A regional consultation on disabled persons in today’s political scenario was held on Apr.4 at IIT Madras. Organised by Ability Foundation (Gandhi Nagar) and National Centre for Employment of Disabled people (NCPEDP), the consultation aimed to engage key stakeholders, people with disabilities and disability advocates in a constructive dialogue aimed at ensuring an inclusive electoral process and the documentation of experiences of disabled people during the voting process.
Jayshree Raveendran – Founder and Hon Executive Director of Ability Foundation, spoke about the need for persons with disability to be part of the political process and also engage in mainstream matters of national interest , so that they are truly included.
Arman Ali – Executive Director of NCPEDP, spoke of the need to change the discourse around disability, so as to make it part of mainstream development. Disabled people are still not viewed as a vote bank, he said. He also presented the ten-point manifesto that was developed in consultation with persons with disabilities and organisations across the country, and which has been presented to leading political parties in the country.
Smitha Sadasivan – Member of State Advisory Board for Persons with Disabilities, spoke about the efforts that have been made in Tamil Nadu, and specifically Chennai, towards making the forthcoming elections accessible. These included ramps with appropriate gradients, as well as sign language interpreters. She shared key points of the accessibility checklist and urged everyone to create awareness and also do an access audit of their polling booths on polling day.
Ability Foundation, is a national cross disability umbrella organisation headquartered in Chennai, that has since 1995, incessantly worked across the country towards an equitable society for every citizen with disability. For more information on their work, email: [email protected]; Website: www.abilityfoundation.org.
