REACHING OUT TO DISABLED

18.04.2016
Government measures welcome, execution key
It is heartening to note that the campaign to give some form of legal recognition to the Indian Sign Language is gaining strength. Recently, it got a boost at the Limca Book of Records’ People of the Year awards ceremony, where specially-abled persons who had overcome their bodily limitations to achieve great successes in life were felicitated. At the ceremony, the awardees were joined by Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy in petitioning the Prime Minister to give the ISL the status of an official language. It is too early to say if and when this specific demand will be met; however, there is scope for optimism when one views it against the backdrop of the Modi Government's overall commitment to incorporating the specially-abled in the larger inclusive development agenda through the Accessible India Campaign. In fact, only days before the Limca Book of Records event, the Prime Minister, in his address to the ninth World Assembly of the Disabled People's International, on April 11, in New Delhi, highlighted how such an effort was not just about his Government's policies but, indeed, integral to India's ancient civilisational ethos of vasudhaiva kutumbakam. At the same time, he also admitted that even though specially-abled persons make for a large section of the Indian population and can contribute significantly to society if given an enabling environment, their needs remain unmet.

To bridge this gap, the Government has announced several initiatives such as making public buildings more accessible and training 25 lakh specially-abled people in the next seven years. Similarly, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has recently asked television channels to consider programmes that will increase public awareness of the issues surrounding disability and accessibility as well as make content more accessible to the specially abled (for example, sub-titles for the hearing impaired). Previously, in November 2015, the Government approved the setting up of Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre to develop the ISL, which is currently in its infancy. This centre will also train a new generation of teachers and interpreters who will play an important role in bringing specially-abled citizens, estimated to be about five-million strong, into the national mainstream.

While all these initiatives sound well and good on paper, executing them on the ground will be challenging. For example, the Government may sanction a school for the specially-abled, but it can be hamstrung by the lack of qualified teachers. In fact, such an infrastructural problem was one of the reasons why the ISLRTC set up by the previous Government in 2012, with much fanfare and a huge financial allocation, was shuttered in less than two years. One can only hope that the incumbent regime will finally deliver on a promise that had been made in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-2012).