Are people with disabilities able to participate in politics?

Many people see a person with disability as many people see a person with disability as a curse, curse to their family or a burden. But are they a burden to their family? We often victimize them but they don’t want to be victimised. They want to be treated equally like others. But we don’t treat them equally. Obviously, they aren’t equal.

They have some disabilities which should not become barriers. Many with disabilities can’t fly physically but they can fly with their dreams. They can make things happen. But who is stopping them? Their disabilities? Obviously ‘not’. It is our own perspective and system which is stopping them from achieving the best life they could have.

A person on a wheelchair can’t move freely anywhere even though he can use his hand to move the wheelchair. You know the reason why?

It is due to lack of infrastructure.

You won’t see any wheelchair services at all polling centres or any widespread adaptation of Braille electronic voting machines.

Apart from this, do you know Sadhan Gupta?

Many won’t be knowing him because we fail to acknowledge disabled political personalities Sadhan Gupta is the first visually disabled member of Parliament in independent India.

So, don’t you think we need to change our perspective and also the State needs to take initiative at local levels just like Chhattisgarh. The state of Chhattisgarh started the initiative of nominating at least on disabled person in each panchayat.