Twenty-eight public buildings in the city will be made disabled-friendly as part of the Union government’s Accessible India Campaign to provide universal accessibility to persons with disabilities. Funds have been sanctioned for this, Minister for Social Justice K.K. Shylaja has said.
She was replying to a calling attention motion by Abdul Hameed in the Assembly on Thursday.
The Minister said in the wake of Kannur being declared a differently abled -friendly district, all public buildings in the State will get facilities such as ramps, handrails, lifts, restrooms, signage in Braille, disabled-friendly toilets and so on as part of infrastructure improvement for the different abled. Steps were under way to renovate special schools and rehabilitation centres for the differently abled and open new centres. Construction work and academic changes were under way to make the National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH) into a centre of excellence. The aim is to transform it into an apex research institution that can guide other institutions in the sector. The Minister said drafting of rules for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, was in the final stage. The draft rules had been published, public opinion sought, discussions held, legal changes made and been sent to the Law department for scrutiny.
The Minister said resource teachers under the General Education Department would be trained in sign language under NISH so that hearing impaired students in State schools under the Inclusive Education for the Disabed (IED) scheme could communicate easily. Project activities would be started in association with Samagra Shiksha, Kerala, SCERT, and NISH.