Daily Times

I found Him in the shining of the stars/I marked Him in the flowering of His fields/But in His ways with men I find Him not/I waged His wars, and now I pass and die/O me! for why is all around us here/As if some lesser god had made the world/But had not force to shape it as he would/Till the High God behold it from beyond/And enter it, and make it beautiful?

Pakistan ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (ENABLE) in 2011. A report on the National Census of Pakistan, 1998, placed disabilities under seven categories: blind, deaf/mute, crippled; insane; mentally retarded; multiple disability and others. According to the data, disabled persons constituted 2.49 percent of Pakistan’s total population with 3,286,630 people with different disabilities — 2,173,999 of these persons lived in the rural areas while 1,112,631 lived in urban ones. 55.7 percent of the disabled lived in the Punjab with 8.17 percent falling in the category of deaf/mute. The deaf/mute made up 7.43 percent of Pakistan’s total disabled population.

The World Health Organisation, over a decade ago, estimated that 10 percent of Pakistan’s population was disabled and that the census in 1998 reported an extremely low figure. The results of the census 2011 are still being compiled.

I have a hearing-impaired brother. The sheer magnitude of this statement can only truly be understood or felt by those who have actually witnessed, raised or lived with a special person. And my brother is truly special, like thousands others like him. He was born with a hearing impairment, as a result of my mother contracting Rubella (German measles) during pregnancy. In those days, there was no concept of vaccinating girls against German measles in Pakistan. Mercifully, rubella vaccine is now part of the mandatory inoculations for girls in Pakistan.

The denial is the strongest. Parents know in their hearts that something is wrong with their baby yet fear to acknowledge it. Hoping and praying if they shut their eyes tight, it will go away, and that they will awaken from this nightmare any second, into a perfect world.

The sympathies are the worst. Having a special child in the family means having people express their profound sorrow at what is perceived to be one’s rotten luck. The curious eyes and the ‘tut-tut’ and the whispers are enough to make some feel needlessly apologetic, ashamed and dejected. The lack of understanding is exasperating. What always drove me up the wall was when deaf people were lumped in the same category as ‘mute’; I fought many a battle, including ones with my psychology teacher at college when she used the term ‘deaf and dumb’, explaining if a person is unable to hear, how can he be expected to form words to speak? Many hearing-impaired individuals like my brother are able to speak with the help of hearing aids, speech therapy and lip reading. We were lucky to have taken him abroad where he received the kind of education that was unheard of in Pakistan at the time. Once back, he suffered because of lack of facilities but due to the immense dedication and sheer perseverance of my mother, he managed to graduate, hold a steady job and is currently studying for his law degree.

The Constitution of Pakistan provides for equality of all citizens. Another law states that two percent quota shall be reserved for disabled persons in private and government organisations. A National Policy for Persons with Disabilities was formulated in 2002 with empowerment of disabled persons through access to social, economic, political, educational and vocational facilities. A National Action Plan 2006 was also formulated, which advocates a comprehensive and integrated system instead of isolated interventions.

The UN ‘ENABLE’ binds countries to recognise that all persons are equal before the law to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantee equal legal protection. Article 9 of the Convention obligates countries “to enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life; States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas.” These measures include the identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility. The convention stresses the need for independent living with inclusion in the community and ensuring effective measures for personal mobility for the greatest possible independence.

The Provincial Motor Vehicles Ordinance 1965, Punjab, absolutely disqualifies a person from obtaining a driving licence on the ground of “a degree of deafness which prevents the applicant from hearing, without hearing aids, the ordinary sound signals.” Hearing-impaired individuals are given driving licences in the UK, Belgium, Thailand, Australia, Germany and many other countries; Malaysia and Sri Lanka require the hearing-impaired person to paste a bumper sticker alerting others of the handicap. Many countries mandate double rear-view mirrors and allow hearing-impaired individuals to drive personal vehicles. The Delhi High Court has allowed hearing-impaired individuals to obtain a driving licence provided they pass the driving test.

Denying a hearing-impaired person access to a fundamental right of independence and mobility is such a travesty. It violates the tenets of our religion, our constitution and makes a total mockery of the international obligations that Pakistan has undertaken. There are thousands of road accidents in Pakistan each year and ‘deaf’ people do not cause them. The licences in our country are issued without proper driving tests in violation of the rules; a simple look at the mess on our roads is a testament to this fact. The traffic police turn a blind eye to minors driving cars.

God has given special abilities to compensate persons whom He has brought into this world with a handicap. Helen Keller is one distant example but we are surrounded by living examples like my brother and his many friends, both boys and girls. They are not only intelligent and productive but also strive every single day to beat the odds, to play the hand that fate has dealt them with utmost dignity and perseverance, in the face of continuous discrimination and ridicule by an unyielding society, which still makes fun of special people. They compete for their rightful place and yearn to improve the quality of their lives. If hearing-impaired persons can otherwise lead a full life, why are they denied equal access to transportation? As Lord Tennyson describes the moaning of King Arthur, “Or else as if the world were wholly fair, But that these eyes of men are dense and dim, And have not power to see it as it is, Perchance, because we see not to the close.”

There is no lesser god. There is only one God. The world was created beautiful with many beautiful, special persons in it. It is the eyes of ordinary people that are ‘dense and dim’ and unable to comprehend the beauty and magnificence of the greater God. It is they who have failed to provide equal opportunities and equal rights; it is they who are disabled as they cannot see Him in His special creation. There are no children of a lesser god, only men who are the lesser people.

The writer is an advocate of the High Court