News

Volume 6 Issue 11 - November 15, 2009

Shameful discrimination against disabled people

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: A wheelchair user is refused entry into a nightclub in Kolkata. Another is denied entry into a music concert in Mumbai. No, we are not talking about the pre Independence era nor are we talking about apartheid. This is 21st century India. Shocking but true!

Fourteen years since the Disability Act, 1995 came into force and two years since U.N.C.R.P.D. was ratified, the implementation obviously, is close to none. Even now, people with disabilities do not have equal access to public places. A blatant violation of the law and no one seems to care!

“This is ridiculous. Are we still under British rule when only white people could get entry into public places?” asked an angry Vandana Bedi, a senior Disability and Development Consultant.

“It should become a police case. The least that the nightclub should do is to come out with an apology and amend their club policies,” she added.

However, these are just reported cases. There are hundreds and thousands of disabled people who face discrimination at every stage of their lives which goes against the basic tenets of human rights. A shameful blot on Indian democracy.