Empowering the disabled
Exemplary and courageous woman, Anuradha Mohit
By Abid Gowhar
She is highly trained and qualified in special education and administration, she has served as Deputy Chief Commissioner in the office of Chief Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities, Government of India, and as the Executive Director of the National Association for the Blind, she is a founder member of the International Disability Rights Group, she has worked for the enactment and implementation of the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, she has been nominated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as the global representative of National Human Rights Institutions, she has remained vice-chairperson of National Human Rights Commission, she is presently Director, National Institute of Visually Handicapped (NIVH) Dehradhun (Uttranchal) and she is a 46 year old visually blind Ms. Anuradha Mohit.
Among other initiatives, Ms Anuradha Mohit has developed and introduced a course in Human Rights, Disability and Law for legal practitioners, academics and activists. She is dedicated and committed to helping the disabled lead a normal life and has been contributing to protect their human rights and to provide them opportunities for integrating with the mainstream and in recognition of her exemplary contribution to social welfare.
Born on 28 February, 1961 in Kupurthala district of Punjab, Anuradha is renowned name in many International Human Right Forums and has also bagged a National Award for Outstanding Contribution to Social Welfare in 2005.
(During my recent visit to NIVH, Dehradhun, I got an opportunity to record an exclusive interview of the impressive personality like Ms. Anuradha Mohit. She, softly and frankly spoke about her life, achievements and on the issues related to persons with visual disability in the country....Abid Gowhar)
Excerpts of the interview:
Q: Madam, Knowing your visual impairment, how did you start the journey of your success in life?
I never let my disability to affect my life, which started as a normal human being. I lost my eye vision in an accident at the tender age of 10. And much to the family's trauma, the best opthalmological opinion in the world pronounced my condition of 80 per cent sightlessness as irreversible. I know how all the things on earth look like and still remember my normal school days also. Helpless in blotting what fate had allotted for their young daughter, my parents left no stone unturned to provide memorable and enriching experiences to my growing years. It was all unlimited support of my family that they never let me to feel that I am disable in handling any work.
Q: What about your education and first job?
I was a rank-holder right from my school days in Kapurthala and take my studies from a normal school. This is an exception, where everyone was taking care of my limitations. All the teachers were giving special attention to my studies and there was an overwhelming support from parents also. I took my master's in music (vocal) from GNDU and did M.Phil in music. At 20, I was the youngest faculty member at Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Jalandhar, where I taught theory music from 1981 to 1987 before going to Delhi for structuring the National Association for the Blind and evolved a teaching methodology for children in the nursery and preparatory school of the National Association for the Blind.
Q: Your sweet experience in life?
My marriage with a sweet person in 1988. Although it lasted only two years due to my husband's sudden demise but I looks back at the time spent with him as the most wonderful experience in life.
Q: You were visually impaired at the age of ten. You have visited 25 countries. What is your experience of last 36 dark summers on an individual level?
Disability compounded with gender is definitely a disadvantage. There is a tendency to exploit. I have been through rough times in my life but they have been part of the learning process. I learn to deal with it as it becomes my daily experience. Even boarding a public bus is like climbing Mount Everest. Even in agenda meetings that I attend, I don't recall a single instance when an agenda paper has been prepared in Braille or large print. A person's success depends on the opportunities given to him. Blindness is not the problem. The problem is the attitude of others.
Q: You are the first visually challenged person to join the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) as Special Rapporteur few years back. How did the opportunity come your way?
I got associated with the NHRC when I was Deputy Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities. A final year student of medicine who turned blind while pursuing his studies was not allowed to appear in the examination. He moved the NHRC and I went to explain the provisions of the Disabilities Act before the Full Commission. The second time they invited me was to discuss the areas in which the NHRC could initiate some projects for the disabled. We came up with a project to create awareness among legal professionals and practitioners about the rights of the disabled and to get academic law institutes to introduce a module on disability norms and standards. The NHRC offered me the job on March 8 which is observed as Women's Day. I felt all the more empowered to have been offered a job on such a serious forum.
Q: How do you propose to promote the rights of the disabled in the NHRC?
