According to a recent survey, 96 per cent of the total population of handicapped women in the country suffers from mental, physical or sexual harassment. Referring to data, different organizations working for the betterment of handicapped people have called for ensuring voting rights and their rights to take part in politics. They came up with the demand recently at a roundtable “Political Rights and Participation of Handicapped Women” on International Women’s Day, in the city.
But there are some rays of hope as the present government has given emphases on bringing the handicapped people in the mainstream of the society by providing them with training and treatment.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently said the government has started work under a programme of the Ministry of Education to set up an Academy for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders aimed at bringing autistic children in the mainstream.
Such initiative would create opportunities of expanding inclusive educational activities for the disabled including autistic children, she hoped.
The Premier said these while addressing the inaugural function of the 9th World Autism Awareness Day at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre on April 2.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in that function narrated different steps taken by her government in its bid to make the lives of differently able children easier and brighter.
The Prime Minister said her government is going to make permanent arrangements like constitution of a trust fund or a foundation for the children with disabilities so that such initiatives are not halted after the change of the government.
Sheikh Hasina said, “One Stop Service Centres” have been launched in 64 districts and 39 upazilas of the country to provide free of costs therapeutic counseling and other services.”About 24 lakh persons with disability received services from the autism corners of the One Stop Setvice Centres,” she said.
Besides, the PM said, services are also being provided to the children having autism and neurodevelopmental disorder, from the 15 public Medical College and Hospitals including Dhaka Pediatric Hospital.
Present government has distributed braille books among the blind students, passed a system allowing 30 minutes extra time to handicapped students in public exams.
Government in 2009-10 fiscal launched 68 service centers for the autistic people across the country. Specialised doctors give prescriptions to patients five days a week in these centers. Most of the patients coming to these centers are suffering from cerebral palsy. Patients are given physiotherapy, acupuncture therapy, speech and language therapy in these centers. Patients are also provided with wheelchairs and tricycles here.
