Dignity for all

A picture is hard-hitting, self-explanatory, worth a thousand words, sometimes more. That is how powerful it can be, damning too. A photograph shows a woman tediously making her way, on all fours, to receive a wheelchair from Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki at the Divyangjan Samman Samaroh in Panchkula. The irony: the dignitaries, including a former union minister, are gracing the stage, looking on, while she drags herself to get to the dais. No effort is made to reach out; they stand ramrod straight in the frame. There goes grace. Another picture shows a man struggling on the steps at the exit in the absence of a ramp. 

Article 15 (2) of the Constitution solemnly declares that “no citizen (including the disabled) shall be subjected to any disability, liability, restriction or condition on any of the above grounds in the matter of their access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment… roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of government funds or dedicated to the use of the general public”. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2016, replaced the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, to further buttress their rights. Ramps, by law, are mandatory in all public places; the minimal basic. The organisers clearly missed out on this very rudimentary requirement for who should have been — in keeping with the spirit of the samaroh — their real guests. 

The organisers claim a ramp was available and volunteers were present to “lift” recipients to the stage. It is another matter that the ramp could not be easily spotted and it was lost upon them that guests may not have wanted to be “hoisted” in that manner. The law loses meaning in the absence of compliance and an effective structure to ensure their wholesome inclusion into society. The emphasis is more on finding the most suitable euphemism — physically challenged, differently abled, viklang, divyang — while we chip away at their sense of self-worth. They need respect. Dignity first. Without sincerity, words are mere platitudes. Sadly, a good initiative was lost in the din and hypocrisy of a VIP-studded affair.