News

Volume 2 Issue 13 - July 01, 2004

Delhi University's disability certificate bureaucracy

DNIS News Network -- A last minute rush to get an acceptable disability certificate enabled hearing-impaired student Garima Goel register for Delhi University.

Profoundly deaf Garima scored 78 per cent and is among the highest achievers among Delhi’s disabled students and has an aptitude for maths and computer sciences. This is despite the fact that she is heavily reliant on lip reading in order to communicate.

However, when she went to register, the DU authorities told her they could not give her the registration form, as her disability certificate was not approved by the medical board of a government hospital. Therefore it was not acceptable by the university.
Garima’s parents managed to persuade the dean of student welfare, to provisionally register their daughter and promised to produce an acceptable certificate by June 17.

Gaining the correct certificate was no easy matter however. It took several visits to the hospital and was only acquired a day before their deadline.