“As this debate intensifies,
Respect people with disabilities.
Would an airline hire a pilot with a disability or trust a surgeon with a disability?
The very nature of #AIS (IAS/IPS/IFoS) is field work, long hours of hard work, hearing people’s grievances first hand and that requires physical fitness.
First of all, why does this premium service need this quota?
#JustListening
The tweet was disturbing in many ways. It was an attempt to deflect attention from the issue of non-disabled people using fake medical certificates to take advantage of disability quotas.
I would like to remind Mr. Sabharwal of the man who gave the United States the New Deal, recovered the economy from the Great Depression of 1929, and led the country through World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was diagnosed with polio at a young age. Roosevelt biographer Jean Edwards sums it up well: “He rose from his wheelchair and brought a nation to its knees.”
Did you know that in 1986, the West Bengal government elected Sadhan Gupta as its Attorney General? Gupta was the MP from Calcutta South East constituency from 1953 to 1962. He had been blind since childhood after contracting smallpox.
Stephen Hawking, one of the world’s most respected physicists, had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
But disabilities can also be invisible. Albert Einstein is said to have been autistic and dyslexic. Elon Musk has admitted to having Asperger’s syndrome. Could any of these conditions have diminished their abilities?
“Reasonable accommodation”
Sabharwal writes about surgeons. A quick Google search will lead you to Dr RS Sindhu, the eminent liver transplant surgeon from Kerala. She has polio. Perhaps the IAS officer has heard of Dr Suresh Advani, the eminent oncologist? He too has polio.
Sabharwal also questioned whether airlines could employ pilots with disabilities.
I want to tell her about Douglas Bader, a British fighter pilot during World War II who lost both his legs in a plane crash before the war. He returned to flying with prosthetic legs and became a highly successful fighter ace, winning over 20 dogfights.
I also want to mention the case of Jessica Cox, who was born without arms. Cox is the world’s first pilot without arms, and she flies light sport aircraft using her feet. The aircraft was customized so that Cox could use one foot on the stick and the other on the throttle. In disability discussions, such customizations are called “reasonable accommodations.”
X’s Sabharwal’s biography reads, “IAS Officer | Army Brat.” This is certainly interesting, as the Indian Army is the biggest supporter of disability-related causes. Lt. Gen. Vijay Oberoi (retd) lost his right leg in the 1965 India-Pakistan war, but that didn’t stop him from rising to the highest ranks in his profession. Major General Ian Cardozo lost his left leg to a landmine in the 1971 war. After the amputation, he commanded an infantry battalion with a wooden prosthetic leg, becoming the first person to do so.
Sabharwal would be surprised to know that in the last decade, the government has taken many steps to better integrate persons with disabilities into society.
For example, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPwD Act) increased the number of recognised disabilities from 7 to 21. It also revised the quota from 3 percent to 4 percent. Section 92 of the Act provides criminal penalties for acts of cruelty against persons with disabilities.
In 2015, Prime Minister Modi launched India’s first disability-related campaign titled “Accessible India Campaign” and also discussed the challenges faced by people with disabilities and how they can overcome them in multiple episodes of Mann Ki Baat.
In the country, the Ministry of Personnel and Training is gradually opening up services to people with various disabilities. This is done through scientific studies that evaluate the functions involved in each job and which types of disabilities people with can perform them. With the advent of technology, many tasks that people with disabilities were unable to perform can now be easily performed.
Also read: Harbhajan wants to ‘move on’ from disturbing video, but must learn from it first
Tough measures needed
Yes, the Pooja Khedkar issue is a cause for concern. Yes, measures need to be taken. But the measures needed are to tighten regulations on certification and punish those with fake disability certificates, not to completely exclude disabled people from services.
By Sabharwal’s logic, banning BMWs would have been a better solution than arresting Mihir Shah after the Mumbai hit-and-run incident on July 7. By the same logic, airlines should stop using the technology because of the outages caused by CrowdStrike, and POSH committees should cease to exist because some women are misusing them.
Sabharwal needs to understand that being around people with disabilities is not just an act of charity. It is also about innovation. Did you know that the electric toothbrush was developed in 1954 to help people with mobility issues? Today, electric toothbrushes are widely used around the world.
Do you use Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant? All three use speech-to-text and speech recognition technology developed for people who cannot write. Audiobooks were originally invented for the visually impaired, but are now used by many.
I was disappointed to read Ms. Sabharwal’s tweet. But I fear her opinion is shared by many others too. It would have been worth it to see the response she received and learn why she was wrong. Instead, she doubled down. After 77 years of independence, there should be no room for such arguments in this country.
Nipun Malhotra is a disability rights activist. He tweets at @nipunmalhotra. Views are personal.
(Editor: Prasanna Vachhab)
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