Source: Dawn - Opinion

By Zahra Chughtai

HOW often do most of us come across a disabled person, say a visually or hearing challenged individual, in mainstream life? How visible are they in offices or behind shop counters? The truth is that there is often little room for the disabled in the real world.

The more fortunate of them occupy a secluded enclave that protects them from a brash and materially driven world that is insensitive to their needs.

But even those who have access to special schools and training centres, do they ever assimilate into mainstream society? Are they able to establish an independent, sustainable lifestyle? With such very concerns in mind, two ground-breaking entrepreneurial ventures have been launched in Karachi by a small team of dedicated and idealistically motivated individuals. The School of Leadership (SOL), an organisation which works with the burgeoning youth of the country, (we have an exceedingly high ratio of young people in Pakistan) decided to widen their horizons and engage with the physically challenged youth in our society.

The first venture established by them is a bakery called the Backerei which is entirely managed and owned by a clutch of hearing challenged young people. Before launching the project, a baking professional was flown in from Germany to conduct a 10-week training of the bakery staff and teach them the subtleties of quality baking. The bright yellow facade of the bakery and whimsical wrought iron trim beckon cheerfully, but one can miss the shop if whizzing past the broad road on which it is situated. Inside, a chalk board displays the list of items on sale.

Initially, the hearing and speech challenged staff was assisted by an interpreter but now they are completely independent of any such aid. Conversation with the customers is naturally limited and really quite redundant since the wholesome looking bran bread and chunky chocolate cupcakes speak for themselves. At present the bakery is still being supported by the SOL which allows the proprietors to keep the profits but absorb any losses incurred. The model, of course, is for the venture to become entirely self-sufficient, in which event the business will pay back the initial loan which will then be invested in another project.

Rangeela, billed as an ethnic café, is the other SOL venture tucked in between several other shops lining a commercial street in Defence. The café was set up on the same business model as the bakery and obviously some imagination and effort has been invested into it as evidenced by the vibrant truck art which is emblazoned across the interior of the café. In fact, the whole place mimics a truckers’ chai khana complete with blazing pink and orange plastic coated benches and chamak patti trim on the walls. Sadly, however, the café wears a slightly dismal look and doesn’t seem to be attracting the trendy, image-conscious café-goers of today.

The young fresh-faced boy manning the shop is a hearing and speech challenged intermediate graduate who expressed his satisfaction with his current job despite the fact that business is slow. After all, as he readily admitted, were it not for this opportunity, he didn’t know what he would be doing.The government maintains a two per cent quota for jobs for the hearing impaired (however, no census has ever been conducted to determine the actual numbers of such persons) and some efforts have been made by the corporate sector to accommodate them. For instance, there is a KFC outlet in Karachi that is staffed by the deaf and hard of hearing. But such efforts are few and far in between. In general, there is a pressing need for job opportunities and economically viable vocational training.

In fact, this is one of the major demands put forward by the Pakistan Association for the Deaf (PAD). Among a host of other needs, they also put forward the demand to be included in sports and other recreational activities.

Recently a programme dealing with the problems faced by the deaf and dumb was aired on one of our local channels. Where the show touched on several weighty matters, participants also expressed simple, but heartfelt disadvantages like not being able to follow television programmes. Most of them agreed that they prefer to spend all their time in their special schools rather than at home with their families where they get bored.

It is glaringly obvious that we need to inculcate greater sensitivity within each of us and in society as a whole to include the disadvantaged in mainstream life. Simple measures like adding sub titles on television cannot be very hard. Perhaps, the rudiments of sign language can be introduced in school curricula so that signing becomes a more common means of communication.

In fact, other such socially sensitising workshops seeking to build bridges between parallel worlds can also be conducted as part of the norm. Today, more than ever we need to learn compassion and tolerance and to value diversity. If the disabled can help us to reclaim these values, then we will be gaining something far more valuable than any assistance we can offer them.

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Tags: disabled, Karachi, Pakistan Association for the Deaf, SOL