredo and Lakra, integration and independence for disabled people are the main goals as they look towards future expansion -- along with progress towards tackling ignorance and prejudice.

Mirakle Couriers already has contracts with some big corporate firms. Each delivery comes with a slip of paper with examples of Indian sign language gestures and a simple message: "Delivered and sorted by deaf adults."

Metta's reputation is spreading by word of mouth after little or no advertising.

The two entrepreneurs see no reason why other companies shouldn't follow their example in employing people with disabilities.

"They should have an open mind and look to these people as a business potential," said Lakra.

Bangladesh: Rehabilitating disabled girls engaged in begging

Sumi Akter is a girl with physical disability. Project staff of CSID, a NGO, found her begging on the traffic point of Bijoy Sharani, Mohammadpur in Dhaka.

Everyday with her mother, she comes to the traffic point in the morning and stay till night. When CSID staff identified her, she was very much reluctant to talk to them. As the project staff went to visit her, they often had to return failing to talk to her.

Her father is a day labourer and it is difficult for him to maintain his five member family. So, he sent Sumi on the street for begging. Sumi's family also tried to prevent her from talking to the project staff.

One day she was invited to attend a meeting of children group at Centre for Services and Information on Disability (CSID) office, but she refused to attend the meeting. The project staff continued communicating her and visiting her home to motivate and counseling with the family.

Gradually Sumi's attitude changed and agreed to come to the meeting but the project had to pay for compensating her income for the day.

The project also invited her parents to attend the meeting to see and observe what other children do in the meeting and what activities they do.

After attending some meetings and observing the activities of children, both Sumi and her family were convinced.

Now, Sumi is motivated and want to attend the meeting and different other programmes. She said that she doesn't like to beg on the street but she is bound to earn money for survival of their family.

She wants to go to school now. She never got opportunity to play and or spend leisure time with friends and or neighbouring children.

CSID's project enrolled her in a non govt. school. Now, she enjoys company of other disabled children like her, reading with non-disabled children, talking and playing with them. She is right sensitive and raising her voice in different meetings and programmes.

She wanted to be an actor but never got opportunity. She has been included in the theatre group of children with disabilities developed by CSID.

First time, she has been given opportunity to act in the theatre in the community. She enjoyed it very much and she was so happy and excited. The inferiority complex inside her and shyness has been disappeared. She has been vocal now.

Her thinking, attitude and understanding have been changed and now she wants to give up begging. But due to extreme poverty and marginalised condition, her family is trying to use her as source of income.

CSID is trying to find out a way to withdraw her from begging and give her a dignified life. The project staff is counseling with her family and discussing the issue.

It is assumed that if the project can provide support to the family to raise income in any alternative way, Sumi can be taken away from the begging.

This is not an isolated story of a disabled girl. There are many other disabled children who are leading an inhuman life mainly due to vulnerable condition.

Handicap International (HI) and National forum of organisations working with the disabled (NFOWD) jointly conducted a study on "Disability in Bangladesh" in July 2005.

In this study, it was found that 5.6% of the population living in Bangladesh suffer from some kind of disability.

Among persons with disabilities, the percentage share of different types of impairment are as follows:

Visual Impairment, 32.2%, Physical disability 27.8%, hearing impairment, 18.6%, intellectual disability 6.7%, speech impairment 3.9%, and multiple disabilities 10.7%.

The disabled children are not responsible for their condition, but many in our society treat them in a negative manner, which is violation of human rights. Many people refuse to mix with them and many school authorities hesitate to admit them. In public places, the disabled children fall to negligence by others. Many of the disabled children fail to prosecute their study due to their inability. The condition of disabled girl children is worst.

If given chances and necessary training, the disabled children can also lead a normal life like others and can contribute to country's development. So, we need to integrate them into our society for our development. We need to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

In a bid to raise awareness and establish the rights of disabled children, CSID held a three-day Art and Photo Exhibition and cultural programme of children with disabilities on the Basila New Model Government Primary School premises in city's Mohammadpur thana.

