Differently abled

The Lahore High Court has served a notice to the Punjab University and the Higher Education Commission for allegedly preventing a partially blind student, Kinza Javed, from completing an examination for entrance to a Master’s progamme in clinical psychology. The complainant in her petition to the court has alleged she was initially told not to appear for the paper and that later the question paper was not printed for her in a larger font as she had requested, making it impossible for the visually impaired young woman to answer the questions and complete the examination. She has also said she was later asked to leave the hall before the paper was over.

The LHC has asked officials from both institutions to appear at the next hearing. Certainly the matter requires inquiry. There are other students suffering various kinds of disabilities who have been studying at various institutions in the country. Some, like Kinza herself, are medallists and position holders proving their abilities as scholars. The problem, however, is a far wider one. In general, our society does not cater to the needs of people who are differently-abled and not able to manage daily tasks without some provision to accommodate their handicap. While a quota of three percent for disabled persons exists in government departments, it has not been filled and many posts lie vacant. The same is true in private institutions, which under existing regulations are required to employ persons with disability.

It is especially tragic that young people, in some cases mere children, are denied an education because of visual impairment or other disability. There have been multiple reports of children being turned away from schools because there is no physical infrastructure to accommodate their needs and teachers not trained to help them cope with learning. This is unfortunate because it in effect means tens of thousands of persons are being denied an education despite their intellectual capacity simply because they suffer a physical disadvantage of one kind or the other. In most countries of the world laws exist to ensure disabled people at all levels are able to acquire education at the highest levels. The late Professor Stephen Hawkins is an example of what even those with the most severe disabilities can achieve. We hope the petition brought by the student in Lahore will lead to questions being asked, changes made in the system and steps taken to ensure no Pakistani citizen capable of acquiring skills is denied the chance to do so. Discrimination on the basis of physical ability violates international conventions, our own laws and the laws of humanity.