Foreword and Acknowledgements
Foreword
To agree internationally on provisions and standards for human rights is one thing. To live by them is another matter.
The fact that the international community now has fully recognized that the exclusion and discrimination facing people with disabilities is a human rights concern for all nations in the world is of extreme importance for hundreds of millions of people living with a disability. It offers great opportunities to improve their living conditions.
However, real change can only be achieved, if we learn to identify, describe and report human rights violations against people with disabilities. We must use our efforts to develop our capacity in monitoring the situation through a sharp human rights lens. Persons with disabilities themselves must play the major role in this pioneering work. This is what we want to achieve through the Disability Rights Promotion International (DRPI) project and pilot projects with partners from the disability communities of several countries.
This is also the reason why the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has provided us with economic resources for this task.
We want to thank Swadhikaar and, in particular, M. Pavan Muntha, Project Coordinator and Anuradha S. Echambadi, Lead Researcher and all of the monitors and monitoring assistants who worked very hard to make this report possible. Heartfelt thanks also goes to our other collaborating partners: National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped, Centre for Culture, Law and Society (C-CLS), NALSAR University of Law, Andhra Pradesh State Legal Services Authority, Asmita Resource Centre for Women and Leonard Cheshire International – South Asia. This project provides a model for similar projects in other countries in which people with disabilities themselves take on the monitoring of their own rights. We hope that it is the beginning of a series of reports that will lead to social justice for people with disabilities in India.
Bengt Lindqvist and Marcia Rioux
Co-Directors, Disability Rights Promotion International
Acknowledgements
Swadhikaar Center for Disabilities Information, Research and Resource Development is deeply indebted to the persons with disabilities, both interviewees and monitors and monitoring assistants for their incredible interest in engaging with issues of human rights to share and document the lived experience of human rights violations.
Swadhikaar expresses heartfelt gratitude to Hon’ble Justice Zack Yacoob of the Constitutional Court of South Africa for his lively interaction with the monitors and monitoring assistants immediately after the Study and for his input on disabled movement for a global change in the judiciary and in social attitudes and to Hon’ble Sri Justice Bilal Nazki, former acting Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh for suggesting an independent authority to exclusively look into all aspects concerning the welfare of persons with disabilities.
Swadhikaar is also obliged to the great support that it was able to gather from organizations and their representatives/heads of organizations, Prof. Marcia Rioux, Co-Director, Disability Rights Promotion International and York University, Canada, Prof. Ranbir Singh, former Vice Chancellor of NALSAR University of Law, Kalpana Kannabiran, Asmita Resource Center for Women, Dr. L. Govinda Rao, former Director, National Institute for Mentally Handicapped, Dr. T.C. Sivakumar, Director, National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped, Dr. Beena, Administrative Director, Asmita Resource Center for Women, Mr. K. R. Rajendra Regional Representative, Leonard Cheshire Disability-South Asia Regional Office, and Mr. Gopal Mitra, International Campaign Coordinator, Leonard Cheshire Disability-UK and Prof. Sirish Deshpande, President, National Federation for the Blind for their intellectual support and guidance.
Swadhikaar extends its gratitude to Mr. Venkateshwar Reddy, Senior Judge, Nandyal District Court, Mr. Vijay Kumar, IAS, CEO, Indira Kranthi Padham, Government of Andhra Pradesh and Ms. Rita Samson, Project Coordinator, DRPI without whose presence and facilitation the Project would not have been possible.
Swadhikaar is thankful to the committed work of Mrs. Paula Pinto and Mr. Ravindra Walters and appreciates them highly for their critical and invaluable inputs in terms of ideas and creativity for the data analysis and completion of the Report.
Swadhikaar is forever thankful and obliged to Mr. Krishna Reddy Medapati of Swadhikaar and Mr. M. Madan Mohan, Mr. Baleshwar and Mr Sudhakar from National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped and Asmita Resource Center for Women’s Accounts team of Ms. Sarah and Ms. Sudha for their unstinting, uncomplaining and dedicated administrative and accounting as well stationery supply and Xeroxing support to complete the Project.