The commission's own motivation is very high. My response is to adequately respond to this motivation and am making best of my efforts to work with this highly motivated and learned team. The world over persons with disabilities are trying to assert it as a human rights issue. So far, disability has been perceived as an individual pathology and therefore the solutions were left to the individual's capacity and to his family. The human rights perspective calls for adjustments in the economic, social, political and cultural system which is fundamental to any society.
Q: As a founder member of the Disabled Rights Group and having been involved in the draft bill to provide equal opportunities to persons with disabilities, Act, 1995. Are you satisfied with the status of the implementation of the Act?
The Persons with Disabilities Act is essentially about economic and socials rights and is very comprehensive and should be essentially achieved over a period of time through progressive implementation. Unfortunately what has happened is that in the implementation of certain crucial provisions of the Act, the states have not taken any action. Local governments, whose actions are crucial in the creation of barrier free environments, have not incorporated model building law provisions in local bye-laws.
Another area we have done extremely poorly is the right to education. The child population among the disabled is as diverse as it is for other children. The choice of a school system is not determined by the state when it comes to other children. But when it comes to disabled children, the state and professionals are trying to determine what sort of education the children should receive, when it should be a prerogative of parents. The Act is comprehensive and framed in a rights paradigm when it comes to education, but what is happening on the ground is absolutely shameful.
Q: As such there is no blind school in the State of J&K, how can the Act. enforce the State authorities to open such schools?
It is highly surprising that J&K, being the highest blind prevalence state in India has got no blind school. It is a shame for the state government that they are unaware about their blind population. Around twenty five boys and girls of the J&K state are taking education in NIVH and every year children are coming from this State and under a special quota, we are freely giving admission to all of them. You see whenever any individual has tried to invoke the provisions of the Act. It has restored the rights. But the Act will works to a large extent depending on the intention of the government and the civil society. I think government should take the initiatives and effective measures right now to open few blind schools in the State for which our assistance to them will remain always open.
Q: What is the population of disabled persons in India?
The 2001 Census has given us a figure of about 2 crore 19 lakh persons. But this is not a very convincing figure as according to the WHO at least 10 per cent of the world's population has a disability. If you look within the Asia-Pacific Region, Australia has declared that 25 per cent of its population has a disability. In New Zealand the figure is around 19 per cent. Here you have India with a miniscule 2.19 per cent. It depends so much on what sort of definition a country adopts. The numbers also depend a lot on the cultural variations in which disability related questions are asked to people. A common experience cited by disabled people and their family members in the census is that the enumerator never asked the last question in the questionnaire related to disability in the family. The reason they hesitate to ask this question is that culturally it is not seen as a good question to pose to someone.
The success of the census depends on the perception of disability. For instances, in villages, mild to moderate levels of disability just pass. A lot depends on how culturally disability is constructed, perceived, and admitted. Certain disabilities like mental disabilities people like to hide. Nonetheless the current census figure is not a small one, and cannot be ignored. But it is not large enough to be considered enough for planning and investment.
Q: Recently you have taken over the charge as Director NIVH. What steps you are going to take for development and improvement of the institute?
You see it is a more than 25 year old very big institute so far as its functionaries are concerned. We have technical and non-technical training institute for adults, a modal school for children, rehabilitation center for muti-handicap people, Braille publishing press, audio library, blind sports wing etc. I intend to modernize some old fashioned things, I see every chance of improvement in education and facilitation to the children over-here and for that matter I am getting feedback from innocent pupil. But it is not an overnight job to transform the things towards. But I hope to see a positive change of the institute by the end of 2008.
Q: What is your message to the masses?
One should budget the time in the morning and audit it at night. Growing old is mandatory whereas growing wiser is optional. Hence, it is the time for all of us in different walks of life to exercise the option of becoming wiser to commit and contribute for the welfare and development of every one in the country without any discrimination and differentiation so that individuals develop their potentialities, contribute their maximum to build happy, healthy and strong nation. If that happens, it serves in great measure the cause of Human Rights.
Source:
www.kashmirtimes.com/archive/0708/070807/feature.htm
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment