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Disability News India (DNI)

Disability News India (DNI), is a disability News service dedicated to providing a quality up-to-date information to the Indian Disability. DNI's news section is updated two times a week, though we also add breaking stories as and when they occur.




Disability News India – February 2008 Issue



Welfare organisations told to increase literacy among disabled people

CHENNAI: Social welfare organisations such as the Tamil Nadu Association for Welfare of Disabled People should tie up with educational authorities for improving the literacy of disabled people, Governor Surjit Singh Barnala said on Monday.

Launching a monthly pension scheme for disabled women on behalf of a voluntary organisation here, he said according to a recent World Bank report, people with disabilities were among the most excluded sections, besides being victims of deprivation.

The most worrying aspect, according to him, was that many disabled children did not go to school. To improve their literacy rate, the social welfare organisations, with the help of authorities, should monitor the admission and dropout of disabled people and should create awareness.

The Governor said voluntary organisations should create a barrier–free environment to ensure that disabled people led a normal life. All sections should extend a helping hand to disabled people. He wanted information technology and multi–national companies to employ meritorious disabled people.

The Governor handed over the Bharat Ratna M.G.R Award to V. Marudamuthu of Salem for his service to the disabled, on behalf of the Jeppiar Ramibai Charitable Trust.

Jeppiar, founder chairman of the trust, said the award carried Rs.1 lakh and would be given every year to a person who worked for the welfare of disabled people.

Chennai Mayor M. Subramanian said the Corporation recently distributed callipers, tricycles and white canes to 231 disabled people and Rs.5, 000 each to 50 disabled people for self–employment. Association president T.A.P. Varadakutti said disabled people did not require sympathy, but empathy, from society.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/20/stories/2008022057630200.htm

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Kathak as therapy for special children

Pune, February 20: To hold good the motto Fragile yet fragrant, Prajakta Team of Kathak dancers provide dance therapy to special children in a project that will kick–start on February 24. A demonstration was made by Prajakta team at Akshar Nandan School on Wednesday evening. "I met these dance teachers in a school gathering and motivated my child to start practising from then," said 10–year–old Mallavika Tulankar's parent.

"Every student has his own IQ and EQ on the basis of which they must be trained," said Shama Bhate, a classical dance teacher from Nadroop Trust. She undertook this activity to develop various qualities like concentration, communication, co–ordination, and memory. A practical demonstration all in tune with the tabla beats was made by Shama Bhate. Mallavika Tulankar stole the show.

Sujata Bhide, a dance teacher from Gurukrupa School for special children said that it is difficult for an artist who dedicate s his or her life to the arts and also strive for a social cause. And Shama Bhate has accomplished this. Aparna Panse, another dance teacher from Balkalyan Sanstha, with her sharp movements demonstrated that eye contact is a very important unit of communication. She also said that more and more mentally disabled students should make use of training in this medium. The workshop for mentally–challenged, visually–impaired, hearing– impaired and speech–impaired children is scheduled in Nadroop Trust on Tilak Road, on February 24.

Source: http://www.expressindia.com

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Disability prejudice by Chennai residents

New Delhi, February 19: Nine–year–old Ankit loves to paint and write but he hardly gets any time. He is autistic and the special school he goes to is hours away from home.

''Sometimes we feel bad that people think it's a problem. They want schools, which are very far,'' said Poonam, a home–maker.

Poonam says travelling for more than four hours to school everyday is telling on her son's health. But she feels helpless.

''The main problem is that he feels tired and it takes too much time,'' said Poonam.

''People don't understand that these kids are like any other children. And they are also not very social. So we need to provide them with a school in a residential area,'' she added.

The gap is widening. There are very few special needs schools within residential colonies in the capital. And those that are, such as Tammana, have had to fight for a place. ''I was taken to court by the D–block residents in Vasant Vihar at that time, when I had the land to build Tammana. They said that they refused to have a school for 'lunatics' in their posh locality. But LM Singhvi at the time, supported my decision and said that a school was a school, no matter whom it was for,'' said Shyama Chona, Founder, Tammanna School for Special Needs.

Even educators have to travel the distance. The school for children with autism in Jasola Vihar is on the fringes of the city, an isolation that is not just physical.

