number of disabled persons in a family, according to Zahid Abdullah, who lost eyesight in student life. He is a role model for disabled persons who emerged as an accomplished citizen braving against all odds.
Zahid refused resigning to the blindness. Instead, he did masters in English and Development Studies, taught at different universities and authored three books including the one on disability: “Disabled by Society.”
Father of three girls, Zahid currently works as coordinator of the Coalition of Right to Information, travels abroad and inside Pakistan speaking on RTI and training common citizens as well as journalists on RTI law and how to use it for holding the government to account.
Other than 2% quota in government jobs and 50% concession in fares of national flag carrier and Pakistan Railways, successive governments have not taken initiatives to rehabilitate persons with disabilities, Zahid deplored.
Although Pakistan ratified UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2011, steps have not been taken to eradicate attitudinal, social and environmental barriers that persons with disabilities have to face on daily basis. This can be gauged from the fact that there is no disability law in place to promote and protect rights of the disabled in the country, Zahid said.
The PPP government is the only administration that took some measures by launching Disability Card for such persons in 2009 with special logo displayed on it but there is no incentive for them to acquire such cards.
As a result, a negligible number of disabled persons managed to live a productive and functionally active life whereas the rest are restricted to their homes or end up as beggars on streets.
Long ago, the government allocated two percent job quotas for the disabled but this policy has never been translated into action. And when blind persons assembled in Lahore to protest the government’s failure in this regard, the police were sent to beat them on December 4, the day globally commemorated as International Day for Disabled Persons.