Accessibility for all could be a future business model for some

Hi Friends,
Reproducing a beautiful article from Live Mint.Com detailing on the business sense of accessibility. Click on the title to read it from source site. Here it goes.

Accessibility for all could be a future business model for some : Akshai Jain

 

‘Blinkered mindsets’ could be preventing many from spotting the opportunities in making technology accessible

New Delhi: George Abraham is an angry man. “Why is it,” he asks rhetorically, “that I can’t issue a cheque without having it countersigned by another person? Or buy a railway ticket without wasting hours at a station?”

The brunt of his rage, however, is reserved for the cricket coverage of television channels. Very often, he says, at the end of an innings commentators sign off leaving the final score to be displayed on screen. While that works fine for everyone else, it prematurely ends the game for him, because Abraham is legally blind. But as a cricket enthusiast, bowler and the chairman of the Association for Cricket for the Blind in India, he’s very interested in knowing the score that he can’t see. “The only reason I haven’t smashed the television so far,” he seethes, “is because I own it.”

Similar sentiments are repeated across India’s disabled community. At a time when information technology and communications systems are becoming more sophisticated, and electronic devices are proliferating, this 60-million-strong population finds itself increasingly isolated.

In India, few of the new systems in the market have accessibility features that allow the visually, hearing or motor disabled to use them. “Technologies of the 1980s and 1990s like DOS (disk operating system)-based systems were character based,” says Kiran Kaja of the UK-based Royal National Institute of Blind People. “It was easy to provide accessibility in them, but current systems are very different.”

Touchscreen interfaces come without voice recognition technologies that the blind need; mobile phones are shrinking in size, making it difficult for people with motor disabilities to use them; remote controls have no standardization, requiring disabled users to familiarize themselves with each anew; and most Indian websites aren’t designed to work with screen reading software. As a result, while life has become simpler for the “normal” population, the disabled find themselves facing new obstacles.

The problem, according to Javed Abidi, one of the country’s best-known disability activists, is neither technological nor financial but, “lies in a lack of awareness and in blinkered mindsets”. Companies that sell products with built-in accessibility features abroad don’t market them here. “In countries like the US,” he says, “there are laws, section 508 for example, that lay down accessibility standards. We need something similar here.”

That already seems to be happening. In 2009, the National Informatics Centre came out with the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites that require all 6,000 or so government websites to adhere to strict accessibility guidelines. These sites now need to have alternative text for all images, icons where possible and need to limit the use of embedded applications that don’t allow screen reader access, etc.

A number of government websites are now completely accessible. “Change has been slower coming to corporate sites,” says Shilpi Kapoor of BarrierBreak Technologies, a Mumbai-based accessibility consulting firm, “but the guidelines have been a great first step towards creating awareness”.

A National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility is also on the drawing board. The ministry of social justice and empowerment, department of information technology, companies such as Microsoft Corp. and disability experts like Abidi and Kapoor have been involved in drafting it. Industry organizations such as Confederation of Indian Industry and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry provided suggestions. The policy, which will be released in a few months, lays down accessibility standards for information and communication technologies and electronics.

The drafting committee has decided to keep the policy recommendatory. “It’s a strategic decision,” says Abidi. The idea, at least initially, is to create basic standards and make manufacturers aware of them. Implementing these standards is going to involve costs of redesigning and standardizing products, a process that Abidi says is “complicated; and the procedures for which are best evolved gradually”.

The advocacy of the last few years has in the meantime already started paying off. A handful of companies have realized the market potential of accessibility and they’re reworking their technologies and business models. They acknowledge that the returns on their investments are not going to materialize anytime soon, but see their efforts as a long-term investment in broadening their markets.

Anil U. Joshi, programme director of IBM Corp.’s India human ability and accessibility group, is almost evangelical about the opportunities the new sector holds. “It’s a myth,” he says, “that accessibility is a niche or low-income market.” Neither does he believe that accessibility is only about the disabled. “Not knowing a language is a disability,” he points out. “The elderly and those with low literacy also suffer from disabilities similar to those of the disabled.”

Disabilities, Joshi believes, are graded. Instead of viewing accessibility features as a corporate social responsibility add-on to their products, companies need to start looking at their products as catering to various degrees of ability. “There’s a great demand out there for more accessible products,” he says.

