A visually impaired friend

The Ability Team

A visually impaired friend, a qualified music teacher, had to flourish a copy of a High Court ruling that the visually impaired have “the right” to claim a certain percentage of jobs as music teachers, in front of the municipal authorities, before she was allowed to submit her application! In many cases, laws are promulgated to redress the imbalances in the system. While implementation is largely the responsibility of the administration, the community cannot ignore its role as watchdog. Voices have to be raised – against ignorance, against non-observance, against non-compliance, against discrimination. Only then will implementation become the rule rather than an exception. The disabled community has to learn to use the laws we have… in the most effective manner possible. Whether we do it by filing Public Interest Litigations, by generating debate in the media, by spreading awareness, by advocacy of disabled rights, by facilitating persons with disabilities to fight discrimination in the courts…the roads are many, but the goal is the same.

At the same time it would be judicious to keep in mind that a movement for rights by one section of society cannot take off without taking into consideration the other entire fellow parts of it. As Mr. Zak Yacoob, Judge, Constitutional Court of South Africa and a visually impaired person said, “ideally all struggles should go hand in hand – a struggle for the rights of the disabled should go hand in hand with the struggle for women’s rights, children’s rights, AIDs non-discrimination, the struggle against poverty….”

Let’s hope that the law ideally, becomes the cane/crutch/hearing aid/guardian to help the disabled person navigate through the roughness of life.

Source: Success & Ability
Issue: January to March, 2002