Official: India's government shows apathy for the needs of disabled children

From Indian Express:

Going by the past record, it would not be wrong to say that as far as Centre's policies on special children are concerned, they are rarely been implemented. This was stated by Anil Joshi, General Secretary, 'Pariwaar' - a National Federation of Parents Organisation having 170 NGOs working for special children as its member.

"The state-level bureaucrats have no time to implement these projects and policies so the plans remain in papers only. In 1999, when National for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act 1999 came into existence -- autism, mentally retardation, cerebral palsy and multiple disabilities were debated as disabilities. Policies were made but never implemented."

Joshi was in the city today to attend the third regional parents' meet held under joint banner of the National Institute of Mentally Handicapped and Pariwaar and organised by Ashirwad - The North India Cerebral Palsy Association, Ludhiana.

Talking to the Indian Express, Joshi said, "Not only government but parents' apathy is also ignoring special children. Parents need to come out of the murk and make efforts to bring their wards to the mainstream. There is a dire need to make people sensitive towards such children."

Reacting to the callous attitude of different political parties, Amarjeet Singha Anand one of the members of Pariwaar, said, "In the recent Lok Sabha elections, Pariwaar wrote letters to all political parties to consider special children in their agendas but none paid heed to it. In Punjab, parents hide their special children from the society. I have instances where families had arranged for a caretaker and hardly bothered to take her/her to social functions. The situation is more precarious in the rural areas."

"Parents in Bengal and South India are more sensitive to such kids. Being a part of an NGO, we have planned to run an awareness campaign in the state.”