IBM India has been working on a series of enhanced accessibility products over the last few years, most of which serve multiple purposes. Their Hindi speech recognition technology can be used for educating people with disabilities, and finds application in making ATMs more accessible. It’s currently also been licensed to the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing for transcribing parliamentary speeches.

The spoken Web is an effort to create the voice equivalent of the Internet. It consists of a series of voice sites that are created by users over a telephone. These sites can be linked to each other, indexed and searched. People with visual disabilities or low levels of literacy can easily create and browse these sites. The project has been tested in a few villages in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, where it’s been immensely successful.

A similar realization is taking place at Yahoo India, where a five-member accessibility team has been working to change the “developer’s mindset”. “Building accessible sites is about going back to the basics,” says Subramanyam Murali, content engineer at the company. “It’s about building functionalities first and then adding the enhancements.”

The separation of basic functionality and enhancements has not only made their sites more dynamic, but has “significantly” reduced the bandwidth they require.

“It does take an additional 10% effort to design an accessible site,” states Murali, “but it pays off in the long term”.

The engineers at Yahoo have also introduced captioning for video on their site, made sure that colour-coded elements on the site are accompanied by text, and created user interface components that comply with the accessible rich Internet applications standards of the World Wide Web Consortium. According to Murali, most Yahoo sites are now screen reader friendly. “Working with assistive technologies has become cool,” he says, smiling.

Changes have also made their way to banks and ATM manufacturers, although with a nudge from the Reserve Bank of India, which recently put out a guideline that requires 30% of new ATMs to be accessible. Rakesh Aulaya, spokesperson for NCR Corp., which manufactures ATMs with audio start-up and guide menus, Braille keypads and voice recognition technologies, says that the roll-out so far has been small since banks need to upgrade their software to use these ATMs. But he expects a significant increase in demand over the next few years. “For banks the costs involved are small,” he says, “but the benefits will be high.”

Manufacturers associations have supported the introduction of accessibility guidelines, even though they’re unsure about its affordability. “The costs (and returns) of accessibility will vary widely from industry to industry,” says Vinnie Mehta, executive director of the Manufacturers Association for Information Technology. “Larger companies may not require subsidies, but for others government subsidies will be important.”

It will be a while before electronic accessibility becomes common, but Abraham agrees that things are improving. Cricket coverage might not have changed, but television channels such as Star Movies and Zee Studio have started subtitling some of their films, and My Name is Khan has become the first Bollywood film to be released with Hindi audio descriptions for the visually challenged.

Sign Language Poetry

Poem in sign language - unheard of.
Poets who have forsaken words with a wave of hands

Vineet Gill
TNN

New Delhi: Mainstream poets play with words to channelize their spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.But some poets express their angst,joy,hope,despair through signs.For hearing-impaired persons too,poetry is a possibility.

Today,sign language (SL) poetry has evolved into a refined art form.And Dutch filmmakers Leendert Pot and Anja Hiddinga have brought this obscure and relatively new art to the capital through their five short sign language poetry films,to be screened at India Habitat Centre on Friday evening.

Every country has its own sign language.It has its own grammar and vocabulary.And playing with the conventions of any language gives you poetry, said Anja Hiddinga,adding that this art scores over conventional poetry by involving the visual space also. The message or the content is as important as the form or the gestures in SL poems.Movement of the hands of the poet,while performing,is an integral part of the poem.And the use of different camera angles and the play of lights and shadows add different dimensions to the whole performance, said Leendert.

Anja and Leendert have roped in professional translators to translate the poems of Dutch SL poets,Wim Emmerik and Giselle Meyer,to English and Dutch.The duo has filmed the poets performing their poems in SL,with English and Dutch subtitles below.

The organizers and filmmakers believe that this will not only be welcomed by the art lovers of Delhi but will empower the hearing impaired communities all over the country,giving them new possibilities of expression. A deaf person doesnt want to be constrained by his handicap.They want to communicate with as many people as possible.And poetry is a good vehicle for that, said Leendert Pot.

The idea of SL poetry films was conceptualized in 2002 by the two filmmakers when they were making a documentary about Anjas two sons who are hearing impaired. At the end of the documentary,I had Anjas son perform a poem in sign language,and I was deeply moved by it.We thought of doing something about it.We got together every week,and it took us about two years to finish the whole thing.We have been on the road since 2005 promoting and popularizing the films, said Leendert.


