April 1, 2019
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is partnering with
NGOs to ensure 100% participation of people with disabilities in the upcoming
Lok Sabha Elections. As a part of this exercise,
Amruthabindu, an NGO that works for the empowerment of
disabled people in Bengaluru held a workshop to provide disabled people
information on various new facilities that are made available to make
elections accessible.
Umesh, District Disability Office Director,
who is in charge of Bengaluru Urban district took questions
from the various participants present.
Akshata DC, a scribe co-ordinator and volunteer at
Amruthabindu says the workshop gave people with disabilities a chance to
directly engage with ECI officials.
There were many visually challenged people and they had a lot of questions.
The government does not have the correct number of people with disabilities
in Karnataka. Hence, they are struggling to give an exact number of people
that will come to polling booths this time. A final list is definitely
important. But I believe more disabled people must come forward and
participate in elections since it is the right of every citizen. –
Akshata DC, Volunteer, Amruthabindu
The Karnataka government has assured various facilities for disabled voters
this year like ramps, drinking water, adequate furniture, medical kits,
proper lighting and electricity, help desks to guide to right polling booths,
proper signage boards, toilets, etc, Separate queues will also be provided
for disabled voters and for visually impaired people, there will be Braille
facilities.
Jagadeesh R, a visually impaired person working for the
Karnataka government has been voting for 15 years. He says that while the
workshop was insightful, information about many crucial matters was missing.
“I came to know about the event from a volunteer and I am glad that I
participated because it was insightful in many ways. But we also expected
more than the information that was provided, especially on facilities
provided in Braille. The discussions were mainly about finding solutions and
to make elections accessible for disabled voters. We could also bring forth
certain sensitive matters to the notice of our chief guest. Most of us felt
that government must make things digitalised for us instead of using Braille
because Braille is quite lengthy”, says Jagadeesh.
With less than a month to go for the elections, many loophole still remain.
Hopefully in partnership with local level organizations, the ECI will be able
to address these gaps.
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Source: https://newzhook.com/story/21799
