Survey of people with disabilities from next month

Social Welfare Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna presenting a national identification card and medical certificate to a student of Little Flower Convent Higher Secondary School for the Deaf in Chennai.

For the first time, an exclusive survey of people with disabilities will begin in the State next month and Rs.50 lakh has been sanctioned for the purpose.

“This will enable us to find out the exact number of people with disabilities since now we have only the 2001 census data to depend on,” said V.K. Jeyakodi, Commissioner for the Disabled.

Speaking at a function held to distribute medical certificates and national identification cards to the students of Little Flower Convent Higher Secondary School for the Deaf, an institution for the visually and hearing impaired, here on Thursday, he said that by the end of the current financial year, 4.6 lakh ID cards would be distributed. He said it was essential to identify children with disabilities as early as possible to facilitate treatment. The ID cards are given to people with a disability of 40 per cent or more.

Social Welfare Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna said that the previous scheme under which people with disabilities had to go to government hospitals and get themselves tested by a medical committee was cumbersome.

The new scheme, a “pilot project”, under which medical teams from every district visited schools, examined the children and issued ID cards would make it much easier for the beneficiaries. She said collective leadership was essential in such projects and audiologists, doctors, and government officials must work together for the scheme to be success.

he Minister and the Commissioner distributed medical certificates and ID cards to 43 hearing and 33 visually impaired students of Little Flower Convent Higher Secondary School for the Deaf.

The strength of the school is around 730 and the rest of the students have already received ID cards either during their visits to the hospital or at other distribution programmes, a school teacher said.