Paradigm shift in the concept of Disability and Rehabilitation - UNCRPD

Dear All

In view of the latest Act in the Disability Sector i.e., UNCRPD which is signed and ratified by our country, it is mandatory for all the stakeholders to take its benefits to the grass roots and thus to empower the target group of people.

UNCRPD looks disability with paradigm shift from the traditional or charity ‘medial model’ to ‘socio-developmental model or human resource (HR) model with right based strategies. Accordingly, the definition of disability is given as “inability to do the work in the given environment” and thus shifting the thinking of:

o disability first to recognize them as the person first,
o disability as the barrier to environment as the barrier,
o disability as the family issue to community issue,
o they cannot do to they can do,
o they are separate to part of the community
o disability as the burden to responsibility &
o disability as a welfare to development to HR model.

Let us concentrate on this shift and work for the needs of the persons with disabilities through right based strategies / approaches.

Looking forward for better networking .....

with thanks

Need of SIX SIGMA in Service Sector - Disability

Dear All

Goodmorning..

SIX SIGMA is the software tool for maintaining the excellence in the manufacturing industry to the extent of 99.997 accuracy level. This is the need of the hour to be in the market which is highly competitive and dynamic based on the need and demands of the customer. All leads towards the customer satisfaction to the maximum possible at an affordable cost. Slowly it has moved to the service sectors like health and other customer service areas.

Coming to the Disability Sector, as this is another type of service to the person with disabilities and their parents, the concept of Six Sigma need to be extend in all the areas like: Special Education, Training, Rehabilitation and other needy services as the out come is expected to improve the quality in service and thus for their better living with sustainability and quality of life.

Keeping this in view, the paper presented by me at the National Seminar of JNTUH entitled "Training and Employment for the welfare of the Persons with Disabilities - An Inclusive Approach" at its national Seminar held during 26-27th August is the beginning and i will be more such work in getting the fruits of Six Sigma on to the Disability Sector. This was the only paper presented in the Seminar connected with the Disability Sector and thus got special appreciation as it the special dealing with the special needs of the targeted group of people.

Looking forward to get better support from the stakeholders and thus to work for the excellence in working for the empowerment of the persons with special needs and thus to make them as the part for the community in an inclusive and barrier free environment as a RIGHT.

with thanks

Six Sigma way at JNTUH National Seminar

Dear All

On 26-27th Aug, 2010, JNTU has organized two days National Seminar on "Excellence in Manufacturing and Service Organizations: The Six Sigma Way in Hyderabad. The meet was the combination of Academic Institutions, Manufacturing Industries,Service Orgnaizations and NGOs. The main focus was to achieve the excellency in all sectors and thus to provide better product or service to the customer with maximum satisfaction at an affordable cost.

On this event, i had an opportunity to present the paper on "Training and Employment for the welfare of the Persons with Disabilities - An Inclusive Approach". This has presented the concepts of CSR and RCPC which bridges the linkages between the corporate and beneficiary through NGOs and other service providers. This was well appreciated and shown interest to implement such models at their institutions / industries. This is a positive attitude and welcome step for the service providers to come forward for networking with the corporate / industries and thus to work for the empowerment of the persons with disabilities.

I invite the service providers and other stakeholders of the disability sector to come forward to maintain the standards as per the concept and guidelines of SIX SIGMA.

Looking forward...

with thanks

Ground Reality of "Water Resources" in the state of Andhra Pradesh ?????

Dear All

The reality of “Groundwater” in the state of Andhra Pradesh (Ground Reality, July 16-31, 2010) is alarming and thus leads for poverty, hunger, migration and suicide. The issue is related two aspects as: a) availability of water in terms of quantity and quality and b) access to water. The issue is complex and is connected with the basic survival of the people as well as the development of the community to nation as the agriculture is the backbone of country’s future. We cannot imagine the life of the mankind with out water. When the water is excess, we are facing the problem with floods and other related issues and when it is less, still we face problems with drought and its consequences. In both the cases, need of the hour is to understand and manage the most precious life saving natural resource “water”. Keeping the vulnerability and challenges of water, the need is to look back for the basics for finding out suitable solutions / strategies and some of them are as follows:

1.Development of water sheds both existing and new one at least one for each village or for specified number of population.
2.Encourage for tank or canal irrigation to the maximum extent rather than bore well irrigation.
3.Suitable crop management based on the availability and optimization of water and other resources.
4.Encourage for rainwater harvesting both individually as well as at community level for all purposes.
5.Improve the groundwater resources by way of injection wells and check dams in general and particularly along the coastal area to check the intrusion of saline water and to manage and control fresh water – saline water interface.
6.Mapping of ground water resources, data base of bore wells, monitoring of water wells and implementation of bore well density should be made mandatory.
7.Encourage PRA with real participation of the stakeholders for better planning to implementation including monitoring and evaluation.
8.Strategies for the storage and management of rain water and thus to check the floods and its ill consequences.

With experience in this area, I feel positive that the above measures certainly improve the water resources and thus for better production with a check on the poverty, hunger, migration and suicide and further for the better living of the people with sustainability and quality of life.

Resource Centre cum Plancement Cell (RCPC)

Dear All

In the process of rehabilitation of the persons with disabilities (PWDs), the stakeholders are putting their best efforts in working up to the stage of providing vocational training. The limitations of Early Identification, Early Intervention, Special Education can be managed with better coordination, cooperation and networking. After this, getting the employment or self employment and thus income generation is the real challenge.

At this stage, the concept of Resource Center cum Placement Cell (RCPC) is appropriate to improve employable skills and thus to get better employment opportunities suiting to their skills. This concept was tested and yielded better results and thus worked for the better living of the PWDs with sustainability and quality of life (QOL).

I will be posting more and more on this blog so that the same can be replicated and thus able to provide an answer to the unanswered question of the parents that "what will happen to our child after us?".

Looking forward.....

with thanks

Disability - UNCRPD - Amendments - SDM - Legal Guardianship

Dear All

In continuation, in the disability sector, now the top priority is to amend our Disability Acts as India has signed and ratified the UNCRPD. The process is going on with several approaches like: have different acts or single act or generalize the acts for all categories of disability. We need to wait and see how the UNCRPD is going to be effective in supporting the PWDs as a right based approache / strategy.

In case of The National Trust, the process of amendment is becoming complex as people wants it as a generalized one with the inclusion of certain other categories. To cater the special needs of the selected PWDs, The National Trust was framed. It means, it came from generalization to the specialized one. Then, going back to the generalization is against the process of development with specialization.

The other point to be careful is about the supported decision making (SDM) both its technicality and legality. Before UNCRPD, all these four categories (Autism, MR, CP & MD) covered under The National Trust were under Legal Guardinship on need based. There may be some problems in obtaining and implementing this but suitable mechanism may help for its effectiveness. Still it may be the wise decision to leave the option to the PWD and their parents / family members to choose the right and appropriate one suiting to their skills, needs, demands and living environment.

We all need to contribute towards this for getting an effective act so that persons with disabilities can live with us on the basis of dignity and equality as a RIGHT in an inclusive and barrier free environment / community / society.

Looking forward to get more and more info on this key area.

with thanks