LAHORE : Visually-impaired persons are sitting on The Mall. It is nearly two weeks now that they are braving smog and rain. They want government’s attention. Their demand is not just regularisation of daily wagers and jobs for the unemployed, but they want the government to take into consideration their needs as special people.
The Social Welfare Department is under fire for not doing anything for the visually impaired when the budget for the welfare of the disabled which was Rs4 b, was doubled by the last chief minister in 2017, they say. There is no rehabilitation centre for the visually impaired in Punjab.
They demand induction of the visually impaired people as telephone operators, Qaris and music teachers, as braille teachers in every tehsil and immediate advertisement of jobs in grade 1 to 17 in all departments, stipend to the uneducated and training for them so that they can earn a livelihood besides scholarships for students pursuing higher education.
“The government doesn’t train us in any way and they don’t give us jobs. Whatever training the special people get is due to the efforts of the private sector. Private institutions train us in making charpoys, chairs and in interior decoration. A large number of visually impaired persons can work on computer, thanks to the efforts of those who offer diploma courses to us. We can work as receptionists, telephone operators, computer operators, PAs but the government demands D.Com for clerks which is a diploma in short hand and experience. That we don’t have. The government demands 40WPM (words per minute) typing speed which is not possible for us. Somebody has to first read out the text to us, only then we can type. That takes time. Our speed does not exceed 15 to 18WPM because of this. They want a blind person to compete with someone who can see. Competition of a blind person should be with another blind person. There is a quota but the government failed to make rules. They don’t install software for the blind anywhere,” says Umar Javed, joint secretary of the Blind Daily Wage Employees.
“This is not the only count where we are at a disadvantage. We study arts only because practicals in science are hazardous for us. That too is held against us,” he said and gave statistics of seats vacant and to be filled in Punjab. “There are 4,400 seats for disabled people that are vacant while 3,600 seats have been filled. From grade 1-4, 2,000 seats are vacant while from grade 5-15, appointments have to be made on 2,200 seats,” he said.
Shahbaz Sharif’s government promised Khidmat Card for the disabled, not for those between 18 and 45 years old and the amount was Rs1200.
That too didn’t reach them. They took shared data of BISP of four to five thousand people. Among the disabled, among those getting most education are deaf. It was learnt from the Blinds’ Association that 150 blind people in the province are M.A. “There are 25,000 teachers in Rawalpindi. Among them 30-40 are disabled persons. Their number should be 750 if the quota is 3 percent.”