''There are not enough special needs schools in our community. If you look at autism, it affects one in 150 persons, which is a huge number in the population and one which cannot be ignored,'' said Indrani Basu, Special Needs Educator.

And the important thing is that these special schools need to be located in neighbourhood, as this is where awareness about the condition amongst residents would actually begin.

Although there are many countries that have recognised disability as a social issue, and not a medical one, in India, disability is still seen as a stigma.

With present statistics seemingly underestimating the number of disabled in the country, there is an urgent need for civil society to integrate disabled people into mainstream society, instead of alienating them further.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com

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DGCA blinks on facilities for disabled people

NEW DELHI, 19 Feb: Indian carriers' opposition to providing mandatory free facilities to disabled passengers has put the government under pressure.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) – which had earlier proposed this in a draft civil aviation requirement – has re–sent its proposal to the aviation ministry with the airlines' stand. Instead of issuing the CAR and making it applicable to airlines, this proposal will now be cleared or otherwise by the ministry.

"The decision is now for the government to take. The ministry had some months back issued a letter saying that all important CARs must be vetted by it first," said sources.

The ministry diktat came after DGCA issued new duty time limitations for crew members, which was opposed by a leading airline that was starting over 15–hour–long non–stop flights.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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Rights panel to make smart cards for disabled people

New Delhi, Feb 18: Multi–purpose smart cards for disabled people in the country are set to become a reality, thanks to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The cards will contain all basic information about the holders and serve the purpose of an identity card too. The NHRC officials Monday said that they were working out the details to get smart cards for disabled people, who according to the 2001 census constitute around 20 million of the country's total population.

Speaking at the round table conference on the implementation of Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Monday, Justice S. Rajendra Babu, chairperson of NHRC, underlined the need of a proactive role to help out disabled people.

"There should be separate resource allocation for the schemes meant for disabled people. The urban development and human resource development ministries should ensure barrier–free buildings and schools for them," Babu said.

"NHRC favours zero tolerance in the case of implementing programmes and policies meant for the people with disabilities," he added.

NHRC would entrust an independent agency to prepare the smart cards for disabled people.

"We will identify a single agency to prepare an all purpose smart card for disabled people. The details are being worked out," Aruna Sharma, joint secretary of NHRC, told.

"NHRC will also organise as many as five regional workshops to discuss issues concerning the disabled people and to create awareness among them about rights and privileges they enjoy," she said.

Source: http://www.thaindian.com

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Open source has potential with solutions for disabled people

New Delhi, 17 Feb: Open Source India Week (OSIW), India's largest Linux and Open Source concluded its two–day activities in Delhi today after scintillating sessions that spanned three–cities, a week–long 17 events and 100–plus speakers, and was accompanied by the ManageIT Expo. OSIW, formerly held under the banner of LinuxAsia for four years at Delhi, showcased solutions for business, mobility and human welfare.

The highlight of the second day was a very interesting and topical special session on Open Source accessibility solutions for disabled people. Opened by the legendary Klaus Knopper (of Knoppix fame) who showcased the ADRIANE desktop environment for the visually–impaired. Continuing on the same theme, Steffen Franke of Ed–Media Education, Germany spoke of the challenges of accessibility in e–learning. Professor Arun Mehta of the Computer Engg Department at JMIT Radaur demonstrated computing for those with cerebral palsy and autism and Krishnakant Mane, researcher at the TIFR, Mumbai demonstrated accessibility features of the GNOME desktop.

Speakers at the Accesibility session highlighted a few key needs which they hoped the developers gathered there would solve in the future some included software that speaks in the local language and local accent, eye–pointing technology (that can take inputs from the eyeball movements of profoundly–disabled people who can communicate only through eye movements), and adapting these technologies in a context that will help these people find employment. Krishnakant Mane showed how to make Firefox speak so that the visually–impaired can browse the Internet easily. As Knopper commented, "OSIW shows that there is no necessity to use proprietary software any more. You can do everything better with open source. Open source makes it better for everyone including users with handicaps to use modern technology on the Internet."

