The Times of India, 29 Oct 2012

No ease of access for disabled to post offices

The Statesman, 5 Nov 2012

Capital shocker: Post offices lack facilities for disabled

 RTI: Delhi's inaccessible P.O's (SOUTHWEST Div)

India Post: “Paper Tigers” in “ease of access for the disabled”

 RTI expose of inaccessible Delhi Post Offices

In the wake of India ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities  (UNCRPD) in October, 2007, it has become incumbent on India’s part, under the established and recognized international human right norms, to harmonise all its relevant domestic laws and policies with this international treaty.

Even 17 years after enactment of ‘PwD’ Act 1995, only a very few States/UTs do have some kind of a policy on disability in place, most others have none. Secon...

Dr Satendra Singh’s chapter ‘Disability: A Doctor’s Perspective’ was included in the book “Research study on employing persons with disabilities” published by PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, New Delhi. The book was released by Hon’able Minister of Labour and Employment, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge on 27^th April 2012.

"Infinite Ability IMPACT"- We earlier reported discrimination of PwD's in getting assistive devices. The report was published in Dainik Jagran and you can read it here. We followed it up with Red Cross Society headquarters and they have replied back with a hint of concern.

Here’s a paper jointly written by Abha Khetarpal (Non-institutional expert, Enabling Unit) and myself (Founder, Infinite Ability; Enabling Unit) on infertility as disability.

Khetarpal A, Singh S. Infertility: Why can’t we classify this inability as disability? Australasian Medical Journal. 2012;5(6):316-321

Disability is a complex phenomenon. It reflects an interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives. International Classifica...

Here's an essay just published by Bill Peace, a disability studies scholar who has been working on bioethics.  This is about his own experience while hospitalized, and he has published it in a prominent bioethics journal.   The full article is available here.

Comfort Care as Denial of Personhood
William J. Peace Hastings Center Report 42(4): 14-17.

It is 2 a.m. I am very sick. I am not sure how long I have been hospitalized. The last two or three days have been a blur, a parade of procedu...

A paper written by Abha Khetarpal and myself on “Disability Studies in Medical Education” has been published in International Journal of User-Driven Health Care. Read the paper here. Here’s the abstract:

Uncompassionate attitudes of doctors can have adverse impact on the already shattered emotional health of a person with disability. The medical conditions or disabilities are seen in isolation from their daily lives. The quality health care is thus compromised. Disability Studies can i...

Physical, occupational, social rehabilitation and financial assistance for purchase of Aids & Appliances are provided under Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) with the basic objective to bring the target groups (which includes PwD) into the main stream of development by making them self reliant.

District RCS are preferred as implementing agencies for the Grant-in-aid under the “Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/Fitting of Aids/Appliances (ADIP)” Scheme, with the objective of assis...

In what could prove to be a golden opportunity for the global travel & tourism industry to enhance its contribution to society, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) has officially declared 2013-2022 as the "Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities" and invited all stakeholders to help make it a success.

Sponsored by Korea, the resolution was adopted unanimously at UNESCAP’s 68th ministerial session held in Bangkok between 17-23 May 2012. The...

Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (D.O. No.16-04/2011-D.D.III dated 19.12.2011) and University Grants Commission (D.O. No.F.6-1/2012(SCT) has requested institutions to send self-contained proposals for financial assistance under Scheme for implementation of persons with Disabilities, 1995 (SIDPA) for making (a) buildings barrier-free, and (b) making websites accessible. The detailed proposal is available here.

The month of April is Autism Awareness month and April 2, 2012 is the fifth World Autism Awareness Day. Every year, autism organizations around the world celebrate the day with awareness-raising events. Infinite Ability is joining ‘Autism Speaks’ initiative of ‘Light It Up Blue’ to help shine a light on autism. Light It Up Blue, in its third year, is a unique global initiative to help raise awareness about the growing public health concern that is autism. Iconic landmarks around the w...

The Equal Opportunity Cell of Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi, is organizing ‘INITATIVE’ one day event to inspire and sensitize stakeholders by sharing experience and knowledge with eminent speakers. The event is on 22^nd March from 9.30 am to 4 pm and being convened by Dr Jyoti Dhawan. Here is the program schedule.

The aim of the day is to raise awareness and understanding about Down syndrome, and to promote the inherent rights of persons with Down syndrome to enjoy full and dignified lives and be active and valuable pa...

I earlier appealed on Feburary 20 to Hon’able Chief Commissioner of Disabilities to take suo-moto cognisance of Miss Jeeja Ghosh’s matter. Today I got a favourable response from CCPD:

From: O/o CCPD ccpd@nic.in via nic.in
To: Dr Satendra Singh <dr.satendra@gmail.com>                                                                                    Date: Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 11:30 AM

 ---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Dr Satendra Singh <dr.satendra@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 9:30 AM
Subject: Appeal to take suo motice notice of offloading of person with Cerebral Palsy from Spice Jet flight
To: ccpd@nic.in, min-sje@sb.nic.in, cvo.dgca@nic.in
Cc: AppellateAuthority@spicejet.com, ssei@vsnl.com

To

Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities 

O/o CCPD, Min. of Social Justice & Empowerment 

(Kind attention: Sh. Pras...

The top US health official administered polio vaccination drops to children in New Delhi on Friday as India marked one year since its last case of the crippling disease.

The milestone is a major victory in the global effort to eradicate polio. If no previously undisclosed cases are uncovered in the coming weeks, India will be removed from the list of endemic countries, leaving only Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius marked the day by ...

Perspectives 2 submissions now open!

 

The editors of Perspectives: Poetry Concerning Autism and Other Disabilities have announced their latest project. Perspectives 2 will be the second anthology of the Perspectives series.

