Ability Forum

[Vic]

Emphasising on the need to empower disabled persons living in remote areas, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Meira Kumar on Tuesday said the ground realities should always be kept in mind while framing legislations in this regard.

"We have to remember that the basic purpose of the whole exercise is to empower persons with disabilities specially those living in remote, inaccessible and rural areas," Kumar said at a convention discussing amendments needed to be brought into the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995.

"I would suggest that while making recommendations, we should keep the ground realities in view," she said adding, "special emphasis has to be given to empower women and children with disabilities.

"We have to bring them into the mainstream of life and improve their quality of life," Kumar added.

The convention, the third in the series, discussed suggestions for amendments to the Act with stakeholders in the northern region.

Earlier, similar meetings had been held in Chennai and Patna.

Most of the suggestions pertained to widening the ambit of the term disabled and incorporating disabilities like dyslexia and autism.

Participants also called for greater accountability in the implementation mechanism of schemes and sought affirmative action by the private sector, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Veena Chhotray told reporters.

"The amendments would be brought about only after consultation with stakeholders from all parts of the country," Chhotray said.

Apart from this, efforts are also being made to incorporate proposals made in the UN convention on disabled, she said.

Source: Daily News & Analysis

_________________
Vikas

AccessAbility

Emphasising on the need to empower disabled persons living in remote areas, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Meira Kumar on Tuesday said the ground realities should always be kept in mind while framing legislations in this regard.

"We have to remember that the basic purpose of the whole exercise is to empower persons with disabilities specially those living in remote, inaccessible and rural areas," Kumar said at a convention discussing amendments needed to be brought into the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995.

"I would suggest that while making recommendations, we should keep the ground realities in view," she said adding, "special emphasis has to be given to empower women and children with disabilities.

"We have to bring them into the mainstream of life and improve their quality of life," Kumar added.

The convention, the third in the series, discussed suggestions for amendments to the Act with stakeholders in the northern region.

Earlier, similar meetings had been held in Chennai and Patna.

Most of the suggestions pertained to widening the ambit of the term disabled and incorporating disabilities like dyslexia and autism.

Participants also called for greater accountability in the implementation mechanism of schemes and sought affirmative action by the private sector, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Veena Chhotray told reporters.

"The amendments would be brought about only after consultation with stakeholders from all parts of the country," Chhotray said.

Apart from this, efforts are also being made to incorporate proposals made in the UN convention on disabled, she said.

Source: Daily News & Analysis

_________________
Vikas

AccessAbility

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[Vic]

The ambit of the Persons with Disabilities Act should be widened to include people with autism, dyslexia and other handicaps and more representation should be given to the disabled in the private sector, felt government officials, NGOs and experts at a meeting here Tuesday.

At a northern India consultative meeting, organised by the ministry of social justice and empowerment, on amending the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, it was suggested that changes should be brought to the act to make it more effective.

At the meeting, the third such since 2006, it was suggested that the private sector be incorporated in the Persons with Disability (PWD) Act.

Anuradha Mohit, of National Institute for Visually Challenged, Dehradun, said: 'In the non-discrimination chapter of the Act, the private sector is not mentioned. This despite the fact that everything is slowly getting privatised, be it in case of education, culture or public information system.

'Hence the act should be amended so that more disabled people are given an opportunity to work and be a part of the private sector companies,' she said.

Health was another field mentioned at the meeting. Most participants said that people with disabilities still have to pay high premiums for health insurance schemes, which needs to be challenged.

Veena Chhotray, secretary of the ministry of social justice and empowerment, said the ambit of the disabilities act should be expanded.

'For instance, autism is not defined in the act. Dyslexia, a learning disability, is not mentioned either. Secondly, we are looking at reservation for people suffering from all kinds of disabilities in various sectors, including the private sector. Now there is reservation only for the hearing and seeing impaired and those with locomotive disorders,' she said.

In the existing act, it is mentioned that the state has to see that there is a five percent reservation for disabled people in the workplace in the private sector.

The implementation mechanism of the act would be looked into with all seriousness and the state government would be bound by it as well, she stressed.

According to Chhotray, the ministry could have concluded the talks earlier but there was a demand by many stakeholders that the amendments should be taken up only after the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was finalised.

'Hence after India became one of the first countries to sign the UN Convention on March 30 this year, on the first day it was opened for signature and ratification, we decided to take the consultation forward,' she said.

'There will be another national level meet before we come to a conclusion. There are a number of things we have to keep in mind before that, such as aligning by the UN Convention and that the amendments don't conflict with any other domestic legislation.'

The earlier two meets were held in Patna, in consultation with stakeholders of the eastern and northeastern states, and in Chennai with stakeholders of the southern states.

