Future of largest minority in Naya Pakistan

Elbowed out to peripheries, Pakistan’s largest minority now pins its hopes on the promised Naya Pakistan. This minority is named as per unique challenges that its members face: ‘crippled’ if they have reduced mobility or ‘retarded’ if they face intellectual challenges. Let’s instead call them Persons with Disability (PWD) as recommended in Mainstreaming Persons with Disabilities in Pakistan, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) report produced for the British Council.

Although the latest census astonishingly qualifies only 0.48% Pakistanis as PWDs, the EIU report estimates that the actual percentage is about 15% (nearly 27 million). The discrepancy arises from a shocking shortage of professionals who can diagnose intellectual disorders: 0.49 psychologists/ psychiatrists per 100,000 (2008 WHO report). Even when diagnosed, cultural barriers prohibit asking such questions during enumeration. Furthermore, a model disability survey conducted by the WHO in 2015 in Attock district also found the percentage to be 15%.

The report impressively recommends mainstreaming people with disabilities as productive and respectable contributors to society from being objects of pity, indifference or contempt. It establishes that people with disabilities are entitled to choice in life and livelihood like anyone else, and they should be so developed as to eventually contribute to economic and societal growth. This shatters the stereotype that PWDs should be hidden away from public view only to feed on charity.

But then there is so much else ails the country, such as energy crisis, budget deficits and security challenges. Mainstreaming disadvantaged communities can wait — so goes the argument. Hold tight then because the EIU estimates that the cost of excluding PWDs from employment will exceed $20 billion per year in 2018. The cumulative loss will exceed the total investment in CPEC in only three years!

Meanwhile, the country faces a foreign exchange crisis, and the PM called upon the overseas Pakistanis to park their life savings in Pakistan. But parents to children with disabilities immigrate to developed world where their children not only access better facilities but are also considered a natural part of human diversity. Instead, in Pakistan, admitting disability can be disabling itself: conservative circles may shame the family as serving a punishment from God, while ‘milder’ critics diagnose parenting failures without lending a helping hand to exhausted parents, who themselves develop stress disorders.

Why should then such expatriates deposit lifeline of their children in a country where they have no future?

In 2011, Pakistan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD). The CRPD requires the signatories to bring persons with disabilities to forefront of public life. The EIU report offers several measures to this purpose; here are a few.

First, do not confine children with disabilities to special schools; instead, the CRPD requires them to be taught in mainstream schools and well-supported according to a specialised ‘assessment of needs’. Teachers must be repeatedly trained to deal with special needs and Special Needs Assistants must also be present in class, where required. Schools must practise non-negotiable anti-bullying policies to protect these children.

Segregate PWDs into special centres only if they really need it; otherwise, it impedes their growth and breeds unfamiliarity in society. These centres must primarily act as integrated assessment units, and advise and monitor mainstream schools for delivery of services.

Enforce the legal quota of PWDs in employment (2% in a workforce of 100+) and collect fines when companies fall short.

Desensitise general public by assigning customer facing roles to PWDs. Pakistan already has such case studies from Telenor and MCR. These companies acknowledge that such initiatives are not charitable; instead, they allow tapping into a greater talent pool. Create visibility with parliamentary seats for people with disabilities; currently, there is none.

Essentially, the EIU report identifies attitudes as the most important barrier to persons with disabilities. After all, maturity of a society is measured by how it treats its most disadvantaged.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2018.

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