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Causes to Support - Disability
There are over 70 million
disabled people in India. This is about 6% of its population.
Disability
is a physical or mental impairment that interferes with the performance of activities
expected of an individual of a certain age. Many disabled people have demonstrated
their capacity to excel in professional courses, but their employment percentage
in comparison is still a dismal 0.4%. There is an urgent need to assimilate them
in the work force to enable them to live a life with dignity and contribute to
the national GNP. Disability needs to be a 'social, development, economic or a
progress issue' rather than just a 'medical one'.
Some relevant
websites:
www.disabilitynet.org.in/legal/index.htm
www.healthlibrary.com/reading/disability/defi.htm
www.ncpedp.org
www.empowerinfo.com
Issues
I Specific Disability
1. Cerebral palsy
2. Mental
3. Physical, locomotor
4. Autism
5. Speech, Hearing, Visual
6. Multiple Disability II Capacity Building
1. Livelihood & Training
2. Education
3. Rural awareness &
Advocacy
4. Indigenous Technologies Click
here for Recommended NGOs Click
here for General NGOs List
Specific Disabilities - Cerebral
Palsy There are more than 3 million people afflicted by cerebral palsy,
and the figures are rising.
Cerebral palsy is a term, which covers a variety
of disorders that affect a child's ability to control movement and maintain posture
and balance. It is caused by injury or damage to the brain before birth or in
early childhood. Top
Specific Disabilities - Mental
More than 10 million people are the
victims of mental deficiencies.
Mental handicap is a delay in the development
of a child. A child with a mental handicap will learn things at a slower rate
than other children of the same age. Mental handicap or retardation refers to
a condition and not a disease. This is characterized by sub normality of intelligence.
These disabled are dependent on others for daily activities.
Specific
Disabilities - Physical / Locomotor
A disabled activist had to file
a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) in order to make air travel accessible and
disabled - friendly. More than 8 million people are physically handicapped.
Locomotor disability means a person's inability to execute distinctive activities
associated with moving. This is the result of an affliction of bones, joints,
muscles or nerves.
A person with such a disability finds it difficult to
walk or lift objects.
Autism
Autism is a disorder
of the brain that causes a lifelong development disability, primarily affecting
the communication and social abilities of people. Symptoms of the condition are
evident either from birth or may begin appear after a period of normal development,
but definitely by the time the child is two and a half years old.
Autism
is known as a 'spectrum disorder,' because the severity of symptoms ranges from
a mild learning and social disability to a severe impairment, with multiple problems
and highly unusual behavior. The disorder may occur alone, or with accompanying
problems such as mental retardation or seizures. Autism is not a rare disorder,
being the third most common developmental disorder, more common than Down's Syndrome.
Typically, about 20 in a population of 10,000 people will be autistic or have
autistic symptoms. 80% of those affected by autism are boys. Autism is found throughout
the world, in families of all economic, social, and racial backgrounds. Doctors,
politicians, and rickshaw drivers alike all have autistic children.
www.autism-india.org
Top Specific
Disabilities - Speech, Hearing and Visual 3.5 million are hearing impaired.
2 million are speech handicapped .Over 5 million visually deprived.
Blindness
greatly restricts the capacity of the individual to obtain information about the
environment and function independently. A person is considered visually impaired
when there is: - total absence of sight - visual activity of 20/200 or 6/60 in
the better eye with correcting lenses - visual field subtending an angle of 20
degrees or worse. Hearing impairment means having a problem with hearing.
Hearing impairment and the difficulties it can cause, is based on two factors:
- the degree of hearing loss, and, - the age at which the hearing loss manifests
itself. Hearing is essential to acquire language and speech. If a person does
not hear clearly, he will not be able to speak clearly. Normally loss of one sensation
leads to the loss of the other.
Specific Disabilities -Multiple
About 80% of people with disabilities are in the rural areas.
Parkinson's
Disease, Leprosy. Loss of sensation and other physical impairments are included
here as forms of disability.
Some relevant websites:
http://www.healthlibrary.com/reading/disability/edu.htm
Top
Capacity Building
The number of disabled persons in the Employment
Register till 2000 was over 5 Lac( estimated population of disabled persons :
70 million)
There are over 200 voluntary organisations that offer facilities
for vocational training to disabled persons. NGOs addressing the issues of empowerment
of the rural poor are actively including persons with disabilities in self-help
groups. They are mobilising support for them through community based services.
Training programmes that cater to Skill development greatly increase the capability
of disabled people. The inclusion of disability in the 2001 Census has been a
turning point in the awareness campaign of the disability sector. NGOs are trying
hard to overcome prejudices and bridge the barriers between disabled and the non-disabled. Capacity
Building includes: - Social Mobilization and Awareness
- Networking
- Employment
and Training
Education India has approximately 35 million
children with disabilities but less than one per cent has access to education.
There is an urgent need to ensure the provision of education for disabled people.
Research on designing and developing new supportive devices, teaching materials
is being done to give a child with disability equal opportunities in education.
Several factors like necessary changes in staff training for educators, parental
support, community involvement, and inter-agency co-operation are being emphasized.
The Policy on INCLUSION education represents a supportive approach to serving
those with special needs. Top
Indigenous Technologies
Low cost indigenous technologies have
been developed to enable the disabled to acquire a range of skills required for
their economic and social participation in society.
For details on Government
Schemes for the disabled click here:
http://socialjustice.nic.in/disabled/schemes.htm
www.nationaltrust.org.in (National
Trust Autonomous body under Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment)
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