The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Physical handicap adds to gender disability: women's panel

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 05, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Physical handicap adds to gender disability: women's panel

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, DEC. 4. On World Disability Day on Friday, the National Commission for Women urged that attention be paid to women with disabilities, who bear a double burden. "Disabled women are disabled with a capital D. They are first disabled by their gender and then their physical/mental handicap," the NCW chairperson, Poornima Advani, said.

Support to prevention

Admitting that very little information was available about their problems, distribution and numbers, Dr. Advani stressed the need to support prevention, treatment, care, support and rehabilitation efforts with a reliable gender-based data on various disabilities geographically.

An environment would have to be created in which the women felt free from fears of lack of safety or of personal attacks.

Particular attention had to be paid to sexual exploitation of young girls, who were unable to protect themselves because of mental or physical disabilities.

Universalisation of access was a top priority of the disabled themselves, who demonstrated repeatedly that most public buildings in the country were not disabled-friendly.

In prevention, the focus should be on genetic counselling. The detrimental effects of consanguineous marriages should be disseminated widely through pamphlets and posters at the village-level and trained counsellors nominated in every district hospital for education and counselling of parents of children with disability as well as young girls.

While the Persons with Disabilities Act ensured that children could not be turned away from school on grounds of their disability alone, the NCW advocated that schools and colleges give priority to girls with disabilities.

The same would apply to reservation in employment. They needed to be helped with concessional loans and marketing strategies. Some States already organised them into self-help groups and this model should be followed by others, Dr. Advani said.

Special charter needed

The Commission also called for a special charter to protect the rights of women with disabilities. To monitor the progress under this charter, separate departments or directorates with sufficient funds and infrastructure must be set up.

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