One comes across young as also old men, women and children with physical and/or mental disabilities in all parts of the country. It may be noted that disability is a physical or mental condition because of which a person’s movements, senses, or activities are limited. Disabled people, therefore, are constrained in many ways.
In the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007), persons with disabilities are defined as those suffering from 4 types of disabilities viz. visual, loco-motors, hearing and speech and mental disabilities.
There are many kinds of disabilities such as physical disability (in which the movement of a person in curtailed because of the bodily condition e.g., amputated limb), visual disability (in which there is partial or complete loss of sight, hearing and speech disability in which a person suffers from speech and/ or hearing impairment), and mental disability (in which the person suffers from mental dysfunctions).
Image Source : 4thmedia.org
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The disabled therefore, do not constitute a homogeneous category. According to National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) countrywide surveys the population of the physically disabled persons has increased from 13.67 million in 1981 to 16.36 million in 1991. In 2001 the number of disabled persons is estimated to be 20.5 million which is roughly 2 per cent of the total population in the country.
It is important to understand that disabled persons are like others with their own dreams and aspirations that they seek to pursue. Surely, they have a right to lead a life of dignity. Most of them are exceptionally sensitive about their disability and feel disheartened and disappointed if they are not treated well.
Often the way people treat the disabled in society is born out of (i) local beliefs (some people believe that disability is the result of an evil deed performed by the person in the present or previous birth.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Disability then is treated as a punishment by the gods. Many people, therefore, treat the disabled with contempt and do not empathies with them), (ii) lack of information because of which disability such as paralysis is treated as contagious. Many people refrain from going near a paralytic person, and (iii) general rejection because of poverty or failure to recognise the potential and capabilities of disabled persons. Not surprising then, that they are treated as a burden on society.
It is worthwhile to recognise and identify their needs and create opportunities through which they are able to achieve self-reliance. What is important is to encourage the disabled to be self-dependent and self- reliant.
Apart from the endeavour of the government, this can be done both at the family level with involvement of family members, neighbours and friends as also at the community level through rehabilitation centres. People who interact with the disabled need to be sensitised to appreciate their special needs, abilities and potential for meaningful existence.
In a patriarchal society (one in which the father or the eldest male is the head of the family and decent is traced through the male line), ill-treated, deserted, and widowed women are greatly marginalised because of the gender and because of the alienation from their families.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The problem is compounded in the Indian situation wherein a woman is often persuaded to continue to live with her husband even if she is subjected to humiliation, abuse, and violence because her acceptance in society largely depends on the marital status.
A large number of women who are tormented by their husbands and their family members are rejected by the members of their own families if they return home. Several of them have no choice and are forced n carry on with their lives in difficult conditions. Traditionally, a woman who complains or seeks separation is treated as a deviant. A husband, on the other hand, may desert his wife for another woman for any reason. A deserted woman has to struggle hard to lead a life of dignity.
Marriage and motherhood are treated as the more important stages in a woman’s life. A married woman with children, particularly sons, receives more respect than an unmarried woman or a married woman without children or with only daughters.
Among others, the incidence of abuse and ill-treatment of women is highest for reasons of dowry extortion, barrenness, and delivery of girl children. In fact, the roots of this problem are deep in the social fabric. The birth of a daughter does not, in most families, evoke joy and celebration.
She is treated as a liability, a burden to be dispensed. One may argue that these are stereotypical notions and that with the spread of education, girls are being treated with love and respect yet, it is true that many women feel powerless and suffer indignity and depression on several occasions.
Worse still is the situation of rape victims and those of other forms of sexual harassment. Only few women share their experiences and mobilise others to fight social barriers and condemn oppression collectively.