NEW GENRE

Sign language

A set of gestures and signs to convey the meaning visually, rather than acoustically, using varying hand movements and hand shapes

Though no international standard exists,sign languages in different countries are similar

Sign language poetry

An art form that uses the conventions of sign language for a poetic expression

Like poetry,SL poetry too has different poetic devices such as symbolism,alliteration,metaphor

A rhyme in a SL poem is conveyed by a repetition of a hand movement

Child Care Leave for Mothers of children with disabilities made more friendly

Dear Friends,

Some good news for the Government Employee Mothers with disabled children. The child care leave rules have been relaxed. Earlier the leave rules permitted women employees to avail CCL of 730 days (2 years) in their entire service up to two children till their  children were 18 years which is now extended to 22 years of age for the mothers of children with disability.

For those of you wanting to preserve a copy of the DoPT Memo  No.13018/6/2009-Estt.(L) dated 03rd March 2010, click the link to download the same. Download earlier leave Rule dated 29 September 2008 here. 

However, I have a problem with the process of such revision in the Rules even if the revision is progressive. Often the rules are relaxed on adhoc basis on reciept of some representation without thinking in larger context. Such progressive decisions could benefit many more than just mothers of children with disability up to 22 years of age!

I raise this point because I find there are several others who deserve & would greately benefit from such a progressive provison. Our experience tells us that mothers continue to care for their disabled children even after 22 years of age, also often the need of care becomes crucial if there is a member with major support needs or with mental illness in the family. And its not mother alone, it could be father, brother, sister & spouse too!

Therefore, in such scenario, it would be prudent and more justified to extend this to all such stakeholders. Also the age bar of 22 years would become redundant for other disabilities where the member may be needing life long support. That is why it is always important and logical to involve stakeholders and organisations working on the subject or representing the interests of stakeholders to come to a reasonable and benefit-all amendment in the existing rules. Organisations of parents, families with disabled members or those specialising on the support networks might have additional views on this which could be heard by the Government.

We hope the DoPT or any other similarly placed organisation would  consider this while taking such progressive decisions.

regards
Subhash C. Vashishth

To read the news article from source click here: 
Leave Rules Relaxed for Mothers of Disabled Children

New Delhi: The government has relaxed the age restriction on childcare  leave (CCL) given to women employees with disabled children. In ordinary circumstances, women can avail the special two-year CCL till their children are 18. After the extension, mothers of disabled children can  avail the leave till their children are 22.

The department of personnel and training (DoPT) passed the order after getting requests from mothers that the age restriction be relaxed for disabled and mentally-challenged children. "We consulted the finance ministry and decided to permit CCL to women with disabled children till they are 22," a DoPT circular said.

Mothers of children with a minimum disability of 40% are entitled to this, but only if the child is dependent on her. Disabilities included mental retardation,locomotor/orthopaedic disability, visual disability, speech and hearing disability.

The government had announced the childcare leave in the Sixth Pay Commission. The leave is for the entire service period and can be taken whenever the employee thinks fit, especially when the child is sick or is appearing for an exam.

During the leave period, the employee is entitled to get salary equal to what she was getting before going on leave. Besides, the Centre gives extra benefits to disabled women. For two years, they are paid Rs1,000 over and above their gross salary as childcare allowance.

A focal point in the PMO can facilitate early implementation of UNCRPD

Dear friends,

The demand and mandate for creating focal points for monitoring of implementation of Disabilities Act & UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities in India is growing bigger & louder. The activists are demanding two or more focal points within in the Government and outside the Government.

One such focal point can be a National Advisor to the Prime Minister within the PMO. Article 33 of UNCRPD mandates that the  States Parties shall, in accordance with their legal and administrative systems, maintain, strengthen, designate or establish within the State Party, a framework, including one or more independent mechanisms, as appropriate, to promote, protect and monitor implementation of the present Convention (read UN CRPD).

The UNCRPD also mandates that the Civil society, in particular persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, should be involved and should participate fully in the monitoring process.

The existing Central Coordination Committee (CCC) (proposed to be renamed as Central Advisory Committee in the amendments suggested by MSJ&E in the PWD Act 1995) should remain the second focal point to facilitate implementation of the convention and disablity related laws, rules and regulation in the country.  However, this body needs to be strengthened and made accountable to people. This would be possible by prominent involvement of civil society and persons with disability in general on such bodies.

