Advocating a bold attitude

Malay Desai

At a time when self-promotion is second nature to many and earning print space often requires desperate efforts, we are surprised to meet 42-year-old Nilesh Singit. The kurta-clad disability rights activist, appearing more like a JJ School of Arts student, flatly refuses to be interviewed, citing ‘typical’ treatment meted out to the disabled in ‘such’ articles. We agree, many stories of differently-abled people are either too sympathetic or overtly glorifying, but assert that we won’t veer in either direction.

“Things are blown out of proportion, a small achievement is written as ‘overcoming all odds..’ he tells us later, having agreed after a mediator’s word. So here are some facts about Singit’s life, with the least usage of superlatives: Nilesh belongs to a large joint family hailing from Karnataka but has grown up in Mumbai. The cerebral palsy (a group of movement disorders caused by damage to the brain before, during or just after birth) he was born with was nearly invisible for his siblings and cousins whom he shared a close-knit childhood with. At his school (special one for persons with disability – PWD, an idea he’s against) and later, his inclusion factor wore off a bit. “Over the years as a PWD and as a rights advocate, I have realised that things come in packages of advantages and disadvantages. I have come to accept it, why rue it? Those who ‘acquire’ disability have difficulty accepting it,” he feels, likening himself to a person ‘who failed the medical test by a whisker and could not pursue his/her dream of being an air force pilot.’ Surely a perspective we haven’t heard before.

It’s this attitude (and the eloquence in conveying it) that we quite relish, despite his career having enough to gush about. Once before getting on to a flight, Singit was asked for his medical certificate, which he didn’t have. A doctor was called, who then proceeded to ask him questions, to which Singit interrupted and stopped short of lambasting him and the crew, before making his way into the flight. Turned out that the doc was asking questions related to Down’s Syndrome. “Where’s your certificate?” Singit asked them back.

His flamboyance may have to be tucked in at various moments though, as he’s working in one of the most challenging sectors of the government – advocacy. As a research officer at the Centre for Disability Studies, Nalsar University (Hyderabad), he writes papers, conducts audits and litigates for the betterment of PWDs in India, and not all people he meets are smooth to deal with. “I’ve been caught up quite a number of times in what is termed as ‘friendly fire’. I always carry a white hanky,” he claims, tongue firmly in cheek.

That said, those who know Singit well don’t really risk not taking him seriously as the man has arrived at this position after much experience in the field. An MA in Literature, he pursued disability studies and went on to play several key roles in the field – trainer, advocate of rights and researcher being some. “There is a dearth of writings on disability; as an access audit consultant I found that even though there are tonnes of data on universal design, there is not much on adaptation and customisation for an individual’s needs,” he informs. Of course, being a PWD himself was a great influence in advocating for the UNCRPD (UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities), an international instrument that provides PWD with the same human rights as everyone else, which is sanctioned by India. “Disability studies are the way to get the PWD in command of his/her environment and life,” he admits.

His strong opinions and voices for and against all things perfect and imperfect come out unfiltered through his writings on the web. His blog, ‘Disability News Worldwide’ is replete with informative, transformative, even evocative posts. Another blog carries his rant against the Lokpal and an old ‘open letter’ to Shah Rukh Khan, while his social network profiles bear pointers to the range of work he’s accomplished and waiting to do. But it is only after hearing his plans do we judge him as a passionate writer: “I regret not having written as much as I ought to have. I think I have in me a book or two I’d like to begin writing sooner than later.”

“I would rather write than be written about,” he says of his above mentioned reluctance, explaining that the very act of overcoming the stereotype sometimes reinforces the stereotype. We don’t know if this article would make the cut with him, but we sure have returned more insightful after having met him.