Another angle to the issue of accessibility to computing for people with special needs was brought in by Arun Mehta. "Commercial software makers do not get into this area unless they see a marketing angle to it. But in the open source world, you will find that many developers themselves are disabled people, they use it on a day–to–day basis and also contribute back to improve the software they use. This creates an ecosystem that promotes innovation in development of solutions for accessibility", said Mehta.

The Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu is working to find appropriate technologies for the visually impaired. At the CXO Summit, a parallel event of the OSIW, C. Umashankar, MD of ELCOT talked of the drive to train teachers for the visually impaired and mentioned the use of equipment based on open source equivalent of the iPOD Nano which the visually impaired use for storing audio–lessons. ELCOT has also worked on application software that are web–based and disability–enabled, two such solutions having already gone online, according to Umashankar.

As part of the commitment to recognize excellence in development of Open Source solutions that benefit mankid in some way, the organizers had, last year, initiated the FOSS India Awards ? opening upto 20 challenges for the Open Source world. After an year–long exercise during which a myriad applications were submitted and evaluated, the FOSS India Awads were announced during the Conference this year. The lead Award was taken by "Hindawi" a project submitted by developers Abhishek Chaudhary and Sweta Chaudhary. Hindawi enables system level programming in Indic languages shattering the myth that full–fledged systems programming is not feasible in non–English languages.

Other projects awarded were the "Zmanda Recovery Manager", which simplifies the life of a Database Administrator with a simple–to–use yet robust recovery manager for MySQL Server; and "Dhwani" ? a framework to develop Indian Language text to speech systems ? that works in Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam now.

The FOSS India Awards were sponsored by NRC–FOSS, a unit of CDAC. Said M. R. Rajagopalan, Director NRC–FOSS, "Through such incentives, NRCFOSS expects to stimulate young minds, enourage innovative contributions to the FOSS ecosystem and address the digital divide."

The Delhi programme of the OSIW included the TechZone ? workshops and technical sessions, the Software Development Talks which update software developers with the latest trends, technologies and methodologies in the open source world; while IT Implementation Talks inform IT managers of latest open source solutions and best practices across a wide spectrum of business verticals and applications.

The OSIW has been put together by the Forum for Open Source Innovation in India (FOSII) and is supported through sponsorships by Microsoft, Novell, RedHat, NRCFoss, Intel, naukri.com and others. The event continued through the week with a OSIW and the CTO Forum at Bangalore, followed by the CXO Forum at Mumbai, and now the OSIW at Delhi accompanied by the ManageIT Expo. India's biggest Linux and Open Source conference and expo, formerly held under the banner of LinuxAsia for four years at Delhi, has expanded across the three cities and now spans week–long 17 Events with 100–plus speakers and mainstream exhibitors showcasing solutions for business, mobility and human welfare.

The Conference speakers included such leading lights as Klaus and Adriane Knopper, co–developers of Knoppix; Dr. Anthony Wasserman, Executive Director of the Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Open Source Investigation (COSI), Louis Suarez–Potts of OpenOffice.org. Indian speakers and industry leaders include Nandkumar Pradhan, CEO of Red Hat India; Sandeep Menon, Head of Novell; Vikas Kanungo, Chairman – The Society for Promotion of e–Governance, India; and C Umashankar, MD, ELCOT. One of the star speakers was David Axmark, who is a co–founder of MySQL, a firm that was recently bought by Sun Microsystems for US $ 1 billion.

The Forum for Open Source Initiatives in India (FOSII) is a body that aims to accelerate the adoption of Open Source (OS) by fostering innovation and development within the country. Set up by a group of individuals from the Linux/Open Source community, its membership comprises senior industry professionals, technology journalists, enthusiasts, media–persons and others from the OS community.

The Open Source India Week (formerly LinuxAsia) Conference and Expo is an initiative of the FOSII. The event is managed by the EFY Group, a multi–faceted media house, publishers of LINUX For You and Electronics for You magazines.

Source: http://www.indiaprwire.com

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Make museums accessible to disabled people: experts

CHENNAI: If you have ever wandered inside a museum lost in the remnants of history, you would agree that the experience can be both awe inspiring and educative, but as with most public institutions such facilities have remained inaccessible to disabled people.

