close
Friday March 29, 2024

‘Inter-family marriages topmost reason for impairment’

By Rasheed Khalid
May 29, 2018

Islamabad : Potohar Mental Health Association President Dr Zulfiqar Asghar has said that the topmost reason for impairment in Pakistan is marriages within family.

Dr Zulfiqar was giving a presentation on ‘Disability Sensitisation’ here. Dr Aslam Chohan, president of Michael Faraday Association, conducted the proceedings.

Dr Aslam who is a visually impaired psychologist said that sexually transmitted diseases in parents are also a cause. He regretted that cousin marriages are allowed in our country.

He said that some disabilities are related to environment and prevailing conditions. He said that impairment is biological whereas disability is a combination of biology and societal conditions. He said that you cannot sit on eight feet high chair or listen somebody where there is noise. He said one billion out of 7 billion suffer from disability. He said that 90 per cent living with disability are not registered in our country, even do not have B-Form. He lamented that Sign Language is not taught at National University of Modern Languages.

He said that disabilities could be genetic, psychological and accidental. He discussed charity, medical, expert and social models of disabilities. He said that charity model relate to disability to punishment of sins of parents, solar or lunar eclipses. Medical model talks of organs and other scientific reasons. He said that social model is the best model that takes care of enabling conditions. Stephen Hawking defeated his multifarious disabilities by enabling his environment.

Dr Zulfiqar categorised disabilities as visual, invisible, disorders, psychological etc. He said victims of disability must not be seen as objects of pity. They are burden only if the family or society thinks so. They are not threat to comforts or safety of others. The persons with disabilities can do many jobs in their own way with provision of certain conditions. He said if you cannot fly an aircraft does not mean you are disabled. If you can learn flying, you get enabling environment. If you have 40% visual problem, you can overcome impairment. He said in the form of car, we all use wheelchair though we do not bring chair in our rooms. He said dignity is their right and state should have social security system.

He said there are visible infrastructural barriers but institutional barriers are not visible. He said only 4 per cent schools in the Federal Metropolis meet the accessibility criteria. He said Sustainable Development Goals recognise meeting demands of sector facing disability.

He said that social issues include marriages especially women. He said such people are discouraged in acquiring education, going to Hajj. He advised not to bow before a person sitting on a wheelchair. Treat them equally and maintain eye contact. Speak slowly and do not raise voice so that the other person may not think that you are treating him as disable. Be considerate without being patronizing. Use small sentences, he advised.

Answering a question, he said that everyone has disability but level is low. He said that words life handicapped, mentally-retarded are banned in many modern countries. To another question, he said it is the mother who can decide aborting her disabled child. He said that stopping cousin marriages can bring down disabilities in children to less than 40%. He advised parents to administer polio drops and train maternity persons like midwives.