As the Government works on framing rules for the Rights to Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 which has brought 21 disabilities from the existing seven under its umbrella, activists have asserted that focus should not merely be on providing job opportunities or accessibility to the differentially-abled or divyangs, but also help making them entrepreneurs. This will help transform their disability into ability, boost income and social inclusion besides providing jobs to the needy, they pointed out.
The rules prepared by the Department of Empowerment of the Persons with Disabilities under the Union Ministry of Social and Justice Empowe-
rment was given a go ahead by the Parliament December last.
“As a special educator and working in the area of rehabilitation I have seen the disability sector grow in leaps in the recent years though we are still short of hands,” says Thilakam Rajendran, Director of ATPAR (Alliance to Promote Abilities & Rehabilitation), set up with an aim to help the entrepreneurs with disability.
“We are aiming towards creating economic opportunities for persons with disabilities with a special focus on developmental disabilities,” says Rajendran, winner of NCPEDP Shell - Helen Keller Award for promoting employment of persons with disabilities.
In this regard, the ATPAR is organising a four-day training on entrepreneurship development from Monday.
“We are conducting this training in collaboration with The National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development as their training partner,” she added.
The participants include vendors, hawkers, kirana shop owners and a few running services like coaching centres joined by parents of intellectually challenged entrepreneurs.
Agreeing that it was important to help people with disabilities find careers as entrepreneurs, Preeti Johar from Family of Disabled (FoD), an NGO said that throughAapna Rojgar Scheme (self-employment), we have tried to find a solution to the pecuniary needs of such individuals. The FoD assists them in socio-economic rehabilitation as well as provide financial aid at the micro-level. Individuals are initiated into a trade of their choice, she added. The newly enacted legislation has added disabilities that include mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral pal-
sy, muscular dystrophy, chronic neurological conditions, specific learning disabilities, multiple sclerosis, speech and language disability, thalassemia, hemophilia, sickle cell disease, multiple disabilities including deaf, blind, acid attack victims and parkinsons disease.