The statement of former CJ of Delhi High Court is very relevant and echoes the sentiments of the disability sector. The disability sector has been a witness to myriad of problems of in-coordination among various ministries on the issues related to disabilities which has resulted in growing discomfort in the citizens with disability in India.

regards

SC Vashishth, Advocate

To read the news from source, click on the news title here: 'We need a national advisor to PM on disability'

In order to ensure the rights of people with disabilities, there is a need for a national advisor on the subject to the prime minister, former chief justice of the Delhi High Court Ajit Prakash Shah said Thursday.

'There is a need for a national advisor on disability to the prime minister, as it will help in bridging the gap between policies and ground realities,' Shah said at the inauguration of a two-day meet on the disability sector in the capital.

'This step will also help India fully implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) of which it is a signatory,' he added.

The CRPD requires its signatories to promote, protect, and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by people with disabilities and ensure that they enjoy full equality under the law.

According to government estimates, there are approximately 20-30 million disabled people in India. However, NGOs estimate the numbers are around 60-70 million.

In contrast to the population, NGOs like the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) say that only a handful of them are educated and employed.

Census of India-2011 to determine the correct number of Citizen with Disabilities

Dear friends,

So far the citizens with disability in India have been getting a raw deal in terms of budgetary allocation in the annual budgets as well as the five year plans. Despite 3% reservation mandate in the Persons with Disabilities Act-1995, in all Government schemes, the confusion had prevailed whether it is only of a particular ministry or a scheme or the overall budget of each ministry.

While the disability groups have been claiming later and also Govt. of India agreeing to it to a greater extent this year which manifest in the almost double allocation for Disability in the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. Govt of India - which is seen as pro-disability move of the Congress Government, however, this alone is not sufficient because of the simple reason that the head count undertaken in Census 2001 was highly unreliable according to the activists. And the budget allocation still continues on the old 2.13% figure!

Later years we have seen conflicting reports on the head count from NSSO, World Bank Report in 2007 and WHO estimates as well as the "70 Million" claim of disability rights activists. The disability numbers from various other developing and developed nations indicates that there was some systemic error in the head count done in Census 2001.

Whatever may be the reason, but the end sufferer has been the common citizen with disability. The country could not plan for this uncounted segment and they continue to live in penury without any state support for many for the welfare and empowerment schemes are based on the old & unreliable estimates. Often there are situations of conflict within the sector to lay claim on the little amount budgeted & available for their empowerment. Therefore, this time around the Disability Sector doesn't want to leave any room for such blunders that happened ten years ago.

They have taken up this task which is well timed. The idea is to look at the systemic lacunae in the way research statistics are collected. Right Questionnaire being administered by right and trained people is a must to get any reliable statistics. The training gain significance when the country is as huge as India with 2.7 million people going door-to-door for data collection!

We hope the master trainers sensitized and trained on the data collection mechanism and the questionnaire suggested by the Disability Sector will set ball rolling towards a more disabled friendly Census in India in the coming year.

Regards

SC Vashishth

Here is the news item from IANS. Click here to read from source: 2011 census to probe how many are disabled

New Delhi, March 15 (IANS) If all goes well, the 2011 census will refine its questionnaire in a bid to determine how many to Indians really suffer from disability.

The 2001 census came up with a figure of 2.13 percent of the Indian population. This, experts say, is way off the mark.  And since government schemes are based on statistics, it is important to get the estimates right.

As a first step, the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), an NGO, Monday convened a meeting with various stakeholders to frame questions to determine the size of the disabled population while conducting the census.

C. Chandramouli, the registrar general and census commissioner of India, said he would present the questions to the technical advisory committee for approval.

'Despite a sizeable disabled population, the 1991 census did not have any statistic on it. In 2001, after year-long consultations with NGOs, at the very last moment one question on disability was included in the census,' said Javed Abidi, the NCPEDP director.

But the 2.7 million primary school teachers conducting the census were not trained to handle the question. Nor did they have enough knowledge on disability. So the census showed that only 2.13 percent of the population suffered from disability, he added.

A UN study says 10 percent of all developing countries' population suffer from some disability. A later independent study by the NCPEDP showed that six-seven percent of the Indian population was disabled.