The Regional Museum of Natural History (RMNH), Mysore, sought to change that. The work of its officials has since branched out in attempt to make museums across Indian accessible to everyone.

On Thursday, the RMNH together with the Tamil Nadu Science and Technology (TNSTC) inaugurated a national conference on museums and persons with disabilities.

Scientist in Charge, RMNH, B. Venugopal, said: "Museums are meant to serve the public, this includes those with disabilities. From 2006 onwards, we have not only established spaces such as the museum garden for the disabled at RMNH, but also taken the message across the country through seminars such as these."

Mr. Venugopal said that the seminars and workshops aimed to push towards the creation of a national policy.

"The recommendations that come out of this workshop will be called the Chennai declaration," he said.

Chief Guest of the conference, Madras University Vice–Chancellor S Ramachandran said: "Museums are public spaces that can be a source of great excitement and are increasingly seen as part of entertainment as much as education.

There is, therefore, a need to take pro–active steps to create a barrier free environment for everybody. This is mandatory under the law," he said. He urged for such meetings to be conducted at the district–level as well.

Secretary–General, International Council of Education for visually impaired, M.N.G. Mani, said all public institutions should ensure that at least the minimum standards required to ensure accessibility are followed. "But it is more important to sensitise the public and those who run the institutions on the special needs for disabled people. It is also important to understand that different types of disabilities exist and each of these needs to be taken into account when seeking to create a disabled–friendly environment," he said.

TNSTC Executive Director P. Iyamperumal said that they had been conducting various programmes for those with disabilities and intend to continue this. "We have also introduced the idea of "Learning through doing," as a part of this we have introduced Braille and audio messages on displays. Nobody should feel deprived. Science should be open to everyone, he said, emphasising the need for everyone to recognise the potential of differently–abled persons.

Several heads of institutions as well as special students attended the inauguration of the conference, which will go on until Saturday.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/16/stories/2008021650600200.htm

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Access voting process for disabled people

Disabled people are alive to the issue of their political identity and it is an acknowledged fact that disabled people has never been seen as a collective group or as a vote bank. In our state, disability has not been considered as a matter of political power but only as the domain of medical and welfare professionals. These can be gauged from the silence of the political parties to voice for the emancipation of the disabled people– be it in their election agendas or manifestos.

Moreover, it was in April 2004 the Election Commission of India has ordered all the Chief Election Officers and Chief Secretaries of States and Union Territories to set up wooden ramps and other facilities for easy access of disabled voters in selected polling booths. Despite this Order, no such arrangements were made in the M.P and Assembly bye–elections that took place. This is nothing but a clear denial of citizenship rights and denial to participate in the democratic process of the state.

The concerned authority should initiate measures to ensure no disabled people, whatever be the nature of their disability, are denied their democratic right to exercise their franchises in an accessible environment in the coming General Election. The polling and armed personals on election duty need to be sensitize on the issue of disability. We write this to you, as we are fully convinced that generating awareness through print–media is a powerful tool available to voice the voices of the unheard.

Source: http://www.nagalandpost.com

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Schools refuse admission to special kids: Survey

Kolkata: Law enforces have ensured a 3% reservation in schools for special children. But when it comes to implementing that, the city seems to be rather indifferent to the proposition.

Sruti Disability Rights Centre, has conducted a survey in collaboration with CRY (Child Rights and You) in 2007. According to the Person with Disability Act, passed in 1995, all government and government aided schools should have 3% seats reserved for children with disabilities. The study was carried out in 30 schools that had granted permission to the organization to conduct the survey.

It revealed that only 0.16% disabled students take admission in government schools and 0.31% in private schools. The study also showed that 66% of the students have been rejected admission by normal schools.

"The schools have refused admission to these children on three counts, first, the schools were not capable of adjusting with the disabled children. Second, lack of trained teachers and finally, some schools said there were no ramps or user friendly toilets required for these children," said Saptarshi Mandal, a volunteer who carried out the survey.

When the report of the survey was submitted to the office of the disability commissioner, the latter shot of a letter to the state higher education department.

