Disabled Children

SC committee seeks inputs on ensuring access to differently-abled

A Supreme Court committee, constituted to ensure that differently-abled persons have equal access to the apex court, has released two questionnaires to seek feedback from lawyers, activists, and litigants on the matter. The Committee on Accessibility, formed under the chairmanship of Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat, has released the questionnaires, which are available on the apex court's website, to gather "valuable feedback" to enable it to identify areas that need improvement, said a top court official on Wednesday. "The Committee is working with a specific mandate to examine accessibility aspects related to the Supreme Court of India, and these questionnaires are a step in achieving that goal. The questionnaires are intended to gather feedback on all aspects of accessibility," the official said. Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud had constituted the committee in December last year. According to the court official, while the first questionnaire aims to gather inpu

P&G launches programme for employees who are caregivers to disable children

FMCG major Procter & Gamble India on Tuesday announced the launch of 'Lead With Care' programme to support its employees who are caregivers to children with disabilities and special needs. This programme will enable employees to avail early preventive care and treatment for children impacted by specific neurodevelopmental, cognitive, behavioural, or physical impairments, said a statement from the company which owns brands such as Ariel, Vicks and Head & Shoulders. "The programme includes medical coverage across diagnosis, doctor consultations, treatment, cost of medicines and devices, and builds on top of the existing medical support the company extends to all its employees and their families, including employees of the LGBTQ+ community," it said. Additionally, the company will facilitate specialised and trained day-care support via certified partners and shall provide an employee assistance programme (EAP) available 24x7 to all employees and their families to navigate this ...

Maharashtra first state with Divyang department: CM Eknath Shinde

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has announced the setting up of a separate Divyang department for the welfare of differently-abled people with a fund allocation of Rs 1,143 crore. Maharashtra is the first state to have such a department, Shinde said on Saturday addressing an event in Mumbai to mark the International Day of Disabled Persons. "The government has created 2,063 posts for the new department which will formulate policies for the welfare of the disabled by taking into consideration views of the stakeholders," he said. The decision to set up the Divyang department was approved by the state cabinet on November 29. The sections looking into issues of Divyang (differently-abled) people under the Social Justice and Special Assistance department will be clubbed to form the new Divyang Welfare Department, the government had said. Welfare activities of Divyang people like education, training, and rehabilitation were so far taken care of by the state social justice ...

Innovation empowers inclusive world for persons with disabilities: UN chief

Innovation and technology can be powerful tools for building an accessible and equitable world for all, including persons with disabilities, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said

For 19 months in pandemic, 43% children had no access to education: Study

The socially and economically disadvantaged groups and children with disabilities were worst impacted as compared to more advantaged counterparts: Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy's report

Free wheelchair, assistance to differently abled at railway stations: HC

The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the Railways to make all possible endeavours to ensure free of charge human assistance and wheelchair are provided to differently abled people at its stations. A bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma sought a fresh status report from the authorities with regard to an earlier order on reserving some lower berths for the differently abled as well as giving free assistance to them, and said such facilities should at least be provided at the busy stations. The order was passed on a PIL initiated by the high court in 2017 after a visually-impaired man missed his M.Phil entrance exam as he could not board a reserved compartment since it was locked from inside The respondent shall also make all possible endeavours to ensure that free of charge human assistance and wheelchair is provided to differently abled persons, said the bench, also comprising Justice Subramonium Prasad. Noting that these facilities are being provided by the Delhi Me

India loses $118 bn annually in GNI due to childhood blindness: Report

India loses an estimated USD 118 billion annually in cumulative gross national income (GNI) due to childhood blindness, according to a report published by Orbis India. The report titled Cost-Benefit Analysis of Investing in Child Eye Health' is based on 2020 estimates and reflects the economic losses incurred by India due to lost productive years as a result of childhood blindness spanning over a period of 35 years, and rising to USD 158 billion for 40 working years, a statement by the NGO said. Launched at the 16th edition of VISION 2020: The Right to Sight INDIA' national conference held recently in West Bengal, it highlighted that there was increase of direct GNI loss due to blindness from Rs 496 billion in 1997 to Rs 768 billion in 2020 and an increase of 35 per cent in the economic productivity of blind people to USD 835 million in 2020 compared to 1997 estimates. Besides, it also stated that 35 per cent of blindness in children and 82.3 per cent of blindness in adults is ...

Education & jobs for autistics: Laws exist but is there enough compassion?

Few schools are equipped to cater to children with ASD, spawning a set of educators called 'shadow teachers'. Some parents are even home-schooling to keep their wards career ready

Specially abled child barred from boarding IndiGo flight, NCPCR seeks FIR

The apex child rights body in the country, NCPCR, asked the Jharkhand police on Monday to lodge an FIR against IndiGo for barring a specially-abled child from boarding a flight at the Ranchi airport.

Indigo CEO offers regret after specially- abled child is barred from flight

IndiGo CEO on Monday offered his regrets on the incident that happened at the Ranchi airport on Saturday wherein a specially-abled child was barred from boarding his flight to Hyderabad

Haryana to open schools for children with disability: Education minister

Haryana Education Minister Kanwar Pal on Tuesday said that special schools will be opened for physically challenged children in the state. "Separate special schools will be opened for specially-abled children in Haryana. Besides, studies in these schools will also provide suitable employment opportunities to these children," he was quoted as saying in an official statement here. The statement said that Pal is currently on a visit to Kerala. "During his visit to Kerala, the education minister came to know about the efforts being made for the specially-abled children in special schools being run for these children there," the Haryana government statement said. Pal said that the Haryana government is considering opening special schools for these children in the state now. For this, help of NGOs will also be taken by the state government, he said. He said that efforts will also be made to make them efficient in various tasks, along with studies, which will also provide employment ...

India among 6 to get grant of $25 mn for school programme: Special Olympics

India will be among six countries to benefit from a $25 mn grant commissioned by the UAE under the Unified Champion School worldwide programme with an aim to empower intellectually disabled children

Empower, engage, motivate: Parenting in the times of Covid-19 pandemic

It is very important for us to approach this in an age appropriate way

Don't delay setting up a trust for a special child for their secure future

It can be relied upon to manage your estate on the child's behalf after your lifetime

Touching lives: This NGO provides prosthetics to specially abled children

Delhi-based Bravo Foundation provides ailing children with medical assistance to help them lead a normal life