MxMIndia

Tag: Persons with Disability

  • … and seeing persons with disability as an integral part of life and society, writes Sanjeev Kotnala

    Dealing with Disability: It’s a question of mindset…

     

     

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    Sanjeev KotnalaSeeing the videos of a differently challenged or differently-abled people or person with a disability (no longer called disabled) performing tasks forces one to question the term disability and look at the possibilities. It not only puts one in awe of the potential and demonstrated capabilities but also makes one wonder how much one has been able to achieve in life. At times, it makes one wonder who is the one who is differently challenged.

    Seeing the videos of persons with disability (no longer called disabled) performing tasks forces one to question the term disability and look at the possibilities. It not only puts one in awe of the potential and demonstrated capabilities but also makes one wonder how much one has been able to achieve in life. At times, it makes one wonder who is the one who is disabled.

     

    YOUR JUDGEMENT MY DISABILITY 

    So, it strikes a chord when one sees the Future Generali campaign #DisabledByYourJudgement sensitising people to the disabled community. There is no reason for one not to appreciate the skills and talents of persons with disabilities and realise how we tend to discourage them with our judgements and reactions.

    The film questions seeing every simple task, achievement, or action by persons with disabilities as magical and inspirational. Why can’t others see them as regular with the usual demands of life, emotions, relationships and things to do? Watch and then decide if it is not time to free disabled people from such perception.

     

     

    HIRING A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY

    My first direct interaction with a disabled person in the service industry happened at Lemon Tree Noida. He was a deaf-mute person from the housekeeping department. It took a moment for me to realise first the difficulty and then the ease with which he functioned. And then there was no difference. Still, a few corporates take that extra step in employing persons with disabilities. They hesitate and see it as charity or social obligation, which is wrong. The truth is that someone has to take the first step, and others can follow. This Hiring Chain film makes the point simple. May the tribe of corporates and businesses hiring disabled grow.

     

     

    It is a question of mindset. A question of opening your mind and seeing persons with disability as an integral part of life and society. With the enhanced new technology, some of the challenges are being addressed. Brands are working towards more inclusiveness. Here is a film: Accessibility by Apple. The film shows how technology embedded in a simple standard device like the mobile phone can help persons with disability by enhancing accessibility.

    Apple claims it takes on accessibility as a Human right. Hence, features like Door Detection, Sound Recognition, Voice Control, and more are designed to let the devices work in ways that work best for disabled people. 

    Apple accessibility is all about multiple solutions that help users with limited physical or motor abilities use your apps. Voice Control and Switch Control use the accessibility hierarchy to interact with elements within the app. The brand adds, Make Apple yours, make it big, make it clear, make it speak, make it listen, listen and make it simple. Here is more about Apple Accessibility and accessibility support, extending to even app development. Here are some of the innovative accessibility features.

     

    NET-NET.

    Disabled people are special, just like we are. Everyone needs one or the other in life to feel supported, respected, valued, and capable of better things. Needing support only makes us human beings. And that’s true, differently abled or people with disability.

    We have branded these people earlier as handicapped and then as differently challenged, differently-abled, Divyang and Persons with disability. Every time making a minor adjustment based on the new term and implied empathy. The time has come when we are inclusive in the best possible way and no longer see them differently. However, they are willing to accept the cards life has dealt them and eager to work around it to the best of their abilities.

    We can at least normalise our behaviour and reaction when we meet a person with a disability, interact with and see doing things we assume will be tough.

    So, it will be nice and polite if one asks before offering help. It is wrong to assume that disabled people always require assistance leading their lives, and the first step is treating them as equals. It will be good to see the Corporates and the Government working on accessibility across Information & Communications, Employment, Transportation Standards, Public Spaces Design and Services.

     

    MFPA

    I regularly contribute to MFPA– Mouth and foot painting artists and get beautifully painted cards and envelopes. MFPA works with over 800 artists across more than 78 countries with the simple motto “Self-help, not Charity’. And I have found that most people with disability demonstrate- reflect this attitude in life. Do visit their https://imfpa.org/paywebsite and if interested buy some product.

     

    ADD-ON

    Maybe you would do good and watch this video. You Are More Disabled Than Me by Nick Vujicic and another one for Amrita institute for the differently abled.

     

     

    An earlier version of this article had a few usages which are not considered kosher when one writes or talks about persons with disabilities. Like differently abled and differently challenged. We’ve made the corrections. As a publication which has been highlighting the need for using the right descriptors, our apologies.  – Ed

  • It’s time we acknowledged that the differences we see in people and situations, first emanate in our minds, writes Shruti Pushkarna

    Shruti Pushkarna | Lessons from 2020: Time to think mainstream solutions for all

    Shruti PushkarnaBy Shruti Pushkarna

     

    2020 is finally coming to an end. We all agree on what a waste this year was, considering how our plans were reversed, lives disrupted and holidays canceled. As for work, we found new ways of functioning and remaining productive amidst a global pandemic. Truth is we survived this terrible year and the next one is just round the corner.

     

    Typically, in December, people think of resolutions, goals, budgets, but our lives are still shrouded in uncertainty. When will the vaccine be rolled out? Will it be effective? How long before we build herd immunity so that we can go back to normalcy just like in the pre-Covid days?

     

    No easy answers there. How about ending 2020 by acknowledging things that SARS COV-2 helped us discover, as individuals and as a society?

     

    The most important thing I have learnt especially while working with persons with disabilities is, the key to surviving (and thriving) is ‘acceptance’. When Covid struck, people were frustrated. The government called for a nationwide lockdown leaving us with no choice but to accept our situation. When we accept, we stop fighting with the problem and start channelizing our energy into finding possible solutions.

     

    Operating from home is a case in point. In the absence of physical spaces to work, study, exercise, hang out or play, we found alternatives within our residential confines. We modified our living situations to make room for daily routines that were conducted outside earlier.

     

    Acceptance leads to possibilities. Yet another learning.

     

    There are always alternatives, a different line of thinking and a new way of processing limitations. The disabled world knows it well. For persons with disabilities, the only real barrier is a negative attitude. Responses like ‘no, can’t do’, ‘not possible’, ‘not equipped’, ‘can’t happen’, exclude them from majority of mainstream activities.

     

    The past year may have helped the ableist society realise some such truths. Thanks to Covid, now we know that possibilities are only limited by our (collective) imagination. When able bodied people like you and me were denied access to our regular environment, we created a close replica in the form of a virtual universe.

     

    Barrier-free access is something persons with disabilities across the world have been fighting for, over decades. Attending school or college, getting a job in an office, watching a movie, reading a book, traveling, dining, sightseeing, even accessing social media or other digital services, poses serious challenges to the disabled. But we have never thought of mainstream solutions to these problems because their impairment has been grounds for an almost legit exclusion.

     

    We are all intrinsically selfish, is also a lesson learnt, though this one’s hardly exclusive to 2020.

     

    If the society accepts differences in abilities rather than typecasting people as ‘incapable’ or labeling them as ‘invalid’, we can start building an inclusive environment for all. Innovation in technology and increased internet penetration makes it easier to allow access to a larger, heterogeneous group.

     

    Let me state some obvious examples from the current scenario. Disabled students are attending online classes with the help of smartphones and computers along with able-bodied peers. Similarly, jobs are being carried out remotely, irrespective of physical impairments. OTT platforms have a wider share of the content viewing pie and their audience includes persons with different types of disabilities. Banking and other financial transactions are taking place online, albeit certain access issues. And the list goes on.

     

    When Covid-19 rendered us helpless despite all our defence mechanisms, we didn’t give up. We simply started safeguarding afresh. Among those who have survived the virus, some have experienced temporary disabilities, and there are others who have developed chronic illnesses due to partial respiratory or renal failure. But we are not blaming their karma for the medical outcome, are we?

     

    Why can’t we see the disabled people without the stigmatised lens too? If there is hope for a better tomorrow, then why shouldn’t similar optimism be extended to someone with a hearing, speech, visual or locomotor impairment?

     

    It’s time we acknowledged that the differences we see in people and situations, first emanate in our minds. What we actually choose to see outside is a mere reflection of that mindset.

     

    Here is an idea to carry forward to 2021. Let’s never forget what a person is capable of, given appropriate environment and aids. Let’s stop walling off people with problems presumably different from our own.

     

     

    Shruti Pushkarna heads operations of the New Delhi-based Score Foundation where she works as Director-Programmes & Communications. She is a former journalist (part of the founding team of MxMIndia) who has moved full-time to the social sector. Shruti writes for MxMIndia every other Thursday. Her views here are personal. She can be reached via Twitter at @shrutipushkarna