'This meant that while the government officially recognises 20-30 million disabled people, 50-60 million are invisible. This is serious, especially because all government schemes are based on statistics. Therefore, we have decided to help the census commission frame questions to help evaluate the correct population of the disabled,' Abidi said.

The questions, Abidi said, will be such that all categories of disability like autism will be included and not just visual and hearing disabilities. Also, members of the NCPEDP would have a special interactive session with 725 master trainers on the subject.

The master trainers will in turn train 54,000 trainers, who will train the 2.7 million people who will go door-to-door conducting the survey.

We need indepent commissioners for Disability and a minimum wage social security

Dear Friends,

I second the demand of United Voices for Disability Equality in Odisha with little additions.

What we require is an Independent Commissioner for disabilities, with a rank equal to secretary & be preferably from the disability sector! Also the amount of social secruity has to match with minimum wages for skilled workers looking at cost of living index in each state. The charity doles of 500, 700, 1500 do not help the person with disability live an independent life. We need to say clearly "Please stop playing politics here, we are a potential vote bank of 10.21 lakh and if we include our families, friends and wellwishers, this number could be four fold and can be devastating for the prospects of any political party in the ensuing elections!

regards
Here is the news report on demands of "United Voices for Disability Equality"

Hike in aid for the disabled

BHUBANESWAR: The number of persons with disabilities is 12.21 lakh. But Orissa is yet to have a full-time and independent disability commissioner .

Differently-abled persons under the aegis of United Voices for Disability Equality (UVDE) today demanded filling up of the post before the ensuing Assembly session for immediate redressal of the problems of people with disabilities (PWDs) .

The office of the commissioner should be outside the State Secretariat building with barrier-free access, they demanded saying currently the PWDs are facing many problems even to reach the official concerned .

It would be better if the commissioner can be selected from among the differently-abled persons or parents of the disabled children so that the actual problems of the PWDs can be solved immediately, they said .

The forum, after a day-long deliberations today decided to give a memorandum to the Chief Minister, minister concerned, Opposition members and all MLAs tomorrow. “If the Government fails to make an announcement before the Assembly session then we would hold a protest before the Assembly,’’ they said .

The UVDE, consisting of 11 organisations from 21 districts, also decided that they would be forced to go for an agitational path further if the Government would not pay any heed to their genuine demands during the session, they said adding in 18 states across the country disability commissioners are working independently according to the PWD Act passed by Parliament in 1995 .

They told mediapersons that even when a disability commissioner incharge takes the burden here, he/she cannot function independently as he/ she also looks after the programmes of other departments .

Some UVDE members even said that though the ruling BJD manifesto had been mentioning about appointment of a disability commissioner for the last three elections, no initiative is taken yet .

“Not only this is a betrayal, but politically it means a lot to all our 10.21 lakh member community,’’ they said alleging that by not appointing a disability commissioner the Government is violating the human rights of the differently-abled people, which are guaranteed under the PWD Act .

Not only the appointment of the official, but Orissa is still providing a monetary benefit of Rs 200 a month to differently-abled persons as assistance and it is far less than in other states .

While Goa is giving Rs 1,500 and Delhi and Uttar Pradesh Rs 900, Maharashtra and Kerala are providing Rs 700 a month .

On the other hand, while Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand are giving Rs 600, newly-formed Jharkhand gives double the amount of what Orissa provides, they said .

“With 2.78 per cent of the State population, we always deserve a better deal,’’ they pointed out and urged the Government to acknowledge their rights first which are ensured by the Constitution .

Throwing out workers with visual disabilities enmasse may be a bad precedent!

Dear Friends,

Cases like this are surely a discouragement to the voluntary initiative of private sector and are in bad taste-  both for employers and employees with disabilities.

Its difficult to prove how it all started and whether it was due to conflict between Management and Union or really due to no work being done by workers. One thing is clear, if the workers have been working for five years, they can't be shunted out in this fashion.

The management on the other hand should seek the active involvement of disabled employees in providing reasonable accommdoation. I also see a larger role here of NGOs that work in employment areas to diffuse the crises to set good precedent!

regards

Subhash C Vashishth

Click here to read from source:   Suspended visually-challenged workers say firm’s move against law

-Nisha Nambiar

Pune: Approach disability commissioner; company says they were doing no work but will get pay till probe ends.

