Vice President M Hamid Ansari today called for a single focused institution to address the issues of differently-abled persons.
Launching the Kerala government's ambitious 'Anuyatra' campaign to empower differently-abled children, he said the allocation and utilisation of funds for persons with special needs and the social awareness for their integration and care remain inadequate.
Disability is a major public health issue specially in developing societies like India, but appropriate intervention and their implementation is still at a 'nascent' stage, he said.
"Persons, particularly children, with special needs mainly come under the purview of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Some of the issues are dealt with by the Health Ministry. The lack of a single focused institution often results in lack of unified programmes," he said.
The issue of disabled persons is likely to remain a major policy consideration because of increase in non-communicable diseases and change in the age structure with increased life expectancy, he said.
The vice president said the manifestation of disability (physical or intellectual) also varies with the social context, and that the rehabilitation measures should be targeted according to the needs of the affected with community participation.
Stating that a majority of those with special needs reside in rural areas, he said accessibility, availability, and utilisation of rehabilitation services and its cost- effectiveness were the major issues to be considered.
Quoting a UN-supported survey, Ansari said in India, 1.67 per cent of the population in the age bracket of 0-19 years were with special needs with 35.29 per cent of them being children.
India has about 12 million children with special needs, but only 1 per cent of such children have access to school, he said.
Lauding Kerala's 'Anuyatra' programme, the vice president said the major objective of the community-based rehabilitation efforts like these is to ensure people with special needs were able to maximise their physical and mental abilities, have access to regular services and opportunities and achieve full integration within their communities.
"There is little doubt that these special children are capable of tremendous achievements, with a little additional care and encouragement," he said while declaring a group of differently-abled children as the brand ambassadors of 'Anuyatra'.
Appreciating the use of magic to bring out the inherent talent of special children under the programme, he said, "This is truly a unique initiative."
"This is a creative way to convey to the world that they are not disabled or differently-abled, but are specially abled; that given adequate support, they are capable of doing any wonder with pride and dignity," he said.
The vice president also launched the 'MPower' programme- managed by the Kerala Social Security Mission (KSSM) under the Social Justice Department in collaboration with the Magic Academy.
Governor Justice (Rtd) P Sathasivam, who also took part in the event, said a coordinated functioning of various departments like health, social justice and local self government was necessary to address the plight of differently-abled persons.
Delay in early identification of disabilities and lack of effective intervention was the reason for the plight of people with special needs, he said.
Listing out various programmes to be implemented in the state by the LDF government, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Anuyatra drive was part of its plans to make the state disabled-friendly.
There are eight lakh differently-abled people in the state, he said.
A total of Rs 31 crore has been earmarked from the State Initiative for Disability for the implementation of the ambitious initiative, Vijayan said, adding the government also has plans to start special anganwadis and centralised call centres for the disabled.
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