The Hindu, 1st August, 2010

Differently-abled persons in Coimbatore getting trained in cleaning small plastic items of protrusions before taking up work.

Differently-abled people in and around the city may soon get comfortable work and earn a few thousand rupees, if the plan devised by Caliber were to fructify. The organisation, by and for the challenged people, is talking to industries to involve themselves in certain areas that could be outsourced.

Surya Nagappan of Caliber says three plastic industries have come forward to provide work. On a trial basis, the industries have trained a little over 10 challenged persons to do the job, provided the raw materials at their door steps and also started collecting the finished items.

Mr. Nagappan says the challenged men and women, who have rented two houses for the purpose, clean small plastic items of protrusions, assemble light-weight parts and also carry out quality inspection. The industries pay Rs. 40 or Rs. 50 for every 1,000 items cleaned, assembled or inspected.

“The money works out to between Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 5,000 a month a person,” he says and points out that the best part is that the challenged people get to work at their place of stay, avoiding the trouble taken to commute to work.

Most of the persons who work are orthopedically challenged. A hearing impaired woman has also come forward to work. Mr. Nagappan says the challenge is not in securing work orders from industries but finding and assembling challenged people at a place. “They do not come forward to work and if at all they come, they do not remain for long,” he rues.

District Disabled Rehabilitation Officer C. Jasmine echoes the view. “There seems to be a mental block in most physically challenged persons to come out of their residence to work.” She says her office will conduct an awareness programme to help people looking for a job get one.

Representative of an industry, on conditions of anonymity, says industries are willing to outsource provided it helps cut cost. “So far the going has been good. The quality of work too is more than satisfactory,” he says.

Mr. Nagappan says the challenged people are willing to take up cleaning, assembling and quality control work. He can be reached at 99445-56168.

The Hindu, 24th July 2010

Differently-abled students face problems in getting fee concession
Karthik Madhavan

Officials say that they will look into the issue in the interest of students

COIMBATORE: Rajendran (name changed), a differently-abled engineering student, is not sure if a recent announcement of the State Government will benefit him.

The Government in the G.O. 30, dated June 28, 2010, said differently-abled students in Government and Government-aided institutions would be exempted from paying special fees.

Soon after the issuance of the order, he approached his college, Government College of Technology (GCT), Coimbatore, asking if he would be eligible. The management said he was not.

“An administrative staff clarified that only new students – those who sought admission after the issuance of the order – would be eligible and that existing students would not stand to benefit,” he said.

If Rajendran were to go by the staff's clarification he would continue to pay the fee, Rs. 5,520, as he had been paying for the past one year. And also stand to lose the benefit of another Government Order: G.O. 135 of September 20, 2008.

Order

The order said all differently-abled students of Government and Government-aided higher educational institutions would be exempted from paying fees. On October 16 the same year, the Government extended the benefit to students of engineering colleges.

Surya Nagappan of Caliber, an organisation working for the challenged people, said Government and Government-aided institutions should appreciate the spirit behind the Government issuing the orders.

“If they were to take the stand they had taken, it would go against the motives of the Government,” he said.

A senior GCT authority promised to look into the issue, keeping in mind the fact that the last date for paying fees was already over.

District Disabled Rehabilitation Officer C. Jasmine said she was aware of the problem and would soon ask for a clarification from the authorities concerned.

Meanwhile, the Bharathiar University has said in its prospectus that only those with or above 60 per cent disability were eligible for 100 per cent fee waiver.

For other it said only 25 per cent fee concession was available.

The University's announcement went against the Government Order 135 of September 20, 2008, pointed out Mr. Nagappan.

“When the Government had clearly specified that all persons with or above 40 per cent disability were eligible to avail of all schemes and benefits, how is it that the University has a separate set of standards,” he asked.

The University's stand has put prospective physically challenged students like Murugan (name changed) in trouble.

If there was no fee waiver he would not be in a position to pursue M.B.A., he said.

Asked about the 60 per cent condition, a senior University official said he would look into the issue and promised that all eligible differently-abled students in the institution stood to enjoy all benefits.

Vocational Training for PWDs on 29-6-10,30-6-10 Supported by UDIS FORUM

Animation Class for PWDs on 18-07-2010 - Faculty Mr.Abuthahir

Mr.Abuthahir(Faculty f0r Animation)

Animation Class for PWDs

IV Batch Multimedia Training for PWDs Starts 1st July 2010

Nalini, Rajkumar, Thiruvenkadam, Devika, Pushpalakshmi, Sasikumar, Devaraj, Sujitha, Vanitha, Usharani, Sathishkumar, Ganesh

Accessibility still a problem for differently-abled

KARTHIK MADHAVAN

Access to public buildings has always been an issue for the differently abled people, particularly the orthopedically and the visually challenged. And it continues. Be it shopping malls, banks or education institutions they have found it difficult to enter and exit the premises, move around within and conduct their affairs without any hitch.

“Right from the gate, most establishments are disabled unfriendly,” rues Surya Nagappan of Caliber, an organisation working for the challenged.

The first problem is stairs. Most are either steep or narrow for people with disabilities to climb. Adding to the problem is the absence of rails, he says. “At least if there is a handrail, the orthopedically-challenged will cling and manage to get into the building.”

With banks the difficulty is to get past the collapsible gate. “Most banks have the gate half opened, which they say is for security reasons. But for the differently-abled, it is a herculean task to get past the gate.”

Next comes access to toilet. For the physically challenged people who go about moving on wheel chairs it is difficult to enter the toilet.

Mr. Nagappan says: “The entry is so narrow that a wheelchair cannot be taken in. And if at all a person can take the wheelchair inside, there is hardly any space to manoeuvre as the doors come in the way.”

He names the premises of a number of banks, commercial establishments in Coimbatore to underscore his point.

And this goes against the sections of The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. Section 46 says, “The appropriate Governments and the local authorities shall, within the limits of their economic capacity and development, provide for – (a) ramps in public buildings; (b) Braille symbols and auditory signals in elevators or lifts; (c) ramps in hospitals, primary health centres and other medical care and rehabilitation institutions.”

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which India is a signatory, says: “To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications…”

Section 2(b) of Article 9 of the Convention says: “To ensure that private entities that offer facilities and services which are open or provided to the public take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities.”

These laws are binding on the Government of India, which is duty bound to ensure that disabled have easy access to public buildings.

Sources in Coimbatore Corporation say plans that come for approval do have mention about provisions for the challenged people but then they are hardly abided by. Mr. Nagappan suggests just as the State Government made mandatory a no objection certificate for fire safety for approving a building plan, it must do the same for disabled friendliness. “Let the District Disabled Rehabilitation Officer or the Commissioner for the Disabled be empowered to issue the NOC.” Architects say the awareness is fast catching up among property developers. “Those constructing IT parks, offices for MNCs, BPOs are very keen on adhering to the standards,” says M. Bhuvana Sundar of Sundar Sundaram Architects.

He adds: “Though not much additional investment is required to provide for the facilities, it is the question of space, which the developers must come forward to provide. And, they are starting to allocate the space.”

KARTHIK MADHAVAN

Vocational Training for PWDs on 29-6-10 To 30-06-10

Online Job Training for PWDs from 20-5-10 to 21-6-10 With the support of DDARO

DPO Promotion Meeting in Tirupur District on 19th June 2010

Mr.Surya &Mr.Siva, UDIS FORUM VICE PRESIDENT

PWDs in Tirupur District

DPO meeting in Coonoor on 12-6-2010 at Puthiyapual