Takeaways from Tokyo Paralympics and the reality back home

“WHO will invest in a wrinkled, crippled old woman?” I could not believe I was hearing such a grossly insensitive question. I was watching a TV programme on India’s good show in the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics. The TV anchor was talking about the lack of adequate sponsorship support. It turns out that an industry bigwig had been approached for financial help, and that had been his shocking response. I am sure he would have been only too happy to give funds for cricket. But a sport which had no glamour, only sportspersons with various kinds of disabilities? No, sir, that would not look good on television, nor help the cause of his particular business.

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First, a word about the Paralympics. The idea first took form in 1948 among British veterans of World War II, probably among those who had been maimed from injuries suffered during the war. Then it grew exponentially, and in 1960, there were 400 competitors from 23 countries. In 1988, the Paralympics took place immediately after the Seoul Olympics, which has been the format ever since. Now, there are thousands of competitors from over 100 countries, making it one of the biggest international sporting events.

For a long time, the word “handicapped” was used for what is now called “disabled”, or “physically or mentally challenged”. If you want to be very politically correct, you say “differently-abled”. Personally, I find nothing wrong with “handicapped”, because that is what a person with “disability” actually is. Getting down to statistics, according to the 2011 census, there were 2.7 crore handicapped persons in our country. One in every 12 Indian families has a handicapped child. So, almost every Indian is impacted in some way with the handicapped, either directly in the extended family, or having friends with disabled children.

I have two close friends and a cousin who have children with varying degrees of impairment. One of them, who is also my neighbour, has a daughter who was born with her umbilical cord around the neck, which had cut off part of the blood supply to her brain. It resulted in a degree of paralysis and speech impairment. But otherwise, her brain function was normal, and she went on to get a university degree. On account of having a spastic child, her mother decided to become the founder of the Indian Spastics Society, which now has thousands of members. I have learnt a great deal about the many degrees of disability and the lack of adequate facilities for the disabled in India, from her. Sadly, my cousin’s child was born much more severely impaired, with no movement in his limbs and hardly any cognitive powers. He has spent his entire life in bed or on a wheelchair. But he has been cared for by loving parents for more than three decades.

Another friend had a son who was physically quite normal when he was born, but as he became older, it became evident that he was mentally retarded. Though he is now well into his thirties, he is still like a child, needing constant care and attention. This can be extremely trying, especially for a single mother, and sometimes leads to depression, even a nervous breakdown. Fortunately, his mother, though an Indian, became an American citizen when she married her American husband. So, she gets the kind of financial and other benefits that she could never have got had she been an Indian citizen living in India.

Returning to sports for the handicapped, with so many different forms and stages of disability, to organise and run a Paralympics must be an extremely complex job. The organisers have to determine the degree of disability, so that one competitor does not get an unfair advantage over the others. I noticed in the races in which blind, or almost blind — “visually impaired”, if you like — athletes took part, they were accompanied by “guides” to run alongside them, so that they would not veer off the track.

However, I believe the Paralympics have highlighted as never before the shameful lack of infrastructure in India for the handicapped. In most advanced countries, it is relatively easy for a person in a wheelchair to use public transport. Buses have a mechanism that lowers the entrance so that a wheelchair can easily be manouevred into the bus. Shopping malls have ramps. There are specially trained “guide dogs” for the blind. France is considered the most “disabled friendly” country in the world. However, it is not just a question of infrastructure; it is also the general attitude towards the handicapped. At one time, Indian films would raise a laugh by making callous fun of a cripple, or somebody who stammered. We lack empathy and compassion, virtues which should be taught at home and in schools.

Let me end on a more positive note. I had begun with the comment of an insensitive businessman. Fortunately, we also have a few enlightened ones. Immediately after our successes, Anand Mahindra announced that he would gift vehicles to the gold medal winners, especially designed to be disabled friendly. Rajeev Chadha, head of MG Motors, made a similar announcement, as did Vikram Kirloskar. Atta way to go!

— The writer is a veteran journalist