Differently abled has the right to be taken care of. Picture for representational purposeElamaram Kareem’s remarks on the differently abled are an insult to civilised society. The terms he used to describe the blind and the deaf and the lame were uncultured. Modern society even discourages calling them handicapped. They are called differently abled. Any civilised society has taken it as a mission to care for them. A society is known for its maturity to realise that any benefit given to them is a right, not a freebie.
It is the responsibility of society to integrate the differently abled rather than isolate them. They have to be taken along with society right from the schools and their talents have to be recognised and encouraged. They can express their talents when they are integrated into the mainstream.
Any differently abled person will have some talents. As the father of a differently abled young man, I have realised such children’s abilities and the way we should approach them. Modern societies round the world give priorities to such children. Kerala has also come forward to take up that responsibility under the Oommen Chandy government, heartening parents like us.
Take this example. The government has decided to grant Rs 5 lakh to children below 3 years to do cochlear implant, which could help deaf people hear. If we could make this project a success, Kerala may not have any deaf or mute people in future. We cannot keep differently abled people at a distance. We have to engage them by giving them the care and love they deserve. We have a responsibility to bring them along to the mainstream society and make them confident to face the world.
We have so many examples to prove that differently abled people will shine in any field if they find the necessary encouragement. We have seen sportspersons with artificial limbs gaining medals in Olympics. We have seen differently abled people dancing and playing musical instruments beautifully. In the age of information, these children can access any field.
I happened to see a group of blind boys playing football recently. They may not know the shape of the ball, the other players’ face or the colour of their jerseys but they played as beautifully as people with vision. They scored goals. People like us who work in this field have so many such examples to cite.
Kareem’s remarks at a KSRTEA (CITU) meeting in Kasaragod on Thursday do not suit Kerala’s cultural tradition, political consciousness or the social justice we envision. Has the KSRTC been pushed to the red because of the privileges it rolled out to the differently abled, who forms only a small percentage of the population.
Kareem repeatedly says that he belongs to a philosophy and trade union that believes that public sector enterprises should not have profit as their single motive. I fail to comprehend his present remarks.
He should have realised that the current plight of the KSRTC is the result of long-time irregularities, ineffectiveness and the overindulgence of the unions.
(The writer is a Congress MLA from Trikkakkara in Ernakulam district)
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