Deaf, blind and incapacitated towards the disabled

Today is devoted to an International Day to focus on Disabilities. Life is about mobility and accessibility for every individual. An Accessibility Rights activist of the recent past, the late Dr. Ajith C.S. Perera, was a standout crusader campaigning for the rights of the physically marginalised. He was himself a wheelchair user later in life after a freak accident. He, along with some others went up to the Supreme Court on a Fundamental Rights case saying there was poor compliance with a comprehensive set of laws on Accessibility gazetted in 2006 by the Social Services Ministry, passed by Parliament in 2007 and reinforced by Courts thereafter.

The Protection of Rights of Persons Act No. 28 of 1966 is outdated as it covers only the rights to education, access to public places and the right to work. A Public Administration circular has asked state institutions to recruit at least three percent of their staff from among the disabled, but only the Education Department is keeping to it.

The number of physically disabled (including the war wounded and the deaf and the blind) is officially put at 1.6 million or just below 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population. That figure doubles when those temporarily having restricted mobility are factored in: the elderly, the million annually hospitalised from accidents and those recuperating after illnesses, pregnant women etc.

The worst offenders in terms of access are public institutions like government departments, banks, court houses, higher education colleges, private sector hospitals, high-end shopping complexes, supermarkets, star-class hotels and all forms of public transport. They have no railings, special toilets, ramps, signages and even tables and chairs designed for those with mobility issues – needs that advanced economies have looked at and catered to, long ago.

The State Minister of Social Empowerment told a news conference last month that fresh legislation is being "actively crafted". This legislation is being 'actively crafted' since 2004. Even the UN Convention on the subject ratified by Sri Lanka in 2016 and several rights that citizens in economically advanced countries have are not available to the Sri Lankan citizen with disabilities. And these are only referring to the physically disabled, not those with psycho-social disorders, those with mental health conditions – also recognised globally as a disability.