JMI
A day-long national seminar on ‘Socio-Legal Aspects of Disability in India’ was conducted by the Faculty of Law, Jamia Millia Islamia on November 01, 2017 to explore the intersectional and interdisciplinary aspect of disability and its various contours.
Nuzhat Parveen Khan, Dean of the Law Faculty welcomed the participants and introduced them to various facets of disability in India through a socio-legal prism.
Advocate Santosh Kumar Rungta, who is well-known for his efforts to breaking the barriers that have hindered people with disability from achieving their maximum potential, was the Chief Guest for the inaugural session.
From facilitating the entry of the blind into the Civil Services to successfully urging the Supreme Court to give full effect to reservation for the disabled provided under the 1995 Persons with Disability Act, and defending the rights of the visually impaired to serve as witnesses to a will, Advocate Rungta’s efforts have left a discernible impact on the fight for equality and dignity of disabled persons.
Emphasising on equal rights, especially right to equal and quality education for the differently abled, Adv. Rungta spoke about the need for cooperation between mainstream and special schools for the disabled.
Muralidharan, Secretary of National Platform for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities who was the Guest spoke about various aspects of stigmatisation associated with disability.
He further contemplated upon the gender aspect of discrimination faced by women with disability and urged the academics, legal practitioners and activists working in the field of disability to look into it.
Rasheed CA, the co-convener of the seminar briefed the participants about the thematic design of the technical sessions.
He said that there was a need to broaden the discourse on disability from its current understanding to focus on aspects like discrimination, opportunities and other facets of life to ensure the dignity of persons with disability.
The technical sessions focused on the themes of disability and law in international perspective, disability law in India, affirmative action and disability, and disability research in legal theoretical frameworks.
