Coronavirus crisis: Have we Overlooked the Disabled Population?

By Shruti Pushkarna

In my last column when I raised a question on whether the media really cares about the disabled population, I didn’t know two weeks later, we would face a more pertinent issue of whether the country is bothered about anyone with a disability in this time of crisis.

Coronavirus has left the entire world panicking today. I’m not going to cite any numbers as there is enough data floating around the internet past few weeks. In fact, it’s exhausting to follow all the reports, statistics and even worse, speculation. Grounded in their homes, people are pulling out all kinds of conspiracy theories behind this global pandemic.

Some imaginable, some outrageous, some totally inane. But underneath all of this, is a feeling of deep anxiety that no one is safe anywhere. Vulnerability is at the root, leaving all human beings equally exposed to an unknown enemy. Read more

Does the Indian media really care about the disabled?

By Shruti Pushkarna

As I write this column with the intention of drawing attention to a large section of Indian population that lives on the margins of our society, I am thinking to myself: Does Anyone Care.

Does the media care? Do parents of ‘able’ children care? Do the politicians or bureaucrats care? Do schools and universities care? Do businesses care? Does the average individual care? And the resounding answer to all these questions is ‘probably not enough’. Not enough to bring about a revolutionary change in the way persons with disabilities lead their lives or how we treat them.

The other day I was at an event where mental illness and acid attack cases were being discussed. As I heard stories of survivors, of individuals and institutions working towards their rehabilitation, it occurred to me that people who are affected by the issue at some personal level are the only ones attempting to drive ‘change’. Their pain translates into a passion to alleviate the suffering of others.

While effective work continues to happen in small pockets of the country, we need mass campaigns to alter the mindsets of the vast population of over 1.3 billion. In his first term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the ‘Accessible India’ campaign in December 2015. He issued a mandate to make public spaces, transport as well as information and technology ‘accessible’ to persons with disabilities. Read more

What’s with the shallow news coverage on disability?

By Shruti Pushkarna

Last week, two headlines on the digital platforms of leading dailies caught my attention. One read, “Two blind HSC students find writers at the 11th hour”. And the second stated, “HSC exams: Finding writers a real test for some”.

Both these news stories highlight one of the most commonly faced problems by any blind student in India. Given their vision impairment, these students are dependent on ‘scribes’ to write their exams.

But before I get into talking about the myriad challenges of finding and dealing with scribes, let’s look at the recent news coverage.

While I was happy that the issue appeared on mainstream media, I was disappointed at the reportage. The stories lacked any indepth understanding of the issue. For an average reader who is absolutely unfamiliar with the issue, the news item merely touched upon how two visually impaired students in different parts of Mumbai were hassled hours before their examination. Though that’s a start for interest generation, the story ends with no detail or perspective on the matter.

Read more

Time to welcome Diversity in Radio?

By Shruti Pushkarna

As you read this, commercial and state-owned radio stations all across the world are celebrating this day on air. Yes, it’s World Radio Day today.

Surely a medium that has managed to stay relevant for over 120 years (since the first radio device was invented by Guglielmo Marconi in 1899) calls for celebration.

With new technology and increasing penetration, the content development business is more dynamic than ever. Radio too has been experimenting with various avatars when it comes to programming models or expansion on digital platforms.

But what hasn’t changed is its devoted listenership, which cuts across culture, age, ethnicity, gender, religion, economics and so on. I start my day with tuning in to my favourite station every morning as I drive to work. You can hear the radio blaring in the local chaiwallah’s shop (no reference to our dear PM here!). Cab drivers, hawkers, housewives, college students, senior citizens, all take in their daily diet of radio content.

Another ardent group of listeners are millions of visually impaired citizens living in different nooks of our country. Did you know that 20% of the global blind population resides in India? That’s around 63 million people according to the World Health Organisation. Read more

Listen up, Content Developers

By Shruti Pushkarna

At the risk of sounding self-aggrandising, I’d say I’m a fairly empathetic person. Even when I wasn’t working in the disability domain, I was reasonably conscious of the different needs of people. Not like I changed anything around me or was overly vociferous on such subjects, but at least I was ‘aware’.

