The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : ‘Sexuality of the disabled being ignored’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 03, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

‘Sexuality of the disabled being ignored’

Staff Reporter

‘The impaired body becomes a symbol of imperfection’
‘The roots of such thinking are found in Indian mythology’

BANGALORE: “To be human is to be sexual. But sexuality, for disabled people, has been an area of distress and exclusion and self-doubt for so long that it is sometimes easier not to consider it.”

Citing these stark, insightful comments by renowned sociologist Tom Shakespeare, Anita Ghai from Delhi University attempted a cultural explanation of the challenge facing the disabled. “In a culture (read Indian) where any deviation from a normally accepted archetype is seen as a marked deviation, the impaired body becomes a symbol of imperfection,” she said.

At a national symposium here on “Sexual Empowerment of Disabled Women in India,” Dr. Ghai used the “media onslaught” and instances in Indian mythology to justify her point. “The myth of the beautiful/athletic/perfect body defines the impaired body as unacceptable and undesirable. The roots of such thinking are found in Indian mythological instances, where Lakshmana cuts off the nose of Shurpanaka, who is interested in him.”

Overlooked

In Lakshmana’s act of disfiguring the ‘ugly female monster’, Dr. Ghai found proof of how the Indian psyche equates disability and de-sexing. “Consequently,” she observed, “the recognition that sexuality can and does play a significant role in forging personal and social identities is often overlooked.”

Dr. Ghai blamed even active advocates of the cause of disability for overlooking the sexuality angle and being part of a “conspiracy of silence”. “Within the normative society, it has not been rated as being a high priority issue. Scholars who have engaged with the issues of sexuality have not deliberated on its intersection with disability. The cultural devaluation and the extent to which the juxtaposition of sexuality and disability is silenced make it all the more difficult for disabled people to have a positive self-identity,” she said.

Shalini Rajneesh, Principal Secretary, Department of Women and Child Welfare, said disability issues had to be first tackled before the issue of sexuality came in. She went on to list her department’s initiatives to address disability concerns.

Survey

The department, she said, had undertaken a house-to-house survey of all disabled people in the State. This was expected to help route pensions, employment and other benefits to an identified group of people.

Also on the department’s agenda was a website to monitor the status of the surveyed people, and another job portal such as Naukri.com to help disabled people find employment according to their skill levels. This website would be launched in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry, she said.

The department had also written to all the universities in the State to include disability studies in their curriculum. Besides, provision had been made to issue disability certificates at the taluk level and through primary health centres.

The symposium was organised by the Society for Disability and Rehabilitation Studies, New Delhi, in collaboration with the Bangalore-based National Association for the Blind and Social Action and Research Foundation, New Delhi. The meet will continue through Thursday.

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