Union minister Thaawarchand Gehlot Tuesday called for coordinated efforts from different sectors such as health and education, besides the private sector, for the welfare and empowerment of the persons with disabilities (PwDs).
He was speaking after inaugurating the "National Workshop on Physical and Mental Disabilities in the Light of Global Best Practices in Care, Rehabilitation and Research".
Gehlot said the workshop was organised to promote best practices from across the globe in the area of care, rehabilitation and research for 21 disabilities under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
He hoped the workshop would help the participants to acquire increased knowledge and develop a comprehensive plan with clear objectives towards local and national capacity building for attaining the agenda of Sustainable Development Goals.
Gehlot said strong commitment and actions were required from all stakeholders to implement the best practices, he said.
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The minister said it required involving different sectors -- health, education, social protection, labour, transport, housing -- besides different agencies government, civil society organisations, disabled people organisations, professionals, the private sector and people with disabilities and their families.
"It is essential a developing country like India tailor its actions to address existing challenges of early identification, early intervention, education, skilling, employment, home living and community living... making it vital that we establish infrastructure, scientific strategies and protocol of services for all the disabilities under the RPwD Act," he said.
The workshop was organised by the Department of Empowerment of Person with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and hosted by the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD), Chennai
In April 2017, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 came into force. It provides for various rights and entitlements for PwDs and casts responsibility on states and UTs to take various measures to ensure that such people enjoy their rights equally with others.
It also mandates the states and UTs to frame various schemes/programmes, work out mechanism and implement best practices to ensure inclusion and empowerment of PwDs.
"Keeping in view the mandate of the new act, central and state and UT governments must implement global best practices to meet the needs of the Divyangjan through a lifecycle approach," he said.
The experts who participated in the workshop were invited from premier rehabilitation institutions, hospitals, universities, the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) and recognised institutions from across the country.
The workshop was attended by over 250 participants.
Chief medical officers of many important cities and district social welfare and disability officers participated in the programme. The heads of leading NGOs from across the country also attended the workshop.
Its objective was to help India's commitment under the UNCRPD, RPWD Act and help establish uniformity in the services for persons with disabilities.
It also supported protocol development in service delivery, promote replication of best global practices, and encourage adaptation of global best practices to Indian context.
The outcome of this workshop was to share, implement and bring uniformity in global best practices for empowerment of persons with disabilities in India specially in the context of 14 new disabilities of the RPWD Act.
The workshop also came up with recommendations for government, service providers, activists, policy makers, educationalist, and professionals to implement the act by adopting the best practices.
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