And that’s what I want to talk about. Awareness.

In my experience, most people end up seeming insensitive towards persons with disabilities out of sheer ignorance. Not necessarily because they are ill-intentioned. Their fault simply lies in their lack of awareness about another’s challenges.

Our reactions stem from what we see and hear. If issues faced by disabled people, or solutions available for them or basic things like how to offer assistance to them becomes common knowledge, our society would score a lot better on the scale of ‘empathy’.

At the root of any change lies the ‘knowledge’ or ‘awareness’ of what is possible or how it can be made possible.

So how do we change this? Or let me ask, who can change this? Read more

Accepting change in an ever-changing world

By Shruti Pushkarna

When I was studying journalism, we were made to read three to four newspapers everyday as part of acquiring editorial skills. As a young girl in my early twenties, I would go from one class to another, catching up on the printed word in between breaks. It was almost romantic, the idea of print that is. One aspired to have a ‘byline’ in the reputed dailies.

But by the time I graduated, a lot had changed. The fascination with print was slowly replaced with 24×7 television news. Not that TV news didn’t exist earlier, but right at the time when I was applying for jobs, several new players entered the market.

A large part of my initial career was spent in television newsrooms. And then some years later, another shift happened, with digital journalism as the latest entrant in news media. Read more

Changing the Discourse on Disability

By Shruti Pushkarna

It’s 2020. As we cheer for new beginnings, it’s also time to reminisce on the years gone by.

The last decade witnessed some significant changes in how we look at ‘disability’. When I was still in my twenties (now don’t try to guess my age!), there was hardly any mention of terms like ‘access’ or ‘inclusion’. In fact, the most commonly used term for disabled people was ‘handicapped’.

Fortunately, we have seen a gradual shift come about in the past few years. Thanks to government campaigns and the latest Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, newer terms have been added to the general media usage when it comes to disability-related issues.

Read more

Disabiilty: What Must Our Media Do

By Shruti Pushkarna

Before I started writing this piece, I casually googled ‘media and disability’. Interestingly, most results were pertaining to the role of the media, portrayal of disability, some academic papers on the subject and so on. Well, that’s typically what comes to mind when you throw these two words together at anyone.

Having crossed over to the disability sector from journalism, I have witnessed several debates (both in official and informal settings) where disability experts, people with acquired disability, scholars and mediapersons battle with each other, presenting their views on the subject.

Read more

Not just a ramp, online banking needs to be accessible too

By George Abraham

I recall, once on my way back from work, my driver stopped at a petrol pump to refuel the car. When it was time to pay, I was handed a card swipe machine with a touch screen to complete the transaction. Being a blind user, I wondered how I was expected to key in my password without a screen reading software installed in the machine. The sales representative suggested that I let my driver put in the confidential code, which I refused and insisted for a machine with a keypad. Reluctantly, the representative got me a machine with a keypad. On any keypad or dial pad, the digit 5 is highlighted with a dotted tactile impression which helps blind people orient and locate other numbers around to press the desired ones.

Read more

Can Sports Broadcasters not Overlook Blind Cricket Fans?

By George Abraham

I have been following Indian cricket since 1969. I debuted as a cricket fan during the India vs New Zealand series when the Graham Dowling-led side locked horns with Tiger Pataudi and his team. India won the first Test at Mumbai, New Zealand levelled the score at Nagpur while the third Test at Hyderabad was drawn thanks to rain. Next, the Indian cricket fan was treated to a five Test feast when Bill Lawry’s Australian team visited India. Every match was covered on radio, every ball was described in detail, updated scorecards were read out at regular intervals. Listening to the radio commentary was accelerating and we, the listeners, were literally made to feel that we were present pitch-side. As a visually impaired youngster, I was totally bowled over by the sport, never missed a match. Commentators like Anant Setalvad, Devraj Puri, Dicky Rutnagur, Balu Alaganan literally became the eyes of millions of listeners across the nation. During a Test match, I, like many others, would be carrying a transistor radio wherever I went. Conversations at street corners, coffee houses and social events would be about cricket.

Read more