Source: Newspost

_________________
Vikas

AccessAbility

The ambit of the Persons with Disabilities Act should be widened to include people with autism, dyslexia and other handicaps and more representation should be given to the disabled in the private sector, felt government officials, NGOs and experts at a meeting here Tuesday.

At a northern India consultative meeting, organised by the ministry of social justice and empowerment, on amending the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, it was suggested that changes should be brought to the act to make it more effective.

At the meeting, the third such since 2006, it was suggested that the private sector be incorporated in the Persons with Disability (PWD) Act.

Anuradha Mohit, of National Institute for Visually Challenged, Dehradun, said: 'In the non-discrimination chapter of the Act, the private sector is not mentioned. This despite the fact that everything is slowly getting privatised, be it in case of education, culture or public information system.

'Hence the act should be amended so that more disabled people are given an opportunity to work and be a part of the private sector companies,' she said.

Health was another field mentioned at the meeting. Most participants said that people with disabilities still have to pay high premiums for health insurance schemes, which needs to be challenged.

Veena Chhotray, secretary of the ministry of social justice and empowerment, said the ambit of the disabilities act should be expanded.

'For instance, autism is not defined in the act. Dyslexia, a learning disability, is not mentioned either. Secondly, we are looking at reservation for people suffering from all kinds of disabilities in various sectors, including the private sector. Now there is reservation only for the hearing and seeing impaired and those with locomotive disorders,' she said.

In the existing act, it is mentioned that the state has to see that there is a five percent reservation for disabled people in the workplace in the private sector.

The implementation mechanism of the act would be looked into with all seriousness and the state government would be bound by it as well, she stressed.

According to Chhotray, the ministry could have concluded the talks earlier but there was a demand by many stakeholders that the amendments should be taken up only after the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was finalised.

'Hence after India became one of the first countries to sign the UN Convention on March 30 this year, on the first day it was opened for signature and ratification, we decided to take the consultation forward,' she said.

'There will be another national level meet before we come to a conclusion. There are a number of things we have to keep in mind before that, such as aligning by the UN Convention and that the amendments don't conflict with any other domestic legislation.'

The earlier two meets were held in Patna, in consultation with stakeholders of the eastern and northeastern states, and in Chennai with stakeholders of the southern states.

Source: Newspost

_________________
Vikas

AccessAbility

[THOMASJACOB]

Vikas, I do agree that more representation should be given to the disabled in the private sector but I am not in favor of any kind of reservations in the private sector. Most of the MNCs like MphasiS BPO, Infosys BPO, IBM etc all have gone ahead in making their work place disabled friendly. They have large number of differently abled workforce There are many companies which have Disability as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility Projects. So it’s better not to force these companies to adhere to some kind of reservation mechanism. Suppose the government plans to have 5 percent reservation in the private sector most of the private employers will only aim for 5 percent and they may not recruit any more people with disabilities. And again we will face with the same kind of situation that we face in the employment sector at present in government organizations. Better than having reservations lets us concentrate on access ability provision of assistive devices and job accommodations in the work place, this will be the first and the best step for people with disabilities to get jobs. Also I suggest that at this moment most of the seats in governments departments are not filled up, there are plenty of backlog vacancies ask the government to first implement what all rules they published first, ask them to practice what they preach and then think of new programs and welfare measures. Otherwise I am telling you again and again all this will be a total waste of resources. I am totally against any kind of reservations; I want India to follow the same rules and policies adopted in western countries. Reservations will not help on the contrary it will only do more damage that good. .

Note – Forum members are welcome to criticize or give suggestions too,

Vikas, I do agree that more representation should be given to the disabled in the private sector but I am not in favor of any kind of reservations in the private sector. Most of the MNCs like MphasiS BPO, Infosys BPO, IBM etc all have gone ahead in making their work place disabled friendly. They have large number of differently abled workforce There are many companies which have Disability as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility Projects. So it’s better not to force these companies to adhere to some kind of reservation mechanism. Suppose the government plans to have 5 percent reservation in the private sector most of the private employers will only aim for 5 percent and they may not recruit any more people with disabilities. And again we will face with the same kind of situation that we face in the employment sector at present in government organizations. Better than having reservations lets us concentrate on access ability provision of assistive devices and job accommodations in the work place, this will be the first and the best step for people with disabilities to get jobs. Also I suggest that at this moment most of the seats in governments departments are not filled up, there are plenty of backlog vacancies ask the government to first implement what all rules they published first, ask them to practice what they preach and then think of new programs and welfare measures. Otherwise I am telling you again and again all this will be a total waste of resources. I am totally against any kind of reservations; I want India to follow the same rules and policies adopted in western countries. Reservations will not help on the contrary it will only do more damage that good. .

Note – Forum members are welcome to criticize or give suggestions too,