The Daily Star and Action on Disability and Development - ADD
International jointly organized a roundtable discussion on “For
disability inclusive development and a society for all: Break barriers,
open doors" on December 14, 2013 in association with German Embassy and
European Union.
Barrister Rafique-Ul Haque, Senior Advocate, Bangladesh Supreme Court and Chief Guest of the roundtable:
Representation of persons with disability in national parliament is a
must. Voter may be anybody but candidate must be a person with
disability. In our constitution, in Articles 14,15,17,18, 19 and 23 (A)
it is clearly said that you cannot show any discrimination to them. The
recent Act provides all kinds of protection to them. This Act is being
prepared according to the UN Convention on Rights of People with
Disability. Under this law, persons with disability can seek remedy for
their problems. They can even file writ in court for their rights. If
anyone discriminate a person with disability the victim can take action
against the perpetrator according to this law. In our constitution every
citizen has equal rights.
Brig Gen (retd.) M Sakhawat Hussain, Former Election Commissioner:
We talked to Ministry of Education about arrangement of ram facilities
in schools because often voter centers are located in schools. He
assured us to implement the idea. Representation of people with
disability should be ensured. For that we do not need to change our
constitution. It can be done easily. In India there are reserved seats
for Christians under president's authority. We can also implement the
same policy for persons with disability.
Dr. Sayed Anwar Hossain, Professor, Dept. of History, University of Dhaka:
We have to create a friendly environment for persons with disability.
People who are not sensitive to rights of persons with disability are
disabled in their attitude. Organization is a big strength. We have to
organise ourselves.We have to fight for our rights. We have to change
our outlook. In national assembly there must be 5 reserve seats for
disabled people. And the representatives should be elected from persons
with disability.
M Nurun Nabi, Project Manager, ADD International and Chair & Moderator of the roundtable:
The theme of our discussion is 'For disability inclusive development and
a society for all : Break barriers, open doors' Since Independence, we
have cherished an inclusive society where no one will face
discrimination. This is the spirit of our liberation movement. We all
should work together for realizing that goal. We need concerted efforts
to uphold the rights of the people with disability. We know
mainstreaming of the potential of the people with disability would help
to contribute in the process of overall development of the country. At
present about 16 million people of Bangladesh are disabled.
ADD International,an UK-based International NGO, has been working for
the last 25 years to support disabled people's organizations in Africa
and Asia. It helps them to become strong and effective. It listens to
disabled people and build a shared understanding of their particular
needs so that disabled people can identify their own priorities. ADD
International responds to these needs through training, mentoring,
leadership development, conflict resolution. It supports disabled people
to access their most basic rights. In Bangladesh ADD supports and works
with groups of disabled people and Disabled Peoples Organizations
(DPOs) in 28 districts to make them organized and self-reliant.
The issue of disability is a social problem. It is a matter of the full
integration of individuals into the society. Disability is not an
attribute of an individual, but rather a complex collection of
conditions, many of which are created by the social environment. Hence,
the management of the problem requires social action and it is a
collective responsibility of society to make the environmental
modifications necessary for the full participation of people with
disabilities in all areas of social life.
A H M Noman, Founder & CEO, DORP:
We have to start working with basic rights. If persons with disabilities
get basic rights then they will be able to ask for other rights. We
should focus on mothers. There is system of providing allowance to
pregnant mothers. In this programme, pregnant mothers with disability
should be given priority. It will help reduce burden on mothers. It will
provide food and nutrition for mothers. Only then no disable children
will be born. We are working with 942 pregnant mothers. We provide them
proper care and nutrition, none of them have give birth to a child with
disability.
Dr. Kulsoom Abul Bashar, Supernumerary Professor, Department of Persian, University of Dhaka:
I can feel the grief of disabled people because I am also a mother of
person with disability. I think, the first support should come from
parents. If they take care of their children with disability, it will
help improve their mental status. When my son got admitted in Dhaka
University there was no lift facility. It was really difficult for my
son to climb up floors after floors. He lost inspiration and left
university. Now the situation has improved. There are lifts in Dhaka
University and more students with disability now continue study in that
university. I never see any teacher with disability in universities. If
there were some example like that it would boost confidence of other
students with disability.
Dr. Zinat Huda, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Dhaka:
We have come a long way in improving life of persons with disability.
Families used to hide their children with disability. Those children
were deprived of family care, social respect and support from
government. Now they get recognition from family and society. Many of
them are working like a normal person. They are raising their voices.
They ask for their rights. Adoption of this law is a great achievement. I
want to praise government and other stakeholders for their continuous
efforts. I want to suggest some points: We have to start from family. A
child with disability should be taken as a God gifted child. He should
be treated like an angel. So our parents should change their mindset and
take courage to include their children with disability in normal life.