The programme began on June 23 and concluded on June 25.

Khandaker Jahurul Alam, Executive Director of CSID, inaugurated the programme.

Rabiul Hasan, Director, CSID, and Haji Mohammad Anwar Hossain, Chairman, Basila Government Primary School Management Committee, among others, were present at the exhibition, which is first ever in the country with the participation of disabled children.

Addressing the occasion, the speakers called upon all to make an enabling environment for children with disabilities to grow and enjoy their life. They said that goals of our development will not be achieved if we keep the disabled children out of our society.

A total of 50 paintings done by disabled children and 50 other photographs taken by disabled children were put on display in the exhibition.

A total of 15 disabled children staged drama and 15 others sang songs on the occasion.

In paintings, drama, photographs and songs, the handicapped children focused problems of their daily lives. They through their works showed that they have rights and can do well if proper atmosphere is created for them.

CSID said children with disabilities showed very much interest to participate in drama and music programme. Most of the songs sung at the programme were written by them.

The disabled children were from different slums and streets in Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Adabar, Mirpur, Shah Ali Bagh, Pallabi and Agargaon areas in Dhaka city. Most of them were involved in several hazardous works for their livelihood.

CSID, a NGO working for ensuring the rights of children with disabilities, hoped that the programme would help raise awareness about the rights of disabled children, prompting all to come forward to build a better future them.

India: 50 government websites to be made disabled friendly

Disabled rights groups have approached the IT ministry with a list of 50 government websites like that of the Indian Railways, Central Information Commission and Income Tax Department which they want to be made disabled friendly.
“We have identified 50 organisations and departments in the government. We have sent a proposal to the IT ministry to make sites of these WCAG (web content accessibility guidelines) 2.0 compliant, thereby making them disabled friendly. The ministry has shown a very positive outlook on this,” Javed Abidi, convener of the Disabled Rights Group, told IANS.

According to Abidi, such a move would simplify the Internet interface for people with disability by making the websites compatible with the special software they use to access websites.

“With an aim to enable disabled people to be a part of e-governance, we came to a consensus on the list after discussions with various disability groups across the country. Simple things like booking a rail ticket will be possible for people with visual impairment once the site carries out technical changes,” he said.

Abidi, who is also director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) - an umbrella organisation of various NGOs and civil society organisations working on disability issues - said that 99.99 percent of the estimated 5,000 websites and web portals hosted by the government of India listed by the National Information Centre (NIC) can’t be accessed by people with disability.

At the e-governance conference in Goa Feb 12, it was announced that all government websites would be made WCAG 2.0 compliant.

These government websites would now enable web access to a wider range of people with disabilities, including blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, limited movement, speech disabilities and photosensitivity.

The challenge, Abidi said, was to make existing sites WCAG 2.0 compliant and sensitise concerned government departments.

“While the IT ministry initiated immediate action and made India’s largest sites - india.gov.in and bharat.gov.in - accessible to the disabled, the social justice and empowerment ministry continues to drag its feet. It is ironic that it is this ministry that is supposedly nodal for various issues concerning disabled people,” he said.

Abidi added the website of the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH) was not accessible to visually impaired people.

“Similarly, the CCPD (Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities) website is still not accessible to people with disabilities. And they are supposedly the watchdogs for any Disability Act violations that may occur,” he said.

BBC: DANCING ON WHEELS

Ballroom glamour and glitz come to BBC Three as celebrities join forces with wheelchair users in a dancing competition like no other

Singer Heather Small, gold medallist Mark Foster and actress Michelle Gayleare among the celebrities that will be dancing with wheelchair users in a groundbreaking new six-part series for BBC Three uniting wheelchair users and celebrities in a dance competition with a difference.

Actor Kevin Sacre, rugby legend Martin Offiah and presenter Caroline Flackare also set to partner wheelchair users who have never danced before – with only five weeks to master everything from the cha-cha to the paso doble.