"However, there was no reply from the school education department, to add to that, there seems to be no initiative from the disability commissioner's office either, apart from sending a letter requesting schools to implement the Act. Thus, we were forced to file a public interest litigation in the high court," said Shampa Sengupta, a member of Sruti.

Source: Times of India, Kolkata edition, Feb 1

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Software to evaluate developmental disorders in children developed

CHENNAI: Now, a software matrix of 48 questions can perhaps give you vital leads on a pervasive development disorder like autism more quickly than a year or two of clinician visits.

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The Automated Software Screener for developmental disorders, developed by a Chennai–based engineer–doctor team, is based on a computational questionnaire matrix that can be used as a pre–clinical tool to evaluate whether a child's development milestones are age–appropriate.

"We initially set out with a questionnaire of around 200 enquiries. The subsequent pruning based on inputs from experts has helped make the matrix more reliable and sensitive," said Sampathkumar Veeraraghavan, computer science expert, who developed the software along with young general physician Karthik Srinivasan.

The computer scientist and medical practitioner had come together to contribute to a social cause by floating Brahmam, a forum aiming to develop technological aids for disabled people, that eventually led to the creation of the software.

The software framework of the screener comprises an automated screener system, a report generator system and gaming techniques (which are being fine tuned). Based on the responses given by the primary care taker, the screener evaluates the child in the areas of fine and gross motor, social and language.

At the end of the screener sessions, a typical session takes no more than 25 minutes, the screener will send a comprehensive report stating whether the child demonstrates any symptoms for developmental disorders or not.

The software developers propose to dedicate the software tool free of cost to schools across Tamil Nadu some time next month.

The software's value lies in the accessibility it provides for rural areas and the simplicity that can guide even the uninitiated to do a preliminary disability screening.

"Importantly, even a lay parent using the software can now be reassured that the child is attaining the development milestones," said Jaya Krishnaswamy, director of the Madhuram Narayanan Centre (MNC) for Exceptional Children, which played a key role in field testing the tool.

Schools are an ideal starting point for implementing the software–based screening model, said Mr. Sampathkumar. If trained, teachers will be able to shortlist children suspected of a development delay and refer them for evaluation by an expert clinician.

"We are thinking of making the software available across the country once the piloting in Tamil Nadu is successful," said Mr. Sampathkumar.

The screener has already proved to be a reliable index of disability from trials involving disability experts and expert clinicians, and won awards and accolades at several international forums.

It has also won for Mr. Sampathkumar the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)'s Regional Activities Board (RAB) GOLD Achievement award and the IEEE Asia pacific GOLD award for 2007.

According to the software developers, a multi–lingual version of the screener is under development.

In conjunction with the launch of the software next month, it is also proposed to open a web portal where parents can access the screener to make a preliminary assessment for childhood development delays.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/14/stories/2008021453680400.htm

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Ability to love conquers disability

New Delhi: On Valentine's day here is a love story which has romance, tragedy, drama and sacrifice. At the outset it might sound like a bollywood saga but this is a real story of real people.

20–years–ago, young and spirited Namrata and Yogesh Paul began their love story like any other couple. But just two years after they began seeing each other in college, Yogesh was suddenly diagnosed with partial paralysis.

He lost life in both his legs and he became a wheel chair user, his dreams of marrying his true love and leading a happy life seemed to have come down crashing. So with a heavy heart he suggested that Namrata look for life anew elsewhere, but as they say 'love works in strange ways', destiny had a different plan for them.

Namrata says, "With his illness I became more determenied to prove my love for him. I believe very few people in life get a chance to prove what they feel for the person they love and get to spend the rest of their life with them."

Yogesh feels deep gratitude for her as he says, "I love and respect her a lot because of the sacrifice she has made for me, and I feel there are very few people in life who have the ability to prove their love."

Namrata's father was initially against the match as Yogesh's paralytic condition was a major concern, but his daughter's defiant and uncompromising faith in love conquered all. Today the happy couple have two lovely children and Yogesh's physical condition has never come in the way of love or happiness.

"For me his illness was never an issue, in fact whenever life challenged us with any problem, we faced it together and our bond became stronger. All we want is to give a good life to our children and I'm sure we can do it together," she adds.

