By Kamayani Bali Mahabal
The city of Mumbai today got together to pay a unique tribute to the spirit of womanhood on the eve of International Women’s Day as it came out in large numbers to support the cause of women with disability.
It was a sight Mumbai had perhaps never seen. Over 100 women on wheelchairs were joined by more than 500 other Mumbaikars – common people, socialites, celebrities, activists etc., in a solidarity protest organised by the ADAPT Rights Group– Able Disable All People Together (formerly Spastics Society of India).
What sparked the protest was the offloading of a teacher and disability activist, Jeeja Ghosh (who has cerebral palsy) on the 20th of February, from a SpiceJet flight. Ironically, she was on her way to attend a conference on inclusion of people with disability into mainstream society. Two days later, another woman, Anjlee Agarwal (with muscular dystrophy) was also thrown off a Jet Airways flight.
“There can be no true independence for women as long as people don’t have the right to travel. Jeeja Ghosh’s case clearly shows the pathetic, apartheid like condition women with disability face in India. How can we celebrate Women’s Day when this is happening to almost 15% Indians who have some or the other form of disability,” said Malini Chib, Chairman, ADAPT Rights Group .
photos by Nicholas
Dr. Mithu Alur, Founder-Chairperson – ADAPT, explained the need for the solidarity protest, “It is shocking that women with disability – be they with hearing, visual or physical impairment – are left out of almost everything, including women’s movements. Hence, a lot of violence goes on with them without anything ever being done against it. So we decided to come out and tell the public how women with disability have been left out.” She added.
Dr. Ketna Mehta, Editor and Associate Dean – Research, Welingkar’s Institute and Founder Trustee of Nina Foundation that works for rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injury believes that this kind of awareness of people is very important for a country like India. “What you see here – all of us in wheelchairs – is only a small microcosm of people with disability. A majority of them are indoors and never come out,” she said.
Filmmaker Shyam Benegal, said, “Everyone has some or the other disability, visible or hidden. Yet why is it that we consider people with a visible disability to be so different from us? Why don’t we realise that the idea of ‘normality’ is an arbitrary and meaningless one as no one is totally normal?”
A resolution passed by the ADAPT Rights Group states that exclusion of Women with Disabilities from any organisation is a discrimination against a section of the population and of Article 15 of the Constitution. It was also resolved that in any reservation for women in any institution in the country a Disabled Woman has proportionate representation. We strongly condemn the inhumane and barbaric way Disabled Women are being treated by the Airlines – We want Justice for them from the Government.