Twenty visually-challenged workers, who were suspended by a private firm in Chinchwad, have approached the Disability Commissioner complaining about violation of their rights under the Equal Opportunity Act 1995, which says disabled persons cannot be suspended.

Uma Precision Pvt Ltd had issued the suspension orders on Monday. The workers submitted their representation to the Commissioner on Tuesday. The matter will be heard on Friday.

Advocate Vaishali Sarin said that the employees have been working with Uma Precision since the last five to six years and the company cannot suspend them. “It is against the law,” she said. Sarin along with these workers will hold a sit-in protest at the company’s gates on Wednesday morning.

The firm has been into auto ancillary products for 30 years and has nearly 500 employees. It had employed the workers in its punching unit. They had been working since 2005. The workers, who are part of the MNS’s Maharashtra Navnirman Kamgar Union, had clashed with the firm’s officials earlier too.

The company officials said the workers were suspended and a probe was being conducted. Director of the firm’s Human Resources department Dilip Tilekar said the employees were not doing any work and were suspended for gross misconduct. “A committee would conduct the probe. There would be a hearing in the coming week. They would be given a chance for their say,” he said. However, these employees will continue to get their pay till the probe is completed and hearing of the case is conducted, he added.

Sarin, however, maintained that workers had been doing good work and many of them are the sole breadwinners of their families. “I am the sole breadwinner of the family. It would be very difficult to find another job soon,” said one of the suspended workers. Trainer Sunil Chordia alleged that the workers were not given adequate work and the company cannot complain about them sitting idle.

emergency medical aid now legally binding on Doctors & hospitals

Emergency medical aid now mandatory for hospitals

The legislation "makes it mandatory to provide, stabilise and treat emergency medical conditions for doctors, hospitals and medical establishments.

Published on 01/29/2010 - 09:50:24 AM

New Delhi: The cabinet approved path-breaking legislation making it mandatory for doctors, hospitals and other medical  establishments to treat victims of road accidents and other emergencies and not turn away patients on specious pleas, official sources said.

The legislation "makes it mandatory to provide, stabilise and treat emergency medical conditions", official sources said of The Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Bill, 2010, that the cabinet cleared at a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reports IANS.

Once parliament passes the bill, doctors and hospitals will not be able to turn away victims of road accidents and other emergencies on the plea that these are "medico-legal cases" which they are not authorised to treat, the sources pointed out.

The Bill will apply to all clinical establishments, including those with a single doctor and without any beds, the sources added.

"The main purpose of the law is to provide a legislative framework for the registration and regulation of clinical establishments in the country and also to improve the quality of health services through the National Council for Standards by prescribing minimum standards of facilities and services which may be provided by them," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

"This would permit categorisation and classification of different clinical establishments depending on their geographical location as well as services offered. It will also initiate the process for the creation of a national registry of clinical establishments existing in the country," she added.

"The Bill will ensure elimination of fraudulent practices or taking patients for a ride," Soni said.

The Bill, which will apply to all systems of medicine, including allopathy and AYUSH, is likely to be tabled in the Budget Session of Parliament beginning February 22. It, however, doesn't apply to the Armed Forces Medical Service "since they have their own set patterns in place", the sources said.

Once approved by Parliament, the Bill will be initially applicable in Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim and all the Union Territories.

"It is expected that other states would also adopt this legislation," Soni said.

It was pointed out that while some states, among them Maharashtra, Orissa, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland, Punjab and Delhi, had passed similar legislation, "there was much to be desired by way of implementation.

"Stake-holders also pointed to the need for national levels of standards and hence this bill," official sources said.

The Bill, which the cabinet initially approved in June 2007, was tabled in Parliament in August of that year and referred to the Standing Committee on Health. The committee made 60 recommendations, of which 36 have been incorporated in the Bill.

Leprosy cured/affected still begging for want of rehabilitation measures & non-acceptance of society

Give leprosy-affected a chance: Times of India


IANS, 31 January 2010, 03:05pm IST

"Maataji, Babuji, namastey, namastey!", he greets people brightly at the traffic light, a smile lighting up his creased face. Kondasamy is one 31st Jan, World Leprosy Day (Getty Images) among the hundred leprosy patients in Delhi.