Released late in 2010, Perspectives is an anthology of poetry about various neurological, psychological, social, and communicative disabilities, with a strong focus on the autism spectrum. It included poetry written by the disabled, their friends, their loved ones, servi...

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol was adopted on 13 December 2006 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and was opened for signature on 30 March 2007. There were 82 signatories to the Convention, 44 signatories to the Optional Protocol, and 1 ratification of the Convention. 

The Convention is intended as a human rights instrument with an explicit, social development dimension. It adopts a broad categorization of persons with disa...

In my opinion the biggest discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (PwD) is attitudinal. There assumptions may take the form of myths as well as stereotypes. On International Day of PwD’s, I am sharing with you ten myths people encountered regarding disabilities and the truths behind them.

Myth: People with Learning Disability and Attention Deficient Disorder are not very smart.

Fact: Intelligence has nothing to do with Learning Disability and Attention Deficien...

I may not see as well as you do

And I may stumble a time or two

But I find delight in refrain

Feel sunshine, hear rain

As well, nay better, than you do.

I may not be formed in a way that you are used to

And my clumsiness may slow down our games too

But you should see what I do

With a paintbrush or two

I could teach you about beauty. And poetry too

 I may not be the brightest in my batch

And my speech may not be up to scratch

Though my thoughts are confined

I am loving and k...

International  Day  of  Persons  with  Disabilities  is  annually  observed  on  3rd Dec ,with  following  objectives:

1-To promote an awareness of disability issues.

2-The fundamental rights of persons with disabilities.

3-Integration  of  such  people  in  the  main  stream  of  society like  social, political, cultural  etc.

 As  able persons, we  must  support  the  voluntary  organisations who  are  doing  a  lot to  raise  awareness  on  this  theme  and  help disabled  persons in  ...

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment announced awardees for the National Award for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, 2011. The awards shall be conferred by H.E. the President of India at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 3^rd December, 2011. In 1969, the Government of India approved a Scheme for giving National Awards to the outstanding employers of persons with disabilities.

 

Empowerment of persons with disabilities is an inter-disciplinary process, covering various aspects nam...

There are, i feel two types of people in the world.  One who see problems, and the other type is the...

Medical Humanities Group of UCMS & GTB Hospital, Delhi and its special interest group on disability (Infinite Ability)  organized Confluence-VI on 8^th November 2011. Confluence is the medical humanities lecture series of UCMS which is the first medical college in India to introduce Medical Humanities to medical students.

Mathematician V.S.Sunder writes:

“I have been increasingly mobility challenged of late due to the onset of a neurological condition known as multiple sclerosis; and perforce, I have had to notice the different ways that society excludes people like me, not deliberately, but for want of consciously thinking of the need for a more inclusive and accessible society. What started as irritation and unproductive annoyance changed to a decision to do something about it. For a start, I thought I mi...

Infinite Ability is now associated with the Global Disability Rights Library (GDRL) . GDRL seeks to build a bridge between global information sources and millions of people with disabilities, advocates, and policymakers around the world by making it easier for them to access hundreds of thousands of educational and organizational resources on disability rights, whether or not they have access to the Internet.

The Global Disability Rights Library, supported by the U.S. Agency for Interna...

Equal Opportunity Cell, Delhi University is organizing a two-day CulturalFest: Srijan for students with disabilities on November 12, 13 at Shri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Pitampura. Most of the competitions this year are inclusive. The non disabled students of the College would also be able to participate in the competitions.

 Welcome to the IDPwD Blog Party.

Infinite Ability and Enabling Unit, UCMS & GTB Hospital, Delhi, India is proud to host the first blog party devoted to International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPwD), December 3, 2011. PwD’s, care givers and family members from around the world are invited to share their stories and educate others about how they overcome their disabilities.

The list of disabilities include autism spectrum disorders, blindness, cerebral palsy, chronic neurological ...

Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences(IHBAS) is organizing Mental Health Awareness Week from 10^th to 16^th October 2011, to promote awareness in the community about various mental health issues. The events will kickstart on World Mental Health Day (Oct 10) at Indian Medical Association House, near ITO, New Delhi with a public symposium on the theme of ‘Mental Health Empowerment’.

The symposia will begin at 3 pm with two sessions followed by press meet at 7 pm. Topic for sessio...

            Breaking Patterns, Creating Change

First ‘  The first ever 'Theater of the Oppressed' (TO) workshop for medical students in India was held on 23-                  24 August 2011 at UCMS, Delhi. 

Whenever I talk about the acceptance of a disability, pain or any kind of loss, which I think is a pre-requisite in the process of adjustment to the changed situations or capabilities, people usually and immediately reply me back saying, “It is easy to talk about acceptance but it is difficult to put into practice.” I do very well understand them and their difficulties in coping up with their disabilities on one hand and their facing the reactions and attitudes of the society on the other...

Mosaic, a journal for the interdisciplinary study of literature is bringing out a special issue on Blindness. This issue will bring together critical and disability theories to address historical and contemporary studies and interpretations of blindness across various genres, as well as studies of, to use Samuel Weber’s title words (in Institution and Interpretation), “the blindness of the seeing eye.” We seek submissions relating to any of the following: blindness as disability; blindn...

Cultural, political legal and philosophical aspects are intrinsically involved when ever there is a discussion about human sexuality. Morality, ethics, spirituality and even religion also do get involved in it.

But if we see from the psychological point of view, there are four basic drives which throw human beings to perform any kind of action. These are hunger, thirst, avoidance of pain and sexual urges.

Sex being a form of energy, plays a primal role in expressions of emotions and feeling...