President M Abdul Hamid on Sunday urged government and non-government organizations, experts, policymakers, development practitioners and activists to come forward in making the persons with disabilities human resources and self-reliant.
“Social and political commitment are a must to address this issue . . . They will become capable human resources if we provide them with special education, training and healthcare facilities,” he said while opening the 23rd conference of Asian Federation on Intellectual Disabilities (AFID) at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Novo Theatre here.
Mentioning that persons with disabilities are kith and kin and integral part of the society, the President said they need and deserve special care and attention from the family and society as well.
He underscored the need for immediate and special attention of the state parties to eliminate discrimination against persons with disabilities in existing structures and chalking out development planning to provide equal and non-discriminating opportunities to them.
President Hamid named some persons with disabilities, including world renowned social activist Helen Keller, famous British Poet John Milton, educationist Louis Braille who faced blindness, German composer Beethoven who is deaf, British living legend famous Scientist Stephen Hawking, and said they had played very a significant role in the society.
He highly appreciated the activities of AFID and the Society for the Welfare of the Intellectually Disabled (SWID), which are working here with neuro developmental disabilities, intellectual disability, autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome and mental illness for many years. The President urged all to provide love and affection for the persons with disabilities and take care of them. “Specialized training and education to the children can turn them into human resources.”
Referring to various pragmatic steps taken by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Abdul Hamid said the government is very keen and committed to establish inclusive human society where everybody will get their due right with proper honour.
He said the incumbent government has established the National Foundation for the Development of Disabled (NFDD), introduced disability detection survey including disability issues in the national census, enacted “Disability Rights Protection Law-2013” and “Neuro-Developmental Disability Trust Fund Law-2013”, introduced stipend, health care service, accessibility, built sports and rehabilitation complex and took manifold programmes aimed at integrating them into the mainstream of society as skilled manpower.
