Stop passing the buck!

Advice - Disability, Jan '16
Shampa Sengupta argues that both government and civil society are not living up to their commitment towards women with disabilities

Photo credit: Shampa Sengupta

Rarely do we see news or photographs of women with disabilities on the front page of any newspaper. So when Ira Singhal made it to the first page of all the national dailies of India in July last year, it was a matter of great joy. Ira Singhal, who topped the Union Public Service Commission examination and made all of us proud, talked about the hurdles she faced in life. According to some media reports, she maintained that her parents did not bring her up as someone with ‘special’ problems and the difficulties she faced were more on grounds of gender than disability. Since this is her personal experience, we believe in her words. However, the majority of disabled women face multiple levels of discrimination. Sometimes they articulate the discrimination they face; at other times they perhaps don’t even understand the inequity and remain in an unaware stage without striving to change the situation.

Rewarding awards

Advice - Disability, Nov '15
Ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Shampa Sengupta wonders how government awards related to disability rights can be made more rewarding

December 3 is celebrated as International Day of Persons with Disabilities and this year the theme chosen for the day is ‘Inclusion Matters: Access and Empowerment for People of All Abilities’. According to the United Nations website, “The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is marked around the world annually on 3 December, as per General Assembly resolution 47/3 of 14 October 1992, to promote awareness and mobilize support for critical issues pertaining to the inclusion of persons with disabilities in society and development.”

Photo credit: Shuvojit Moulik

Age and disability

Advice - Disability, Sep '15
By Shampa Sengupta

Reader queries

Artwork credit: Prosenjit Pal

I'm a middle-aged single man living in Kolkata, closer to 50. In the last couple of years, I have developed joint and muscular pains in my legs, and though treatment is on, and in phases I feel better, the problem does not go away entirely. Could this be an onset of age-related disability? My family members feel I worry unnecessarily, but I have seen other family members suffer and their movements drastically reduced. Other than family support, do I have a right to expect any facilities in public places? Do I need a certification for my disability? If yes, how can I get it?

Anonymous, Kolkata

Naming it right

Advice - Disability, Jun '15
In this second article in a new series on disability, Shampa Sengupta questions stigmatizing and fancy labels for persons with disabilities and calls attention instead to their identity and rights

Masudur Rahman Baidya was a double amputee who crossed the English Channel – he died at a very young age in April this year. At a memorial organised by West Bengal’s largest disabled people’s organisation, where Masudur Rahman Baidya served as one of the Vice Presidents, a renowned athlete (who was not disabled) paid homage to this great achiever.

She said that she never considered Masudur Rahman Baidya “a disabled person” because of the triumphs in his life. With due respect to her point of view, somewhere down the line it began to seem that ‘being disabled’ was a curse and the concepts of achievement and disability did not go together.

Understanding (dis)ability

Advice - Disability, Apr '15

In this first in a new series of articles on disability, Shampa Sengupta explains that disability is as much about attitudinal and environmental barriers as impairments

It is difficult to define ‘disability’. Disabled, impaired, handicapped, crippled – all these words are often used to mean the same. These days, there are more flowery words like ‘differently abled’ or ‘specially challenged’. However, the politically correct term that the disability movement endorses is ‘persons with disabilities’. The connotation of the word disability has also undergone several changes in recent times. At present we believe that disability is an evolving concept and we are still learning the nuances of the word. The United Nations (UN) adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in December 2006, which in short is called UNCRPD. According to the UNCRPD, “disability is an evolving concept” and that “it results from the interaction between ‘persons with impairments’ and ‘attitudinal and environmental barriers’ that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others”.