The couple may now share a few more strands of grey hair and a few more pounds, but deep down Namrata and Yogesh are still the 20 something love birds who began a journey with just faith and love in the winter of 1987.

Source: http://www.ibnlive.com/

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AIDS Awareness Program for Speech and Hearing Impaired

Regional AIDS Training Center and Network in India (RATNEI) under the banner of International Health Organization (IHO), in Patna on Sunday, for the first time in Bihar organized an HIV AIDS awareness program for the speech and hearing impaired at the Rotary building in the state capital.

With the aid of a sign language interpreter, noted physician and IHO director Dr. Diwakar Tejaswi answered the queries of the guests concerning HIV AIDS, its effect, and ways to avoid and treat it.

The event was organized in collaboration with Rotary Pataliputra, Rotary Patna, and Bihar Association of the Deaf and was attended by prominent physician Dr. C. L. Khandelwal, Professor Anand Murti, Vice President of the Deaf Association of India, and Rotary Pataliputra president Anil Saraf.

Source: http://www.patnadaily.com/

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Companies fail access test

New Delhi, February 12: None of the 15 Indian companies surveyed had websites which met the international accessibility standards.

About 10 per cent of the world population is disabled persons. Do companies take into account this segment during their website design?

Apparently not, going by the findings of a survey done by Barrier Break Technologies, a company which does business in providing accessibility–related services to companies.

It surveyed the websites of 15 companies listed on NYSE and NASDAQ in December 2007. The aim was to ascertain the extent of web accessibility awareness and compliance in India.

A combination of both automated and manual tests were done by people with different disabilities.

The main standard against which the tests were conducted were the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG, published by the World Wide Web Consortium in 1999 as part of its Web Accessibility Initiative.

The norms include things like provision of equivalent alternatives of access to auditory and visual content, non–reliance on colour alone in websites, clear tables and so on.

All the companies failed the test of accessibility.

Says Shilpi Kedia, managing director of the company: These are what you must, should and can do. The companies have to start thinking of the bigger picture if they want to go ahead, especially since India has ratified the United Nations convention on the Rights of Disabled People.E

The websites were put through automated W3C HTML and CSS or (cascading style sheet) online validators. These check the validity of the webpage's code.

Two websites came close to achieving single A, Satyam and WNS web pages had only one error, the survey said. Wipro showed four errors, Rediff, Patni and MTNL showed six errors and Dr Reddy showed five errors.

Accessibility of a web site enables it to be accessed by new assistive technologies, by disabled and old people , makes it voice enabled for visually impaired and so on.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com

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Couple adopts hearing–impaired kid

MUMBAI, 12 Feb: All of 16 months, Prarthana Mudgal moves around the 11th floor of KEM Hospital without a care in the world. An oversized bandage wrapped around her right ear is the only sign showing that she is recuperating from a gruelling surgery.

Born hearing–impaired, Prarthana is lucky to have her disability detected early and fixed through a complex cochlear implant surgery on February 8, even before she starts babbling. But what makes Prarthana's story more heartwarming is the fact that she found a warm family who embraced her despite the disability. Prarthana was adopted from Matruchaya, an adoption agency in Bhopal, by Anil and Nutan Mudgal when she was eight months old.

ENT surgeon Dr Hetal Marfatia Patel, who operated on Prarthana with emeritus professor Milind Kirtane, said, "There is a lot of effort involved in bringing up a hearing–impaired child. Even after the cochlear implant, she will require two years of extensive speech therapy. It's commendable that the couple has knowingly accepted the challenge."

In a country where disabled children often have the odds stacked against them, particularly when it comes to adoption, the Mudgals' action is certainly a positive step forward. They learnt about Prarthana's hearing disability a few months before formally adopting her.

"There were tiny signs that alerted us. She would never let us switch off the light, even at night. Now, on hindsight, we realise that the darkness probably cut off her communication," said Anil.

A BERA (basic hearing test) in an Indore hospital confirmed their fears. Prarthana's disability fell in the "profound hearing loss" category. It is estimated that every one in 1,000 children is born with a hearing disability.

