[ Oimang Megu ]
All of us at least once talked about empowering what is labelled as ‘disabled’ or ‘differently-abled person’ or ‘person with disability’.
Empowering a group of persons is not like waking up from sleep and they find themselves empowered. Empowering is a challenging and lifelong process. The basic tool of empowering a person is education. Here, the question is: Is education accessible to children with disability?
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Act, 2016, and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 clearly state, “Free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6-14 years.”
The United Nations General Assembly adopted its convention on the rights of persons with disability on 13 December, 2006. It lays down the following principles for empowerment of persons with disability:
# Respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy, including the freedom to make one’s own choices, and independence of persons.
# Non-discrimination.
# Full and effective participation and inclusion in society.
# Respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of the human diversity and humanity.
# Equality of opportunity.
# Accessibility.
# Equality between men and women, and
# Respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect of the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities.
In our state, getting education for these children is still a distant dream. Whether the society has accepted these children or this group of people as normal human beings is also a big unanswered question.
The society is barring children without disabilities from knowing, understanding and growing with children with disability. What we need today is inclusive education. Inclusive education means “a system of education wherein students with and without disability learn together and the system of teaching and learning is suitably adopted to meet the learning needs of different types of students with disability.”
With no other options left, the parents sometimes send their children to regular or mainstream schools, where there is no special educator or trained teacher to deal with these children, resulting in increasing numbers of school dropouts (data not available).
Some parents can afford to send their child or children to different states for their education. But most of the children are left uneducated or unattended or never admitted to any educational institution. Many a time, a child grows up, realises the importance of schooling, and shows willingness to go to school, but by the time they realise it, they are already grown up and already very tall. Somehow they get admitted in schools, but their size and age become obstacles. The other students in their class and other classes usually make fun of them, sometimes resulting in such special children quitting school. Sometimes special students continue their studies but face bullying because other students are not acquainted with special children. Continuous bullying and inability to cope with the system of teaching without a special educator make these students live in isolation, and this affects the self-respect of the children with special needs, resulting in very low esteem. Their grades and marks are affected as our education system gives so much importance to grading and marking, rather than to the quality of education. What children learn is not so important, but how much marks he or she secures are more important.
There are different types of disabilities, like intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, autism, visual impairment, hearing impairment, and many more. The present education system or the mainstream education system needs an alternative for these children. We cannot expect a student who cannot even grip a pen or sit for viva voce for non-verbal students or for the hearing impaired students to write exams.
I wish to see an education system where all kinds of students learn together, grow together and create a better society. I hope that the government of Arunachal Pradesh will also introduce inclusive education for all.
Lastly, I would like to add that the time has come to rethink when we construct buildings, hospitals, schools, cinema hall, zoos, amusement parks, roads, markets, etc. Have we ever considered making them accessible to all, or if it is PwD-friendly?
Robert M Hensel once said that “there is no greater disability in society than the inability to see a person as more.” He was right because the society is concentrating more on the disability and less on the abilities. I request all not to make life harder for this group of people as they already have a hard time. Even small tasks we take for granted are a real challenge for them, such as going to the bathroom, sipping water from a glass, etc. Why does a child with disabilities have to spend hours being taught how to interact with others? Rather, we should teach the children without disabilities how to interact with persons or children with disabilities.
Let us all stand strong for them and for their education through inclusive education, so that they can live better, independent and normal lives and not a life of misery. (The writer can be contacted at oimangmegu@gmail.com)