If Kondasamy, in his 30s, has ever been pained by noticing people shrink away when he puts out his disfigured hand for alms, then he has chosen to hide it behind his ever cheerful veneer.

"Tum ko uparwala banaye rakhe (may the almighty bless you)," he says in humble thanksgiving to anyone who gingerly drops a coin into the aluminium can - taking great care to ensure they do not touch the utensil - dangling from his wrist.

Kondasamy, who belongs to Bangalore, says he is cured of the disease. "I am cured. I was cured 15 years ago," he says cheerfully.

Kondasamy begs for a living to feed his family - his wife, also a cured leprosy patient, and his two-year-old daughter, who does not have the disease. He stays at a Kusht Ashram (leprosy home) in south Delhi run by the government, where there are many others like him.

"Yes, we have doctors coming to check us and I take medicines," he says. His wife stays at home to look after the child. Like Kondasamy, some of the other inmates of the ashram go out to beg.

In India, the recorded cases of leprosy have fallen from 57.6 per 1,000 people in 1980-81 to less than one per 10,000 in December 2005, which is considered the level of elimination by the health ministry as short of total eradication.

One can spot leprosy patients outside major temples in the capital, including the Hanuman temple in Connaught Place and the Sai Baba temple in south Delhi's Lodhi Colony. They sit on wheelchairs, with their belongings - all stuffed into plastic packets hanging from the chair. The wheelchair is their home - come winter, summer or rain. For protection against inclement weather, they have a thick plastic sheet to cover themselves.

And on days when there is sufficient water, like when a pipe nearby has sprung a leak, one can see them squatting near the water source, soaping themselves and enjoying a bath, by the roadside.

Food is not a problem for them if they are positioned outside affluent temples. They often get to savour platterfuls of puri, halwa, aloo subzi - all distributed by the devout on special auspicious days - notably Tuesdays and Saturdays. On other days, they get enough alms to buy food.

Leprosy (also known as Hansen's disease) is caused by a bacillus, Mycobacterium leprae. According to the World Health Organisation, the bacillus multiplies very slowly and the incubation period of the disease is about five years. Symptoms can take as long as 20 years to appear. Leprosy is not highly infectious. It is transmitted via droplets, from the nose and mouth, during close and frequent contacts with untreated cases.

According to the International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations (ILEP), a federation of 15 non-governmental anti-leprosy organisations, based in London, India currently has about 64 percent of all the new leprosy cases in the world, followed by Brazil with about 17 percent, then Indonesia with about 7 percent. Other countries reporting more than 1,000 new cases in 2006 include: Angola, Bangladesh, China, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, The Philippines, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.

A cure for leprosy was identified in the form of Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) that came into wide use from 1982 following recommendations of WHO.

ILEP says: "Many of those cured of the disease will have to live with the consequences of leprosy. It is estimated that probably at least 3 million people are living with some permanent disability due to leprosy, although the exact figure is unknown."

In the national capital, MESH (Maximising Employment to Serve the Handicapped), an NGO working with 40 groups of disabled and leprosy affected people for their rehabilitation, trains them in different craft skills.

The leprosy affected or their children are trained in weaving, designing, woodcraft and toy-making. The end products - elegant bedspreads, table linen, cloth bags, stuffed toys and cards are sold at their outlet in Delhi and Hyderabad.

MESH held an exhibition and sale of handicrafts made by leprosy affected people at their south Delhi outlet Saturday, and also screened a documentary "Towards Dawn".

Now some "Action Plan" to set things right at Asha Kiran

Dear Friends,

This is subsequent to my earlier posts on continued deaths of inmates at Asha Kiran - A Govt. Run home for Intellectually challenged persons. Now after several deaths in a row and mass agitation by Civil Society, finally Delhi Government seems to have woken up to the mess that has been created at the Govt. run home for the Intellectually Challenged persons. This indicates that persons with disabilities with no family support are not the priority of the Government. 

I have three major objections to this process:

(a)  It is surprising to know that no civil society organisations/stakeholders were invited to the meeting.
(b)  Secondly appointing contractual employees in these centres will not improve the conditions unless they are given decent wages.
(c) Thirdly though the Delhi Govt has admitted lapses on the part of authorities, there is no criminal action on the persons responsible indicating how Delhi Govt. values lives of persons with disabilities!
(d) The whole process of managing the action plan seems to be medically oriented with Doctors treating the patients! There is no rehabilitation professional involvement nor is any thing being discussed to ensure their social political rights, Right to education for children under 18 years, vocational training etc.

