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No to stereotyping

P.T. Jyothi Datta

Stereotyping, it seems, is having a disabling effect on efforts aimed at employing students with disabilities. Despite the myriad options open to students in general, in a technology-driven age, students with disabilities are still being stereotyped with options such as cane weaving and candle making.

An NGO Research Study, done by the National Centre for promotion of employment for disabled people (NCPEDP), revealed that a majority of the 150 organisations reviewed during the study were found imparting training to disabled people in skills like arts and crafts, making stationary items etc.

These skills, according to the organisation, had limited employment options. The study revealed that 90 per cent of the disabled people `placed' earned below Rs 2,000 and infact, 50 per cent earned less than Rs 1,000 per month.

The NGO further points out that, notwithstanding the Disability Act 1995 -- which envisaged three per cent seats in the government and government-aided educational institutions be reserved for the disabled students -- ``it required a disabled student to go to the courts to implement the same in a leading institution like the IIM''.

The flip side of the problem is that even if the corporate sector and government provide greater opportunities for the disabled, there are few qualified people to take these jobs. With the aim of increasing the number of qualified disabled people, NCPEDP had launched a Scholarship Scheme in 1998 to encourage disabled students with limited means to pursue professional and post graduate studies. With a score-card of 33 such candidates being supported by the scheme, the organisation hopes that more corpora tes will take up their cause.