The wheelchair users are: Simone, a 22-year-old Cambridge graduate; Diana, a 48-year-old magazine editor and mother; 27-year-old Carolyne, who enjoys nothing more than a night out; James, a cocky 31-year-old whose impressive acrobatic ability puts most able-bodied people to shame; Paul, a 24-year-old festival-goer who is looking forward to Glastonbury this summer; and 23-year-old Harris, who recently got married to a girl he met whilst travelling in Thailand.

They will all be learning the art of Wheelchair Dance Sport, a popular international sport where at least one dancer is a wheelchair user.

Wheelchair Dance Sport is practised widely by athletes in 22 countries, with competitions and championships held across the world.

In Dancing On Wheels (working title), the couples will be compete in the "combi" event where a standing able-bodied dancer partners a wheelchair user.

The winning couple will go on to represent the UK at the Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships in Israel this autumn.

Lead choreographer Brian Fortuna, a professional ballroom dancer who appeared in the last series of Strictly Come Dancing and who has been teaching wheelchair dancing for the last eight years, will be putting the couples through their paces.

Under the guidance of Brian and some of the other top names in dance, the couples will be trained intensively each week to compete in a variety of exhausting and challenging dance disciplines as they battle for supremacy.

A panel of judges will decide each week which couples stay in the competition.

The judges will then select the two strongest couples who will get the chance to take part in a final dance-off, before a winning couple is chosen to represent Britain in the European Championships in October 2009.

The programme will be shown later this year.

INDIA: No Place to be People with Disabilities In

"There are very few options in wheelchair production, especially for children, with no regular supply of whatever is available," K.N. Gopinath, assistant director of the Bangalore-based Association of People with Disabilities (APD), a national organisation working to empower the physically challenged told IPS. 

Technology in locomotion and mobility for the disabled has progressed worldwide, but India continues to use antiquated tricycles and wheelchairs as mobility devices. 

"Basic understanding of mobility is lacking in India today," APD director V.S. Basavaraju told IPS. 

Thirty-two-year-old Usman, who works for a company manufacturing aids and appliances for the disabled in Bangalore, says he has never boarded a bus or train. "Even though people are willing to help you, it is still nearly impossible to use public transport here." 

Nineteen-year-old Hanumantha says he has an arrangement with a colleague to drop him home every evening. In return Hanumantha buys him a ticket to the movies once a fortnight. "My father brings me to office everyday, carries me and sits me down," he says. 

Only about 15 percent of the loco motor disabled in India are able to use public transport, as compared to over 65 percent of disabled populations in developed countries. The rest struggle to commute daily - or are immobilised. 

India's social support network of family and friends is much stronger than in developed nations, but there is little barrier-free access to public facilities. 

Usman is one of the luckier ones. His inputs on what suits the disabled most were used by his employers, the Bangalore-based Indian company Flexitron, to design a low-cost, motorised, rechargeable bike for the disabled, priced Rs. 18,000 (356 dollars). Similar bikes cost around 3,000 dollars in western markets. 

Most of Flexitron's labour are disabled or challenged individuals who test their own products for usability and durability, thereby serving both their own livelihood interests and those of the company. 

But private companies like Flexitron lack access to government channels which use the public sector Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Company (ALIMCO) to source disability appliances. 

Not surprisingly, Flexitron now has a major market outside India, selling low- cost, low-wattage consumption technologies, including 53 disability- assistance devices, to 16 countries. 

Flexitron director R.S. Hiremath acknowledges that India has a poor record in research and development, but says there are several low-cost options that could be made in India for everyday needs, such as cutlery that can be grasped by those without fingers, or mats that allow a person to transport himself from wheelchair to bed, or bathroom devices. 

"These would be simple devices, so very useful for the disabled, at half the price compared to western countries," he says. 

But progress is patchy. "There is no actual discussion across all sectors of related users and manufacturers," Gopinath told a gathering at the APD golden jubilee celebrations in Bangalore last month. He said that the 1995 law, the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act is dependent on funding without designating a specified source for it. 

