Guwahati: Sishu Sarothi, a not for profit organization has celebrated its 32nd Foundation Day today at its premises with much enthusiasm and fervour.
Speaking to the Sentinel Digital, Executive Director of Sishu Sarothi, Ketaki Bardalai said that they have worked unceasingly in North East India to flag the issue of disability that has been almost invisible in the context of other pressing socio-economic and political issues surrounding the conscience of the people of the region.
Bardalai also stated that they are following the new act for disability 'Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016'.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 is the disability legislation passed by the Indian Parliament to fulfill its obligation to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which India ratified in 2007. The Act replaces the existing Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunity Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995
She also said, "Over the past three decades, we have been working to enable and empower children and persons with disabilities even as we continue to combat challenges of inaccessibility, exclusion and stigma. With the ratification of UNCRPD by India in 2007 and the enactment of RPWD Act 2016, a whole new paradigm has opened up that changes the discourse from charity and welfare to rights and entitlements. This has significantly altered the trajectory of our work with new activities around the provisions of the RPWD Act."
Bardalai further stated that ensuring the rights of persons with disability is now of utmost importance for them and this is reflected in their work that has also evolved into a twin-track approach, with provision of need-based services on the one hand and pushing for rights and generic inclusion strategies on the other.
Shishu Sarothi is dedicated to upholding the inherent dignity and autonomy of children and persons with disabilities through its early intervention services for young children with disabilities, promotion of inclusive education, awareness and advocacy of rights and carrying out evidence-based research in North East India.
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