Volunteers call for medico legal aid for disabled

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 18

To sensitise people towards the physically challenged and to empower the physically challenged with knowledge about the services and rights set by the central government, a medical awareness camp was held recently by the Confederation for Challanged. Amidst the rising voices from the community and the non-profit organisations working in the sector about the lack of facilities for physically disabled and the insensitive approach towards them, the camp will also provide rehabilitation solutions and information regarding beneficiary schemes by the government to the participating individuals.

The organiser, Vikas Sood, who is also a physically challenged person, says that the camp will have teams of medical and legal professionals to provide free aid to people with disabilities. “Issues like certificates to physically disabled, which enable them to enjoy healthcare and other services offered by the government reserved for them, will be resolved and facilitated for them. The focus of the camp is to provide free aid, but the thought behind it is to make them aware of their rights and not live under a stigma,” he said.

Sood said the biggest challenge faced by the people with disabilities is the social isolation and a skewed attitude of the people. “There are not many open platforms available through government channels for people with physical disabilities. That’s why they have to depend on such camps for guidance.”

Agrees Darshan Bawa, administrator, All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society, “Mostly non-profits collaborate with the government or work independently to create awareness, which is the single most important thing to bring about a change in word and spirit for treating people with disabilities better. The city does not yet offer basic infrastructural necessities like ramps, having separate toilets and wheelchairs accessibility for the physically challenged. Insensitivity is another big roadblock towards getting them an equal status,” he says.

Meanwhile, Sood hopes to begin a series of camps after this one to give free access to medical and legal aid to the needy.