Raise awareness about disability rights

While we commend the government as well as many non-government organisations for their efforts towards ensuring the rights of people with disabilities, we must also admit that they still have to face many impediments in their day-to-day life. Accessibility still remains a major issue while education and employment opportunities are not ensured for the vast majority of them. What is also disheartening is that people in general are not at all aware about the rights of persons with disabilities. Raising awareness about the issue as well as their specific needs is absolutely necessary to integrate them into mainstream society. Thus, it was very encouraging to see The Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) organise an event called the Annual Sponsored Walk in the capital recently to raise awareness about disability rights and raise funds for treatment and rehabilitation of the underprivileged patients.

Bangladesh has the necessary policy frameworks to protect the rights of around 16 lakh people with disabilities. The country has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2007 and has also formulated Persons with Disabilities Rights and Protection Act 2013 and Neurodevelopmental Disability Protection Trust Act 2013, which are aimed at eliminating the discriminations persons with disabilities face. However, in terms of implementing these laws, we are still lagging behind.

We could not yet properly address the accessibility issue they face every day in their educational institutions, workplaces, and public transports. According to the Persons with Disabilities Rights and Protection Act, 2013, all public establishments must be accessible to people with disabilities. Moreover, it has been stated in the Building Construction Act 1952 and National Building Code 2008 that every establishment should be designed in a way that it is accessible to a disabled person (a disabled person should enter and exit a building and use the toilet there without any difficulty). But reportedly, 90 percent public buildings in Dhaka and Chittagong are not accessible. What is more, bringing students with disabilities into mainstream education and creating employment opportunities for them still remain a major challenge for the government.  

Therefore, what we need now is proper implementation of the policies, which definitely calls for an increase in our budgetary allocation for the disabled.