We have to implement inclusive education system. Children with
disability should be registered in mainstream schools where they will
get special care. Media can play a good role. They can help change the
mindset of our general people.
Sohrab Hasan, Joint Editor, Prothom Alo:
We should not use the word disabled. They are able in their own way.
First we have to change our selves. We are talking about leadership in
national assembly. First we have to give priority on their
representation in their family. We have to start from family: access to
family, then society and at last at the national level. We have to fight
for our own rights. Nothing can be attained without all out effort.
Abul Hasnat, Representative, SUJON:
What are the reasons of disability? Number one is poverty. Second is how
a child is born. A pregnant mother does not get proper nutrition. So
her child also does not get enough calories. It is one of the reasons of
disability. Often they get hurt in head during birth. It creates
crippling effect on an infant and cause disability. We have to ensure
proper care of pregnant mothers and safe delivery system.
Ferdousi Begum, Deputy Program Coordinator, ADD International:
I am also a disabled person. I am working with ADD from 1998. I think
everyone can do everything if they get scope. I never think and feel
myself disabled. There was a girl with disability named Husne Ara who
was gang raped. When we went to court, magistrate dissolved the case
saying the girl could not testify about the case. Then we shifted the
case to Khulna. And some days ago the perpetrators were given 80 year
imprisonment. Our judges should be trained about the rights of persons
with disability. According to law, there should be 10% quota for persons
with disability in government jobs. But they do not get the chance. One
of our girls qualified in an exam. But she did not get the job. We do
not know why.
Nasima Akhter, President, National Council for Disabled Women (NCDW):
Disabled women often become victims of repression and sexual harassment.
Court does not allow persons who cannot speak as witness. Thus
perpetrators manage to get escape. There are many educated PWDs who do
not get scope of applying their skills. We should create employment
opportunities for them. We want our representative in parliament. Only
then we will be able to place our demand properly to the highest
authority.
M S Siddiqee , Columnist:
We should make people aware about rights of persons with disability.
Media can play a big role here. We should discuss more on the provisions
of the new act. We have disseminated the information about this Act to
remote areas of Bangladesh.
Sam Beerwith, APM, Shiree:
Among the extreme poor, people with disability suffer from worst form of
deprivation and poverty. So when we talk about eradication of poverty
we have to focus on disabled people. The new Act is a huge achievement
as it guarantees right of people with disability in Bangladesh. However,
as with any policy the real challenge comes from implementation. Now we
have a policy and a framework. We need to implement these policies. How
can we do that? One way of doing that is providing support to civil
society organization that work for persons with disability. ADD works
through a huge network of DPOs. They are working at the root level. They
can give us feedback on whether the policy is being implemented by the
concerned organizations. This is very important because that means we
can hold the government and the implementininstitutions accountable. We
need to know whether this policy is delivering in the real life or not.
The media also can play a big role here. They can monitor whether the
policy is being properly implemented or not.
Advocate Rezaul Karim Siddique , BLAST:
In the ongoing volatile political situation persons with disabilities
are forced to remain idle in house. We have recently found that a
person with disability got 20% burnt when a picketer hurled a bomb at a
bus. He failed to come out of the bus and become victim. We want to get
rid of this situation.
Sumon Hossain, President, Dhaka District Federation (DPO):
We do not get stipend on time. It should be given in every six or nine
months. In our education institutions there is quota only for blind
students. For example, in the admission form of National University it
is clearly mentioned that only blind students will get quota. There are
five to six types of disability in our country. So what about people
with other types of disability? Only the phrase ' person with
disability' should be written in quota forms. Many government schools
even do not give scope of appearing in admission test. These types of
discrimination should be ended.
Nargis Islam, DPO leader, Dhaka
I want to say about loan and allowance for the disabled. I went to a
bank to collect allowance for one of my peers who had recently died. The
bank officer took the book but did not provide the allowance or any
satisfactory reply. It is alleged that they keep the money in their
pocket. Second point is about loan. People with disability get a one
time loan of 10,000 taka. It is not adequate to start a business. I
think the frequency and amount of loan should be increased.
As an Acid survivor I did not get any help from the government. I did
not know about. When I got informed I went to social welfare office but
they refused my application as the case happened before 1999. They
misbehaved with me. I felt very upset. It is common feature of our
government office. I want a friendly environment in government offices. I
want to suggest that family of a dead person with disability should be
given the whole amount of allowance at a time. It will be really helpful
for the family.
Source: The Daily star, Bangladesh.
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9:04 PM
Maksuda
Posted in: Disable Women
