RURAL POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION

Dear All,

The Ghandhigram Rural University is going to conduct "National Seminar On Rural Poverty and Social Exclusion: Need for Paradigm Shift towards an Inclusive Society" during 16-17 February, 2012. Yes, Rural Poverty works for the Social Exclusion in general and significantly the persons with disabilities. In this connection i has submitted the Abstract and got approved for presentation. In due course of time, full paper will be submitted for publication. The Abstract is pasted below as:

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 RURAL POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES – PARADIGM SHIFT TOWARDS INCLUSION

Lakshmi Narayana N

Director

Geo Rehabilitation Centre

Hyderabad

grcnln@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Keywords: Poverty, Challenges, Opportunities, Vulnerability, Exclusion, Rehabilitation, Rights, Independent Living, Inclusion, Sustainability, Quality of Life

          Rural poverty is the worst form of violence and works as a cause & consequence of disability and further results for the social and economical exclusion of the persons with disabilities. Disability is the barrier for the rural development and further affects the quality of people’s living. The data base reflects that in India more than 70% of persons with disabilities (PWDs) lives in the rural villages and their limited capacities and in accessible environment creates barriers in accessing the required service supports. The PWDs dependency not only affects their development but also affects the family, community and Nation. Based on the recent Censes, the disability population is in increasing trend and expected to be around 14%. This puts pressure for making effective measures for the prevention of disabilities and thus moving towards the disability free society. This cause and consequence process alarms the stakeholders to look for innovative and creative need based strategies and interventions for their inclusion at all levels with empowerment both socially and economically.

          The existing disability acts like: Mental Health Act, Persons with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Council of India Act and National Trust Act works with the concept of equal opportunities, full participation & protection of rights and development of human resources. In spite of the best efforts of stakeholders, still there exist wide gap to create an inclusive environment for PWDs. This leads for the search and ended by signing and ratifying the United Convention on the rights of the Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). This has brought paradigm shift moving the whole process of rehabilitation from charity to welfare to developmental to human rights model. This convention puts more emphasis on the environment rather than the inabilities of the PWDs. The Indian Disability Acts and Policies are under the process of amendment tuning to the concept of UNCRPD. In this process, community based rehabilitation with right based strategies and interventions gains significance as it works with the concept of “for the people by the people”.

          The present study deals with the challenges of poverty, vulnerability of the people, social exclusion of the persons with disabilities, status of Indian Disability Acts, paradigm shift in view of UNCRPD, process of amending the disability acts, concept model of right based community based rehabilitation and prevention of disabilities. It also focuses towards the efforts of selected NGOs, Parent’s Organizations and DPOs working for the empowerment of the PWDs with right based strategies and interventions covering parts of Andhra Pradesh. The empowerment model is flexible & got acceptance and recognition from the stakeholders and it can be replicated in other environments matching to the needs, skills and vulnerability of the targeted groups as an inclusion.

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Looking forward for sharing and reflections...

with thanks