Unlike most couples who simply hand back disabled children to the adoption agency concerned, the Mudgals urged the courts to speed up the paperwork needed in the adoption process so that they could start Prarthana's rehabilitation without any delay.

"One shouldn't think too much about these things," is all Anil would say, pointing out that "anything could happen to anyone". Anil, who owns a dairy in Bhopal, also runs a voluntary organisation called Arushi, which spreads awareness on the rights of people with disabilities.

Prarthana, who was admitted to KEM Hospital on February 6, underwent the surgery two days later. Cochlear implant or a "bionic ear" is a hi–tech electronic device that helps children with profound hearing loss pick up sounds by stimulating the hearing nerve.

Prarthana's implant marks the slow progress of KEM's cochlear implant programme, the only such at a public hospital in Mumbai. Hers was the fourth implant, with two conducted in the span of last week.

The high cost of Rs 9.4 lakh at KEM pales when pitted against similar surgery in private hospitals. Besides, as Dr Patel pointed out, "There are a number of charitable organisations that fund cochlear implant surgeries, particularly in public hospitals, but awareness about the surgery is still picking up."

The Mudgals cheerfully point out that "nothing is more expensive than life". With grandparents, uncles and aunts fussing over Prarthana, the family certainly makes for a happy picture.

On February 25, the child's device will be "switched on" and she will for the first time hear sounds.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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'Disabled people are most excluded in India'

Chennai: Disabled people are most excluded in Indian society, according to a World Bank report. The recent WB report on 'People with Disabilities in India has brought to light that apart from low literacy and employment rates, widespread social stigma were leaving disabled people behind.

With better education and more access to jobs, India's 40 to 90 million physically disabled people could generate higher growth, which could benefit the country as a whole, the report said. On multiple deprivations, it said household with disabled members were significantly poorer than average, with lower consumption of fewer assets. Children living with disability were four to five times less likely to be in school than children from Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) families.

''Increasing the status and social and economic participation of people with disabilities would have positive effects on everyone, not just disabled people,'' the report quoting leading Social Protection specialist and main author of the WB report on disablities Philip O' Keefe said. At present eight per cent of the Indian population was disabled people.

The figures were debatable since the proportion of disabled people in Indian varied from the official figure of two per cent to alternative estimates of four to eight per cent. ''It depends on the definition that you give to the term disability,'' he added. Out–of–school rate for the disabled in India was more than five and a half times the rate for all children, which was less than seven per cent. Female illiteracy among the disabled was 64 per cent while male illiteracy accounted for 43 per cent.

Source: http://www.morungexpress.com

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Ensure rights to physically disabled people

MANGALORE: Any person born in this earth, however perfect his physical condition, is disabled persons with reference to his physical abilities,EMangalore University Vice–Chancellor Prof K M Kaveriappa has said.

A person was identified himself as physically challenged only when the disability was shown in his early stage itself, he said adding that the society should ensure every human right to those unfortunate people.

Kaveriappa was addressing after inaugurating the Continuing Education Programme of Indian Speech and Hearing Association organised by its DK district unit as part of the 40th Ruby National Conference at the T M A Pai International Convention Centre in Mangalore on Friday.

He said that integrating physically challenged with the mainstream of the society was the responsibility of the mass.

Physically Disabled persons need psychological counselling to make them feel to be part of the society,Ehe added. Elaborating on the statistics of Disabled persons, he said that out of 600 million disabled persons across the world, 50 per cent belonging to underdeveloped or developing countries.

Majority of Disabled persons were illiterate, poor and were from rural areas, he informed. The number of rehabilitation centres in the nation should be increased on a need based criteria along with providing modern infrastructure,Ehe said.

Experts in the field should find out solution to reduce the number of physically challenged population giving priority to gene therapy or stem cell research, Kaveriappa added.

ISHA president Dr Vijayalakshmi Basavaraj said that Speech and Hearing was a multi–disciplinary field which was introduced in the nation 43 years ago.

Source: http://www.newindpress.com

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Disabled people threaten to lay siege to Assembly

Hyderabad, February 05: Disabled persons demanding pension of Rs 1500 along with other pending demands are back under MRPS leader and Vikanlangula Hakkula Porata Samiti founder president Manda Krishna Madiga, and this time they threaten to lay 'siege to Assembly' on February 26, if the State Government failed to concede their demands.

