On a mission to sensitise people towards needs of differently abled

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 10

Padam Shree awardee and India’s No. 1 wheelchair tennis player for years and the country’s first ever Paralympics medal winner in 1998 World Championships, Boniface Prabhu, has pushed for the cause of differently abled by raising the issue of accessibility. As part of the special road expedition, that will cover the length and breadth of the country, Prabhu reached Amritsar via Jammu, from where it was flagged off yesterday.

“The core issue that needs to be addressed is that we still do not have infrastructure in place for differently abled when it comes to accessibility. Our roads, buildings and technology have to be made accessible keeping in mind equal opportunity for all, even disabled,” he said, while interacting with mediapersons here.

Prabhu is leading the 3,500 km Kashmir to Kanyakumari (K2K) road expedition, and will head off to Chandigarh next.

In line with the government campaign for an Accessible India, the Padam Shree awardee urged the students’ community and youth to join hands with him in supporting the cause of bringing equal opportunities to all.

Prabhu also visited Golden Temple to seek blessings for the success of K2K mission. Over the next 30 days, Prabhu will participate in more than 50 events to sensitise people on various aspects and requirements of the people with disabilities (PWDs). He also aims to help train nearly 10,000 people in sign language and host awareness programmes for them.

Prabhu said, “I believe that we cannot make India of our dreams if we do not leverage skills and the potential of the PWDs. While on one hand, we need to mainstream the PWDs and create opportunities for them, on the other we also need to be sensitive to their unique requirements.”

“Being a quadriplegic myself the onus was on me to take this step forward. I am hoping that this expedition will help set the ground for some meaningful interventions in this space,” he added.

As per the 2011 census, there are 26.8 million PWDs in India and only three per cent of them are gainfully employed. This is unlike some developed countries where the employment rate of the PWDs is 30 to 50 per cent.

The World Bank estimates that by excluding the PWDs from the mainstream makes an economy loses Three to seven per cent of the GDP realisation.

Traversing the longitudinal plane of India, crisscrossing 14 cities, Prabhu will aim to finish the journey in 30 days, which involves over 200 hours of driving time.