I wonder whether the thought process in the political class has undergone any change in light of  India proudly signing UNCRPD ! There is no doubt that  involving civil society, National Trust and Rehabilitation Professionals will give more credibility to the Government's action plan and the Government should seriously consider this for in absence of this and given the past expereince, we might see the condition of these homes "back to Square one"!

Here is the coverage from Zee News and Times of India on the subject.

regards
SC Vashishth, Advocate


Delhi Govt. Brings Action Plan : Zee News

New Delhi: Under attack for a spate of deaths at an observation home run by it for the mentally challenged, Delhi Government on Wednesday came out with a time-bound action plan to ensure proper care and medical facilities for the inmates.


As per the action plan, some of the over 700 inmates at the Asha Kiran Home would be transferred to three buildings within next two months to decongest the existing home so that each mentally challenged child get proper care and attention.

The Government also decided to deploy well-equipped ambulances and upgrade other infrastructure at the home which witnessed 26 deaths in the last five months. Two inmates had died last week while one breathed his last on Monday.

The action plan was finalised at a high-level meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and attended by Finance Minister A K Walia, Social Welfare Minister Mangat Ram Singhal, Health Minister Kiran Walia and Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta, besides several top officials.

The meeting decided to initiate a series of short-term and long-term measures to overcome existing deficiencies at the home. The home is being maintained by the Social Welfare department.

Yesterday, Dikshit had admitted lapses on the part of authorities and said over 700 inmates were staying at the home against the sanctioned strength of 300.

In the meeting, it was also decided to appoint more attendants on contract basis to ensure proper care of the children.

"To overcome the situation of over-crowding in the Home, it was decided to shift inmates to three other existing buildings, which are being upgraded," an official said.

He said an expert team of the doctors will guide the authorities to shift the inmates. The meeting also decided to appoint separate administrators for the new homes.

Further, a special ward at Ambedkar Hospital is being readied to provide treatment to those inmates who may require hospitalisation, the official said.

Dikshit also instructed the health department to deploy three well-equipped ambulances for the inmates. Apart from this, mental health experts will be visiting the Home on regular interval for check-up of the inmates.

The Chief Minister also instructed authorities to conduct review of all existing homes so that no such incident takes place in future.

Walia and Singhal had visited the home on Monday and suggested a series of measures, including upgrading the shelter to a mini-hospital.
PTI



Finally, Asha Kiran inmates to be shifted : Times of India


TNN, Feb 18, 2010, 12.46am IST
NEW DELHI: After years of neglect and many deaths, the government has finally spelt out relief for inmates of the Asha Kiran home for the mentally challenged in Rohini. What was being proposed for over a decade is now being promised by chief minister Sheila Dikshit who has set a deadline to decongest the overcrowded home by shifting its inmates to three other buildings. One building in Bindapur and two others in rural areas are being upgraded for the purpose. The home as of now has space for 350 but it houses over 700 inmates.


Shifting will be undertaken on the basis of the gravity of the inmates' mental retardation.

The segregation will also be need-based. An expert team of doctors will guide the segregation process. There will be a separate administrator for the three buildings who will be fully responsible for the running of the home and will be accountable for all actions, CM Sheila Dikshit made it clear at a high level meeting on Wednesday.

Further, a special ward at Dr Ambedkar Hospital is being prepared to provide treatment to those inmates who may need hospitalization. The chief minister expressed confidence that there will be a positive change at Asha Kiran within two months.

The meeting, chaired by the CM, was attended by Finance Minister Dr AK Walia, Social Welfare Minister Mangat Ram Singhal, Health Minister Kiran Walia, Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta, Principal Secretary (Finance) JP Singh, Secretary (Social Welfare) Manoj Parida, Director (IHBAS) and other senior officers of concerned departments.

Dikshit instructed officials to conduct a review of all existing homes so that no untoward incident takes place in future. To cope with the extreme shortage of staff, it was decided to employ attendants on a contractual basis.

Dikshit also said three well-equipped ambulances will be deployed at the home. The ambulances will act like mobile hospitals. Experts from Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences will visit Asha Kiran regularly.