Society’s attitude towards persons with disabilities deplored
Any talk about protecting persons with disabilities is meaningless unless rules are framed for putting into operation the laws for the protection of disabled persons already made by the federal parliament and by the provinces.
Addressing a seminar organized in Islamabad today PPP human rights cell president senator Farhatullah Babar said that excepting Sindh neither any province nor the federal government had been framed rules.
He said that in a security driven state fundamental rights and freedoms take a back seat and the bureaucracy feels any urgency to operationalise the laws relating to human rights and welfare of people.
Another challenge is the societal attitude. This attitude is reflected in the statement of a provincial minister in Punjab sometime back that disabled children are the wrath of God to punish parents for their wrongdoings.
This insensitivity of the society is a reason that rights and welfare of the PWDs does not attract the attention of policy makers and no tools are provided to make persons with disabilities economically or politically empowered.
Those insensitive towards the disabled must remember that disability is not a permanent feature and it can afflict anyone at anytime
He said that a disabled women senator recently complained that she was not invited even once to the Parliament’s Women Caucus during the last 6 years of its existence. At the country’s airports we often see healthy people take to wheel chairs to bypass the queue.
Farhatullah Babar said that only families’ support persons with disabilities but the element of state and society support to their needs is missing in the narrative.
There is a need for data collection, political empowerment, inclusive education with focus on girls, provision of jobs and accessible services for disabled persons in accordance with the international commitments of Pakistan.
Rehabilitation and economic empowerment of PWDs is also critical for Pakistan to continue to benefit from the GSP plus status for competitive exports to the EU countries, he said.
He stressed the need for availability of Braille computers, simplifying the cumbersome procedure for acquiring disability certificates and implementation of the job quota for the disabled.
Census data about the number and type of disabilities and credible answers must be provided to discrepancies in the data. He proposed that disabled women should be automatically registered as BISP beneficiaries and not forced to shuttle from office to office..
He said the issues involved were of deep concern to over 35 million people with functional difficulties and to integrate them into the society as a productive force and to mainstream them.