High court advocate Jayna Kothari said people should become aware of the rights of the disabled.

She was speaking at 204th birth anniversary of Louis Braille, organised by Karnataka Andara Sangha at Rajakumari Doddammanni Ashrama, Tilak Nagar, here on Sunday.
Quoting from her experience as advocate for cases of the disabled in High Court, she stated even she had little knowledge about their rights, but later realised that the subject was vast. “I did sincere research after I took up the cases of the visually-impaired,” she added.

She observed that the government excluded the visually-impaired from all its employment notifications. “Not only government, other advocates and judges did not consider the rights of the disabled. It was difficult for me initially, but I was able to convince the system that even the visually-impaired handle affairs on par with normal people,” Kothari said.

Pointing out that, as a result of struggle of the community, the government has now accepted to recruit visually-impaired persons for FDA and SDA positions, Jayna noted that there is a need to fight for each and every position. She added, it is regretful that the government has challenged the teachers’ recruitment in the Supreme Court. “We have been challenging the notifications every year,” she said.

She said, the disabled rights exists in books but have not been implemented. The Karnataka government has turned a blind eye on them. “Speaking about the disabled rights is not important, implementing them to protect interests of the community is necessary,” she said.

Kothari, mentioning about her book ‘The future of disability law in India’, which speaks about their rights, reassured the community that she will fight for their rights and accepted their offer to be a legal advisor for the association.

Deputy director for women and child welfare N R Vijay urged the society to recognise achievements of Louis Braille and celebrate his birth anniversary universally. He cited that talents among the visually-impaired as unique, however, they lack opportunities to showcase them.

Veerakyathaiah of the sangha said along with SDA and FDA posts, the government is conducting exams for grade 1 and grade 2 officers also. As many as 157 visually-impaired persons across the state will be attending it.

Retired teacher from Government School for the Blind T V Nagaraj, who is also visually-impaired, noted about the importance of a teacher in the life of any student and that it would be more in the case of visually-impaired students.

Jayna Kothari and T V Nagaraj were felicitated on the occasion. President of the sangha Abdul Gaffar, district disabled welfare officer H S Balaram and others were present.

A mimicry time

It was absolute entertainment for the audience with mimicry of Shailendra Swamy, a visually-impaired.

Ex-prime minister H D Deve Gowda, ex chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, opposition leader Siddaramaiah, Union minister Mallikarjuna Kharge, Mukyamantri Chandru, theatre artiste Master Hirannaiah and commentary of cricket by various artistes stole the show.

His mimicry of Deve Gowda thanking people for encouraging him to become a prime minister, providing his son H D Kumaraswamy to become a chief minister and now requesting people to elect his another son H D Revanna as chief minister made people laugh to their content, while, his performance of Siddaramaiah met with huge applause.

He did not forget to mention about Lois Braille through Master Hirannaiah. He explained the importance of teachers in life through the artiste’s voice.

B S Yeddyurappa losing power, Mukyamantri Chandru lauding the association for conducting such programmes, Union minister Mallikarjuna Kharge’s appeal to recognise the importance of the day were laudable.

Cricket commentary in ‘harikathe’ style, that of villagers and in kamsale form enthralled the visually-impaired audience.