Financial Times

"Include us in post-tsunami development," disability groups
A consortium of disability organizations recently met in Colombo and urged the government to include all persons with disabilities in the post-tsunami reconstruction process.

"We become first class citizens only when an election is around. After that we are second class citizens," lamented Premadasa Dissanayake from Rehab Lanka and President of the Development with Disability Network.

Hoping that their voices would be heard through the media, speakers from various groups involved with the disabled said that this was the time the government should heed the needs of the disabled particularly in the rebuilding of many new towns battered by the tsunami.

Speakers said the disabled had been completely ignored in the process and the authorities are yet to come up with the number of disabled affected by the tsunami and those who were disabled after the tsunami. According to a statement issued at the media conference, insensitive reconstruction and rehabilitation plans can lead to further marginalisation of people with disabilities.

"It is vital that we use these rebuilding efforts to rectify some of our mistakes in the past. This is an ideal opportunity to address access and mobility issues of persons with disabilities. One step towards this is having in place reconstruction plans sensitive to the needs of people with disabilities," the note said.

Speakers from the Development with Disability Network coordinated by the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) said they have been knocking at the doors of government agencies involved in the reconstruction process but were unable to put disability issues high on the state post-tsunami agenda similar to the attention paid to issues relating to children or women.

An official from Motivation, one of the groups, said they had sent letters to the President’s Office, the Centre for National Operations and TAFFREN, the rebuilding authority seeking appointments to ask for more recognition to the disabled. Meetings have also been requested with donor agencies.

The group had also sent architectural guidelines to TAFFREN aimed at creating buildings with access to all including disadvantaged groups. The group is also hoping to meet leaders of political parties to persuade these parties to push for guidelines on architectural access to be legally enforceable.

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