THE recent furore created by Tura MLA John Leslee Sangma over the use of the word ‘Disabled’ by the Social Welfare Minister to refer to people with various disabilities is a storm in a tea cup. Respectable jargons are meaningless if the treatment meted out to people with disabilities continues to remain abysmal and the promises made for their rehabilitation into the mainstream life is repeatedly ignored. One way to make people with disabilities feel they are part of the society is to ensure that all facilities are made accessible to them. Disabled-friendly buildings and institutions where people with wheelchairs can have easy access without being dependent on anyone is the first step towards integrating them in society.
Several concessions have been promised by successive governments for improving the lives of disabled people but they remain unfulfilled. Instead of trapping the Social Welfare Minister on the use of the word disabled the Tura MLA should be evaluating what all has been promised till date by the State and Central Governments for the welfare of the disabled and how much remains unfulfilled. MLAs should devote more time to find out what exactly the disabled population across this state face. They should be visiting the disability institutions such as Dwar Jingkyrmen and Bethany Society the two most prominent facilities within Shillong city and those in Tura and then make realistic observations in the Assembly. The disabled and their care givers are not interested in semantics. Politically correct language to address the disabled is of no use if the resources allocated to them are not delivered by the Government.
The Disabled need better access, more support, equal rights and a platform to be heard where they can speak of their needs and not be spoken for and spoken about. They certainly don’t need sympathy from anyone because that is patronizing. Would the society, for instance, vote a disabled person to the state legislature so that the person could argue on behalf of the thousands like him/her who are poorly or inadequately represented? This is food for thought!
