The eyes of countless Indians are on May 18 as the Centre will determine the state of the lockdown. As per several reports, even after the easing of lockdown, the restrictions would continue for at least a year or so.
Different issues have dominated the discussion, from the sudden loss of livelihood of the migrant workers to the wrongful portrayal of the Muslim community in India, as the spreaders of the epidemic by different media enterprises. A multitude of articles have been written about these topics and brought forth into the public domain. Sadly there has been very little, to no mention of the issues faced by people with disabilities during these testing times, barring a few disability organisations.
As the lockdown began on March 24 this year, I was flooded with phone calls. Being the convenor of Javed Abidi Foundation (JAF), I am used to receiving such calls but the sheer magnitude of issues that people were facing, was overwhelming!
On April 3, we decided to have a formal consultation with over 30 participants with disabilities online. This was to dissect the crisis and see how best, we as a youth-led initiative contribute towards resolving some key issues by raising our voice.
We reviewed the Comprehensive disability-inclusive guidelines for persons with disabilities during COVID-19 issued by the government but they were just set of statements with no standard operating procedures! On April 21, JAF wrote a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), marking copies to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE).
Due to inaccessibility and lockdown measures, many people with disabilities are not able to reach ration shops/places where food is distributed. The competent authority needs to issue an advisory to designated ration shops and canteens to deliver food to the door of persons with disabilities. Further caregivers are unable to reach the homes of people with disabilities. In this regard, an order should be issued to the police to assist caregivers in reaching their respective workplaces. Caregivers have to be provided with free PPE (masks, gloves and sanitizers) as a bare minimum. This should be delivered to their homes along with ration.
As per the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana Rs. 1000/- has been sanctioned towards the welfare of persons with disabilities. This ex-gratia amount is highly inadequate as the cost of living of persons with disabilities is much higher than non-disabled people. Therefore the competent authority needs to announce unemployment and caregiving allowance for people with disabilities as mandated by Section 24(3) H and I respectively of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act of 2016, along with the ex-gratia money being increased to Rs. 5000 per month. It has been 3 years since the Act has been passed and these allowances have not been announced!
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has to ensure that testing centres and quarantine zones sanctioned by the government are accessible to persons with disabilities and regularly used medicines by people with chronic illnesses and disability should be kept in reserve to ensure that they do not run out.
Updates and awareness campaigns need to have sign language interpretation, captions as well as audio descriptions to be accessible to people with disabilities. Ideally, when the Honourable Prime Minister or anyone doing press briefing, the sign language interpreter should be standing by the side of the person speaking.
While we are waiting for a response, I would like to say that I firmly believe that we have a fundamental right to make ourselves heard and only if we express our concern will the authorities act!
India is committed to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which states, “No one should be left behind” and “to reach the furthest behind first”. This needs to be seen in action.
I would like to urge anyone who feels strongly about the cause of disability to bring these issues to the notice of the policy-makers in the Government, private sector and civil society organisations to focus on the issues of people with disabilities. One could send letters or email or use social media to hold the people in power accountable. Further, if you want to join us then feel free to each out to me!
(Writer is the Convenor of Javed Abidi Foundation. He can be reached at shameer@jaf.org.in or tweet him @RishadShameer)
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks