The Hindu, Saturday, 29th May 2010

Hearing impaired person moves court

A person with hearing impairment has moved the Madras High Court seeking a direction to authorities to reserve one per cent of the total vacancies in the post of Secondary Grade Teacher for hearing-impaired candidates. She also sought a consequent direction to appoint her in the post.

In her petition, S. Priyanka of Sachiyapuram in Sivakasi stated that she had registered with the employment exchange. There was an announcement in April this year that 1,743 Secondary Grade Teachers would to be appointed based on employment seniority in 2010. Three per cent of the vacancies would be reserved for the hearing impaired, blind and the orthopaedically disabled.

When she enquired with the authorities, she was informed that hearing impaired candidates would not be sponsored for the post and only the blind and orthopaedically disabled candidates would be considered.

The petitioner said the authorities' action was unreasonable, arbitrary and discriminatory. It was against the principles of natural justice. She sent a representation dated May 1. In the order, Justice D. Hariparanthaman said that in view of an earlier order of a Division Bench, there was a direction to reserve one percentage of Secondary Grade Teachers post for the hearing impaired. He ordered notice and posted the matter for June 8.

The Hindu, Saturday, 29th May 2010

Absence of provision in TNAU application form irks differently abled

Karthik Madhavan

COIMBATORE: Tamil Nadu Agricultural University's application form for undergraduate courses has irked the differently abled.

Section 10 of the ‘Application For Admission To Undergraduate Degree Programs 2010-11' has ‘BC', ‘BCM (Muslim)', ‘MBC/DNC', ‘SC', ‘SCA (SC-Arundhathiyars)', ‘ST' and ‘Open Competition' categories. It has left out the differently abled, though.

A separate check box for the differently abled is a must because that is the place the applicants can let know the institution of their status. Declaration of the status will help them avail of the reservation they are eligible for, argues Surya Nagappan of Caliber, an organisation working for the challenged people.

The differently abled enjoy three per cent reservation, as per the orders of the State Government. The University acknowledges the same in its brochure: “Three per cent of the seats in the undergraduate degree programme are reserved for physically handicapped candidates. The applicant should possess minimum qualifying marks and should attach proof of evidence along with the application.”

The use of the word handicapped has also angered the applicants. “When the Government has discontinued the use of the word and suggested differently abled or persons with disabilities instead, how is it that the University has failed to reflect the change,” he asks. “It pains us when such a great institution continues to refer to us as handicapped.”

The question Mr. Surya raised has put parents of a diffierently abled applicant in a fix. Father of the applicant, on conditions of anonymity, says he did not know what to write under Section 10 of the application form. He has not checked any of the boxes and now fears rejection of his daughter's candidature.

The University not making provision for the differently abled to fill in their status stands in stark contrast to the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission application form. A soft copy of the application form under Section 18 mentions special reservations and among the differently abled categories has separate check boxes for orthopaedically differently abled, persons with hearing impairment and persons with visual impairment.

It also talks about the number of seats for applicants coming under these categories and provides necessary details.

Such provisions have not been made and are not available for the challenged people in The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University and Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University application forms. A few leading professional colleges are no exception either.

Dean, Admission, TNAU, V. Jayabal, who is in charge of admissions, was not available for comments. A professor, who also takes care of admission, says on conditions of anonymity that absence of the provision does not mean their applications will be rejected.

To be eligible for admission they will have to attach a photocopy of the certificate the District Disabled Rehabilitation Office provides, he clarifies.

On the use of the word ‘handicapped' in the brochure, he says for the change to take effect, the University's Academic Council will have to approve of the same.

The Hindu, Sunday, May 16, 2010

CMCH needs an audiometrician

Karthik Madhavan

COIMBATORE: When Anita Evangeline, a person with hearing impairment, wanted to get an audiometry test done at the Coimbatore Government Medical College Hospital, she was asked to go to Tirupur.

The diploma holder went to the hospital because the test certificate will help her secure an engineering seat through the disability quota. Audiometry test measures the level of deafness.

The hospital authorities directed Ms. Evangeline to Tirupur because the ENT Department does not have an audiometrician. The post remains vacant for about a year now.

The challenged people, however, managed to get the certificates until recently, thanks to a speech therapist who also doubled up as an audiometrician. The therapist retired in March.

Since his retirement differently abled people are suffering because they are being directed to other Government hospitals, complains Surya Nagappan, who works at NGO U-DIS for persons with disabilities.

Certificate

The certificate is also mandatory for such people to get quota benefits in Central and State competitive examinations.

Mr. Nagappan says the people are forced to go in for a fresh test because every recruiting agency has got a separate pro forma for filling-in the details and the latest test report is required.

According to hospital sources, the ENT Department has always been without an audiometrician except for a couple of brief periods.

THE HINDU 3-05-2010

Wider representation on welfare board demanded

Staff Reporter

Barring two persons, the others nominated are from Chennai

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Board has to have members from all parts of the State

Chennai has fewer persons with disabilities

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COIMBATORE: An organisation working for the differently-abled has urged the State Government to give wider representation for them on the welfare board for the disabled.

Surya Nagappan, Promoter, State-level Disabled People's Organisation, says that barring a person each from Tirunelveli and Madurai, all the persons the State Government has nominated to the welfare board are from Chennai. The government last week reconstituted the board.

To function in an efficient manner, any organisation has to reflect reality and the social welfare board is no exception. It has to have members from all parts of the State.

Mr. Nagappan says this cannot be any truer because Chennai has fewer persons with disabilities. Quoting statistics, he says the State capital has only 96,000 persons, whereas Coimbatore has 1.14 lakh (based on 2001 census).

However, no differently-abled from the city has made it to the board. That being the case, how will the challenged people in the city air their grievances effectively and the government redress the same, he asks.

The absence of representation from other parts of the State on the board has led to a decrease in the allotment of Central and State Government funds for organisations in these areas, he says and alleges those in Chennai are garnering 90 per cent of the funds meant for persons with disabilities.

The social activist wants the board to function in a better way as well. There was hardly a protest or murmur from the board when the Railways reclassified as reserved the compartment meant for challenged persons, he says and adds that if the board had initiated action the Railways could have reversed the decision to re-allot the berths or seats. The next demand of the organisation is direct employment for the challenged persons who have registered with various employment offices in the State.

Just as the government goes in for direct recruitment based on seniority for teachers and a few others posts, it should extend the same for the differently-abled.

How long can the persons with disabilities wait for the government to reserve seats and conduct examinations for the same, Mr. Nagappan asks. The government must provide around 9,000 seats for the challenged people based on the three per cent reservation rule, he points out.