(An initiative of Trinayani, a nonprofit NGO founded by Ritika Sahni, the THIS ABILITY articles celebrates the intriguing lives of persons with disabilities. Trinayani works towards Disability Awareness and Support, communicating through workshops/seminars, print, radio, films and other electronic media.  Visit www.trinayani.org or write to us at trinayani.contact@gmail.com)

The Articles in the Series “This-Ability” are copyrighted material of Trinayani.  This Blog is carrying the series on the request of Ritika Sahni, Founder Trinayani.  Any queries or request to publish these articles please contact Ritika Sahni. The owner of this Blog is not responsible for any copyright infringement

Nilesh Singit

Ready to touch a new high

Malay Desai

‘Chhoone se phailta hai toh sirf pyar’, actor Shabana Azmi had told us ignorant Indians in an AIDS awareness TV spot in the 90s. So radical was that line that we couldn’t help recalling it as we entered a small room with a loft on the ground floor of a municipal school in south Mumbai. Frankly, we’d expected the Helen Keller Institute for Deaf and Deaf blind (HKIDB), a pioneering body in Asia for its work for deaf blindness to be grander. But minutes into a ‘conversation’ with one of its students Pradip Sinha, we realised its grandeur. After all, we were using both our hands to clasp his in various ways to communicate and unravel an outstanding life story.

‘Deafblind’ is one word, a term used to describe the deaf who lost sight or vice versa. Most of us won’t first recall the name of this institute’s namesake as a revolutionary deaf blind person, but would get perspective at the mention of Rani Mukherjee’s character in the film Black. We spot a forlorn postcard of the film too, while ‘talking’ to Pradip. He is using the American Sign Language (ASL) to talk and feeling his teacher and interpreter Devyani Hadkar’s palms to ‘listen’. Their hand movements are too swift for us, and often end prematurely as one understands the other beforehand, and we only reason this sync to years of their time spent in this room.

“As a child, I was confused and scared,” Pradip is haphazard as he tells us of his past, but his face is ever-beaming. The only brother to five sisters in a middle class Kolkata family, he was born deaf with Rubella Syndrome (group of abnormalities that occur to a developing foetus) but lost vision only at age 10. “His protective parents wouldn’t let him out too much until his sisters discovered our centre in 1991 and sent him to Mumbai,” Devyani tells us. She doesn’t need to refer to him on many things we ask – his past, present, even about his feelings. Devyani is the doting figure that has anchored Pradip to this city.

This also means that Pradip’s sisters, who’re incidentally visiting him when we’re there, don’t know him as much as Devyani does. “Mujhe itna nahi aata,” one of them admits of the ASL. Pradip was brought here when he was nine, and like in cases of many deaf blinds, this created some distance with his blood relatives. Even though he goes home every year like any other out-of-towner in Mumbai, the overall lack of communication has created a perplexed wall between them. “In fact, he just didn’t go last year because he ‘didn’t feel like’,” Devyani adds. She is therefore, playing the bridge between him and his family.

Another element that has held Pradip together in his different youth so far has been religion, and we discover this only when he tells us his email id, which has ‘Philip’ in it. “My priest gave it to me,” he says. “Why did you convert?” we ask. Devyani is curious too. Pradip makes random signs till we figure he’s just mumbling and suddenly the smile we thought was perennial turns into a nervous, straight face. “My family did not trust me in many things. So I decided for myself in 1996 to be happy,” he opens up on email later. Devyani, however believes that witnessing the Hindu-Muslim riots of 1993 may be the reason. The ‘Philip’ within ‘Pradip’ is still a mystery to us, especially when Devyani tells us of his staunch ways of not even having ‘prasad’.

That said, Pradip is still just another man in the big city, living on rent with a roomie Akhtar (also deafblind), travelling 90 minutes by train every day, chasing dreams of becoming a businessman. The time that he flies out of his nest is near, he knows it; Devyani knows it. “I’m ready to stay wherever my work takes me. I might need to be with my mother as I’m the only son!” he asserts. After he finishes his Diploma for Computer Education for the Deafblind, he’d become a trainer for other deaf blind persons, and utilise his proficiency with special computers. The woman interpreting his thoughts to us now is a key player, and has in fact called the sisters here to give them a subtle ‘it-is-time-he-must-go’ message.

