EMN
Dimapur, March 23
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his marginalized section of the state continues to linger unheard of by the government of Nagaland. In fact the trend is deep-rooted that persons living with disabilities have no qualms to saying that the state ‘is not so serious’ about them. In fact, while even Meghalaya has at least four District Disability Rehabilitation Centers, Nagaland doesn’t even have one that is functional.
At least there are people who feel for the community. A nongovernmental organization called Mobility India, from Kolkata, will be providing some aids and appliances during March 25 and the 28th.The recent shocking revelation that the disgraced department, the department of School Education embezzled funds amounting to more than 12 crores reflects the attitude of the state mechanism to the plight of persons living with disability, in the state.
The disabled people have been raising the issue of District Disability Rehabilitation Centre (DDRC) in Dimapur. This marginalized population of the state had submitted memorandums to the government, to address the issue at all levels. However, the community state din the press release, the government ‘is not so serious about them.’
“Even in NEI like Shillong they have 4 DDRCs. However a lone DDRC in the state which was revived in 2010 is not functional since 2012. The machinery installed in the DDRC is all ‘world made’ donated by International Red Cross Society but lying unused. This is discrimination to disabled community,’ assistant director of the state’s disability mechanism, Maong Jamir, stated on Monday. Jamir issued a press release on March 223.
Sensing the plight of disabled community in the state, Mobility India from Kolkata will be providing aids and appliances for persons with disabilities using the machines installed in the center.
“We have some former local staff of DDRC who are well trained but had to quit their job, due to nonpayment of their salaries. However the former team will be assisting the team from Kolkata on the mentioned dates,” Jamir informed.
Persons with disabilities: Factfile
• Around 15 per cent of the world’s population, or estimated 1 billion people, live with disabilities. They are the world’s largest minority. (WHO) This figure is increasing through population growth, medical advances and the ageing process, says the World Health Organization. (WHO)
• In countries with life expectancies over 70 years, individuals spend on average about 8 years, or 11.5 per cent of their life span, living with disabilities. (Disabled World)
• Eighty per cent of persons with disabilities live in developing countries, according to the UN Development Programme. (WHO)
• Disability rates are significantly higher among groups with lower educational attainment in the countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), says the OECD Secretariat. On average, 19 per cent of less educated people have disabilities, compared to 11 per cent among the better educated.
• In most OECD countries, women report higher incidents of disability than men.
• The World Bank estimates that 20 per cent of the world’s poorest people have some kind of disability, and tend to be regarded in their own communities as the most disadvantaged. (World Bank)
• Women with disabilities are recognized to be multiply disadvantaged, experiencing exclusion on account of their gender and their disability. (Disabled World)
• Women and girls with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to abuse. A small 2004 survey in Orissa, India, found that virtually all of the women and girls with disabilities were beaten at home, 25 per cent of women with intellectual disabilities had been raped and 6 per cent of women with disabilities had been forcibly sterilized.
• According to UNICEF, 30 per cent of street youths have some kind of disability. (UNICEF)
• Mortality for children with disabilities may be as high as 80 per cent in countries where under-five mortality as a whole has decreased below 20 per cent, says the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, adding that in some cases it seems as if children are being “weeded out”. (World Bank)
• Comparative studies on disability legislation shows that only 45 countries have anti-discrimination and other disability-specific laws.
• Research indicates that violence against children with disabilities occurs at annual rates at least 1.7 times greater than for their peers without disabilities. (Global Campaign for Education, 2011)
