KATHMANDU, APRIL 27
Rights activists have called for practical implementation of equal participation of persons with disabilities in all state structures.
The rights activists said this while speaking at a programme for launching the study report on statistical protocol on disability. The programme was organised by the National Federation of the Disabled-Nepal today.
The speakers sought equal participation of people with disabilities at the policy-making level, including at the local, provincial and federal levels. They also rued the sense of negligence on part of political parties and their leaders in nominating disabled persons for the local election slated for May 13.
On the occasion, NFDN General Secretary Raju Basnet said that although there were 27 disabled people throughout the country contesting the local level election in 2017, the parties had ignored the disabled population this time around.
"Of the 27 people, 21 got elected," he added.
Rights campaigner Dr Birendra Raj Pokharel stressed the need to establish disaggregated data of people with disabilities for implementation of their constitutional rights. He also urged the local, provincial and federal governments to lay emphasis on capacity enhancement of people with disabilities to empower them.
NFDN has been calling for inclusion of legal provisions related to people with disabilities in every ministry's annual policies and programmes, and for bringing uniformity in the system and procedures for keeping accurate data of people with disabilities in all the local bodies.
Available disability-related studies and research points to persons with a physical disability as being represented in the highest numbers owing to various inherent dimensions of disabilities.
According to the National Census Report 2011, the number of persons with physical disability accounts for 36 per cent of the total number of people with disabilities.
Persons with visual impairment and hearing impairment are in second and third positions with 18 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.
The remaining 31 per cent of the total population is presented through the rest of the categories.
Apart from this, categories that seemed to be underrepresented in the disability rights movement are people with psychosocial disabilities, intellectual disabilities, autism, deafness, blindness, and haemophilia, among others.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 28, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
