DISABLED ACTIVISTS MEET CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER ON 01/04/2011

Prof. Sahadevan (State Secretary of Visually Handicapped wing of Tamilnadu Assn for the Welfare of Differently Abled) , P.Simhachandran (Gen. Secy. of Tamilnadu Federations of Handicapped Assns) , Mr. Jayakumar (President of Hearing Impaired Assns Federations) presenting a meorandum to the Chief Electoral Officer, Shri.PraveenKumar, IAS.

                        A consultation meeting of the leaders of different kinds of disabled persons' organisations (DPOs) was held on 31-03-2011 in Chennai to discuss about the grievances experienced by the disabled while casting their votes in the polling booths. The meeting was held in the presence of  Smt. Jayalakshmi, Asst. Director of the State Commissionerate of the Differently Abled, Govt. of Tamilnadu. The consultation meeting was convened by Mr.Namburajan of the Tamilnadu Assn For The Rights of All Types of Differently Abled And Caregivers - (TARATDAC) .Shri. D. Lakshmanan ,the State President of Assn presided over  the meeting.

           The following persons representing various Associations of the Differently Abled in the state participated in the consultations

(i) Sri. K. Gopinath, State President,Tamilnadu Assn for the Welfare of Differently Abled


(ii) Sri. P. Simhachandran, State General Secretary, Federation of Tamil
Nadu Handicapped Associations of Differently Abled


(iii) Sri. E.K. Jamal Ali, Vice President, Tamilnadu State Hearing Impaired
Federation.


(iv) Prof. M. Sagadevan, (State Secretary of Visually Handicapped wing of Tamil Assn for the Welfare of Differently Abled)


(v) Sri. Prakasam, State President, Tamilnadu Leprosy Patients & Differently Abled Association.


(vi) Sri. R. Gopinath, President, Short Person’s Association


(vii) Shri.Ganesh Raja, Shri.Mohan, Tamilnadu Visually Impaired Association



It was decided to meet the CEO and present the following memorandum



1.     In Voter’s ID Card, the disability of the person must also be mentioned.  Then only facilities and priorities may be given by the concerned authorities to enable the disabled to cast their votes without any difficulty.

2.     The Electoral Office, must take the responsibility of transporting the voters who are severely disabled from their homes to the polling booths and back to their homes after casting their votes, to avoid the vested interest(political parties) to  get into favour of them.

3.     Ramps must be provided which have to be inclined in the correct fashion that allows a wheelchair to pass smoothly. Wheelchairs must be made available at the Polling Booths.

4.     The Polling stations must have western closets in the toilets and be provided with drinking water and such other basic facilities.

5.    The Differently Abled must be allowed to cast their votes first, priority   

        wise without having to stand in queue.

   

6.     The escorts of the Differently Abled must be allowed to escort them up to the polling booth without restraining them                                  

7.     For the Visually Impaired voters, Braille in Tamil language must be provided. For those who do not know Braille the talking’ Jaws’ must be provided in Tamil language.

8.     For the Speech and Hearing Impaired voters, in every polling booth a ‘sign language’ interpreter must be provided to avoid communication lapses.

9.     For the Leprosy Cured voters, Election Commission may kindly find a way to help the cured leprosy voters with no fingers to cast their votes.

10.   For the Short Persons(Dwarfs),  some   kind   of   height   like

        wooden steps  must be provided to cast their votes. 

                On 1st April 2011 Shri. Namburajan of of TARATDAC lead a delegation of disabled activists and met the CEO Shri Praveenkumar, IAS and presented the demands who assured them to look into the grievances and will take suitable measures for redressing the grievances.