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Announcing this here today before media, Krishna Madiga said to bring pressure on the State Government, they will also organise 'Siege Collectorates' on February 11 and 'Siege Mandal Offices' on February 16 in the State.

Likewise, in Hyderabad, VHPS will organise relay hunger strikes from February 11 to 25.

VHPS state convenor Kolli Nageshwar Rao said if the State Government still ignores the demands of VHPS, they would be forced to lay Siege Assembly on February 26.

"In this regard, we are also seeking support from weaker section associations, caste organisations, employees federations and students outfits," he added.

Source: http://www.siasat.com/

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A day in court for disabled people

KOLKATA, Feb. 4: In a move to recognise the plight of physically disabled persons, the first Lok Adalat session for cases related to these persons in Barasat sub–division of North 24–Parganas was held at Barasat yesterday. A bench comprising Mr Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, Mr Justice Ranjit Kumar Mitra and Mr Justice Prabir Samanta of Calcutta High Court and Ms Bandana Roy, the chief judicial magistrate of Barasat disposed of 417 cases in the Lok Adalat session.
Most of the complaints that were heard related to cases of harassment in private and state government buses.

Physically disabled persons alleged that most of the time, the seats reserved for them in buses are occupied by ordinary people, who often refuse to vacate the seats.

They also complained to the judges that even after furnishing proof, they are not allowed to have a seat in the buses and face harassment from both co–passengers as well as the bus driver and conductor. They alleged that the worst offenders are the drivers and conductors of state government buses who do not cooperate with them and instead misbehave and use foul language.

Ms Samina Bibi, a resident of Kalapara in Barasat and Ms Nargis Khatun, a resident of Dhokra had come to the court room seeking redressal for their plight. While Ms Phuljehar Bibi, a resident of Matiyar, alleged before the bench that though she has to beg for a living, she has not been provided with any Below Poverty Level (BPL) card.

She also alleged she has been denied a house under the Indira Abasan project.

Ms Bandana Roy, the chief judicial magistrate of Barasat said: "Through this Lok Adalat session we want to convey a message to physically disabled persons that we really want to stand by them. We know that they are subjected to harassment from various quarters and in order to minimise such acts and also to give a ray of hope to these people we organised this Lok Adalat."

Barasat court registrar, Mr Mukul Kundu said the session, the first of its kind, was arranged for swift disposal of cases relating to disabled people

The Lok Adalat session was organised by the legal assistance committee of the Barasat Court and the Calcutta High Court.

Source: http://www.thestatesman.net

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Indian Parliament portal to be disabled–friendly

NEW DELHI, February 04: The Indian Parliament website would soon become disabled–friendly, thanks to a text–to–speech technology to be provided by IBM.

IBM is facilitating to make the portal disabled–friendly, by licensing the technology through the government–owned Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C–DAC).

"IBM has licensed the text–to–speech (TTS) technology through C–DAC for enabling the Indian parliament website. The TTS will be first available in English and is to be extended to other Indian languages starting with Hindi," a highly–placed IBM official told CyberMedia News.

"The TTS technology has been developed at the India Research Labs of IBM in Delhi and is to be integrated with other applications such as WordPad, text pad, spreadsheets and email clients," the official informed.

The TTS technology code named – Shrutlekhan–Rajbhasha is part of IBM and C–DAC's joint research project MANTRA–Rajbhasha.

The joint research project will also ensure accuracy in translation from English to Hindi the domain of administration, finance, agriculture and small–scale industry. The Department of Official Language, under the Home Ministry, is sponsoring the project.

Source: http://www.chennaionline.com

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Job fair for disabled people

CHENNAI: Live Connections, an agency that specialises in placing professionals in various sectors, is organising a job fair for disabled persons at MCC Higher Secondary School, Chetpet, on Saturday.

The event titled 'Livenable–08' is a non–profit initiative and aims to provide a platform for disabled job seekers.

Several corporates from fields such as information technology and banking would participate in the fair. Entry is free for the event, said a press release.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/02/stories/2008020258030200.htm

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