Much needs to be done for Nagaland’s people with disability

Government machinery, community urge for concerted efforts

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Sep. 19 (EMN): There are myriad challenges people with disabilities face. The problems range from accessibility issues to lack of proper data on the population of the section, and from lack of social security to education and opportunities.

These concerns were raised during a programme to highlight the Rights of Persons with Disability Act of 2016 (RPwD) for Nagaland government officials, which was inaugurated on Monday in Kohima.

The chief secretary of Nagaland, Temjoy Toy inaugurated the three-day programme at the Nagaland Civil Secretariat in the capital town.

The event was organised by Mission Mode Team (Accessible India Campaign) in collaboration with the office of the state commissioner for persons with disabilities.

During the event, Toy emphasised on the importance of accessibility in all public buildings and areas and making them disabled-friendly. ‘Nagas are aware of our rights only when it concerns us and least bothered about others rights,’ he remarked. He said that ‘only after we start visualizing and putting ourselves in the shoes of the disabled then only will the campaign will work.’

The differently able have rights too and people need to appreciate and respect their rights. Despite of various notifications issued by the Social Welfare department to various departments to address accessibility issues about public buildings and offices, the response is still very poor, Toy said.

The Team was formed to monitor activities of various departments in the directorate, districts and public buildings, he said.

‘Henceforth, all office memorandums and notifications must be updated in the web as per the accessibility guidelines,’ he said. All the public government buildings in the state should be made accessible to persons with disability, he said.

Further, Toy reminded the officials the needs to educate all the departments and to ensure accessibility to toilets and buildings and making public areas barrier-free environments.

Diethono Nakhro, the state commissioner for persons with disabilities, spoke about the RPwD Act of 2016, and its overview, status of implementation, among others. She said that the RPwD had replaced the Equal opportunity Protection of Rights and Full Participation Act of 1995.

She told the gathering that there was no data on disability sections until Census 2011 which stated only 1.5 % of the state population. However, with the RPwD Act there are 21 specified disabilities listed in the Act. However, she said, there is no proper data available.

The commissioner lamented that Nagaland is the only state in the country that had not even a single proper disability rehabilitation or resource centre. There are no facilities for people who have severe disabilities and have high support needs.

“Unless there is accessibility, there can be no equality for equal opportunity,” Nakhro said. Besides expressing dissatisfaction at the Social Security Pension too, she said hospitals, churches and other public buildings and places are yet to be made accessible to people with disabilities.

Further, the state lacks budgeting for disability, lack of access to quality health services, and that even the disabled have no access to the labour market, Nakhro said.

She opined that the welfare of the disabled must not be left to the department of Social Welfare alone; all the departments must take it as a responsibility for accessibility.

“Inclusion and accessibility is not just about a global outlook. it is also wanting to do the right thing and then reaching, and putting up a little extra effort to make sure, disability matters,” the commissioner said.

Another speaker at the event was K Ela, health activist and director of Prodigal’s Home. She commented that some things have changed but not changing as expected. She expressed the need to educate the society that it needs appropriate response and not stay ignorant.

The activist pointed to the urgency for proper health and prevention services with proper rehabilitation. The education of children with disability is another area that is still being neglected, she said.

Ela raised another concern—the lack of proper data and the need to have a proper and reliable data so that the disabled are not deprived of opportunities that have been made available to them.

Likewise, she talked about the importance of special educators for disabled children and the need to have capacity building, skill training centres, protection and security for this section. She urged the society to work together as a commitment to making the state of Nagaland barrier-free for people with disability.

“Let us not look them an object of charity but look at them as people with potentials,” Ela reminded.

“It is a vicious cycle of ignorance, indifference, misconceptions, wrong attitude, poor commitment, lack of concern and lack of seriousness about the issue,” she said on the issue of problems and challenges persons with disabilities in the state face.

An advocate at the Gauhati High Court, Kohima bench, Apila Sangtam highlighted the court’s directives and the legal implications of non-compliance with the RPwD Act. The Act came into force on April 19 2017 replacing the older Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full participation) Act of 1995.

Sangtam said that the Act was a “sea change in the perception,” and exhibited a movement forward with regard to person with disabilities, and the role of the state government, local authorities, educational institutes, and the corporate.

The second day of the event will conducted at 10:30 am, September 20 in the PHQ conference hall in Kohima. The third programme is scheduled to be held on September 27 in the deputy commissioner’s conference hall at 12:00 noon in Dimapur. (Inputs from the IPR)