India's Deputy Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, T.D. Dhariyal, says each state in India has its own priorities to arrange funding. 

India is a signatory to the UN Declaration on the Full Participation and Equality of People with Disabilities in the Asia-Pacific Region and to the Biwako Millennium framework for action towards an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society. The Biwako framework of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) was agreed in Japan in 2002. 

Barrier-free systems use appliances and designs such as stair lifts at metro stations, wheelchair-friendly ramps, Braille signboards, and accessible ticketing counters. 

The only places in Asia with near-total barrier-free public environments by UNESCAP standards are Hong Kong and Japan. 

Dhariyal says India's Disabilities Act of 1995 provides a strong fillip to ensuring the rights of the disabled. 

"I am currently fighting a case in court of a visually impaired government officer who has been denied the position of District Collector (a senior administrative rank) because of his disability," says Dhariyal. The Act now makes it possible to take up such cases, he said. 

India's Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, responsible for the disabled, has six schemes for rehabilitation, livelihood, education and assisted device grants, more than what most other nations have. 

The amount of assistance on offer is, however, inadequate. "How much can Rs. 6,000 (118 dollars), given as grant for aids and appliances by the government really help?" says Hiremath. 

But many are not able to access even this fund. 

"My experience is that most of the current funding available (for disability- related aid) remains unused," Dhariyal told IPS. 

"We (APD) are now saying that what we have today in India is not enough, that we need value addition to mobility issues," says APD director V.S. Basavaraju. 

Dhariyal agrees that quality could be improved. "If aids of better quality are the issue, then somebody should approach the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (looking after disability-related governance) and put it to them," he says, sending the ball back to the court of organisations like APD.

Pakistan: Artificial limbs camp in Sindh

Speaker Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said on Friday that the provision of artificial limbs to the disable persons is one of the best services in a physical impaired society, which is ultimately the reparation for development of country. This he said while on inauguration of Free Medical Camp under the “Amputees Rehabilitation Project” by the Department of Prosthetics Institute of Physical Machine and Rehabilitation, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) here at Chandka Medical College teaching hospital Larkana. Nisar Khuhro said the human societies are shaped through noble causes and service of mankind by good deeds. He said society should step ahead and utilize such a resource of physically impaired people and make them a useful citizen. He said now the disables should make them a normal human and try to avert the situation after getting this opportunity of medical camp. Speaker said the prime responsibility of all should to make our selves aware and educate the society by their skills. He is much impressed the services of DUHS and experts who came to deliver their services in Larkana and the people of Sindh appreciates further their efforts for amputees rehabilitation by the department. He said the local NGO in Larkana has registered 557 disable patients and hoped the institution will organize medical camps in future.  Head of the department (DUHS) Dr. Nabeela Soomro said in Pakistan disability rate is high and there is no one institution except this one which recently established in Karachi, while for this purpose in India about 57 institutions are working and providing artificial limbs facilities to the people. She said there is shortage of technical staff and experts due to the long run training of professional we have to struggle and will make it possible in next few years she said. She said in Karachi there are 1500 registered cases and the institutions have completed artificial limbs to the 1370 disables. Dr. Nabeela demonstrated and showed the team of disables came from Karachi and they told that how they are easy survive due to the artificial limbs as they were neglected elements of the society. Those were included Zakir Baig, Sarfaraz, Fakher Shaikh and others also performing job in the institution simultaneously.  On the occasion, Head of Department DUHS Dr. Nabeela Soomro along with team, Principal CMC Larkana Professor Sikander Ali Shaikh, Medical Suprintendent Syed Mehboob Ali Shah, District Coordination Officer Larkana Mohammed Jaffer Abbasi, Khair Mohammed Shaikh, Kamrani Ali, Mohammed Panjal Sangi, Ali Gohar Sangi and other doctors were among the Medical Camp inauguration ceremony. In one day medical Camp 110 disable people were registered and half of the cases were due to polio and diabetics’ reasons the limbs were cut.