A brave new world beyond charity

In the disability sector of the country today, Javed Abidi is a name to reckon with. In fact, ever since he dared to move the Supreme Court to install ambulifts in all the airports, Javed Abidi became a natural leader of the movement. What makes his victory in the apex court more significant, is that he decided to argue his own case, pitting his non-legal background against none other than Attorney General Mr.Soli Sorabjee. That, is just an indication of what this articulate young man is capable of. Javed Abidi, executive director, National Council for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) was in Chennai to address a meeting on Disability and Law at Vidya Sagar. He spoke to Ramya Kannan about his journey from hometown Aligarh, and on what more needs to be done.

HOW CAN we talk about development, ignoring as we do, 6 per cent of the country's population- the disabled?, begins Javed, with a thought that constantly exercises him. ``In actual terms, that will be not less than 60 million people. Are we not citizens of this country?'' he asks, adjusting his wheelchair to a more convenient position. While logically, this segment too should have the same rights as others, in actual practice, physical and social barriers inhibit them from doing so.``Is it wrong then, if a person demands his basic rights?'' he raps out.

For him it is strange that fifty years after independence, the disability movement is still pre-occupied with thrashing out basic issues. ``Even if we had moved forward 50 per cent, we could have taken a deep breath and said okay,'' Javed says. His theory for this colossal lack of improvement is that disability was looked upon as a charity issue - ``the greatest mistake''.

The lack of statistics in the disability sector was responsible for burying the issue. While appreciating the inclusion of the disability clause in the 2001 census, he wonders what kept such a natural question out of the mammoth people count exercise all this while. In 1981, when disability was included, the results were such a `sham, that even the Census department was ashamed'- the official figure was an unbelievable 1.9 per cent. ``Look at the damage that it has done. Everybody knows that allocation of resources is directly linked to statistics,'' Javed says.

Armed with his favourite weapon- statistics (``Credibility is important'')- he informs that only two per cent of disabled children have access to education. While there are seven million employable disabled persons in the country, the average placement rate is 3000-4000 persons per annum. It amazes him that a country actually prefers to let such a large group be a drain on the economy and not find them jobs. Which is why the NCPEDP happened. The organisation has networked with major corporate organisations like CII, Assocham, FICCI and PHD, `making life difficult for them' and urging them to put disability on their agenda. Today, Javed is happy to say NCPEDP has made significant inroads.

Employment, though, is not his only concern. According to him, the three pillars of the disability movement are access, education and employment. ``It is difficult to say which one is more important, because the situation in India is pathetic on all three fronts'', he says.

Appreciating the fact that the Persons With Disabilities Act was passed (in which he played a key role), he says the lack of implementation irks him. One area which the disability sector should concentrate on is making changes in building bye-laws to provide a barrier free access to disabled persons. ``The day we crack that, it will be fantastic. All future constructions will be disabled-friendly.'' Javed, incidentally, was the man who moved heaven and earth to ensure that physicist Stephen Hawking got to visit the monuments he most wanted to see, on his recent trip to India.

He had a true battle in the Supreme Court, fighting out the first case. Since then, this Mass Communications postgraduate admits, he has become `kind of litigious - a half lawyer'. His arguments were validated though, with Prime Minister Vajpayee using the ambulifts at airports when he flew to Mumbai for knee surgery. ``If we had then had a Prime Minister who needed knee replacement, maybe my task would have been much simpler,'' he says with a smile.

There is no smile in his eyes though as he talks about carrying on - building that strong `united cross disability movement' that will have a voice and strike all the right chords.

JAVED ABIDI

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