The question of long-term companionship is lurking too. Pradip is 33 and though he doesn’t reveal much on the subject, Devyani reports that along with his roommate and friends, he’s been excitedly talking on this and scouting for matches – disabled or otherwise. “Some of them have been hitched to sighted partners… their optimism is high!” she smiles.

An hour or so of this warm, three-way talk later, Pradip takes our palm and doodles an invisible ‘Nice to meet you’ with his index finger. As we envelope his hand in both ours and pat him, we realise Shabana Azmi was indeed right.

(An initiative of Trinayani, a
nonprofit NGO founded by Ritika Sahni, the THIS ABILITY articles celebrates the
intriguing lives of persons with disabilities. Trinayani works towards
Disability Awareness and Support, communicating through  workshops/seminars,
print, radio, films and other electronic media.  Visit www.trinayani.org or write to us at
trinayani.contact@gmail.com)

The Articles in the Series
“This-Ability” are copyrighted material of Trinayani.  This Blog is
carrying the series on the request of Ritika Sahni, Founder Trinayani.  Any queries or request to publish these articles please contact Ritika Sahni. The owner of this Blog is not
responsible for any copyright infringement

Nilesh
Singit

Avatars of a different kind

Malay Desai

“Sofia!” the bed-ridden magician yelled, keeping at it until his nurse appeared. “Throw this vase, destroy it,” he ordered, fuming at Sofia’s hesitance. That moment in the 2010 film Guzaarish touched many, making us wonder how it must be living, laughing, getting furious when one’s limbs don’t move at will. ‘Qwa-dri-ple-jya’, we even read about the disorder; after all it had affected none less than Hrithik Roshan’s character in a big banner film. What we didn’t read was a name among its credits, a Divya Arora, who’d assisted the director and the actor, and is quadriplegic herself. This is her story.

To arrive in Mumbai chasing dreams of making it big in the show business requires grit, but to do it when one is on a wheelchair, is asthmatic and has difficulty in sensory, motor and speech skills requires pure conviction, or insanity. When we meet Arora at her suburban flat one humid night, we unravel more of her qualities, not one of them uninspiring. Her room is a typical writer’s den featuring a messy desk, ashtrays (belonging to her brother Dinesh, also a writer) and an open Word document where worlds are created with words.

“I had to come to Bombay, I was meant for better things,” she tells us, after we talk about her opting out of activism for the persons with disabilities in India which she found disheartening. “Infrastructure gets sorted only if you are Atal Behari Vajpayee” she tells us of the incident when an airline got an elevator installed just for the former PM after his knee surgery. “Besides, I’ve been an actor from age five, and with all my writing and performing experience, how could I have stayed in Delhi? I hate that city!” she speaks of her hometown she left three years ago.

Arora’s struggle hasn’t been as much about demanding producers and opportunist middlemen than with internal battles. “She’s loves being independent, but needs help at simple functions such as getting off her chair to head to bed,” Dinesh explains, adding, “Also, some people not understanding her speech frustrates her most!” Arora having grown up in Paris and travelled the world also means she has a slight accent, he claims, but we don’t spot it.

Already having an experience in a cross-section of creative disciplines – copywriting, modeling, acting, theatre, production to name a few, Arora hasn’t taken long to make a name for herself in Mumbai and has an enviable resume featuring top producers, big projects and a national award. But it is her personal life that we find more riveting, and wonder at her throwing back her head and smiling as she unravels various sub-plots of it. “I am a very romantic girl,” she says, “and Bombay has given me love, made my dreams come true!” She keeps mentioning ‘someone’ special throughout, with an unmistakable twinkle. And though she misses home food, nothing can beat the thrill of roaming about this city’s roads, in her motorised chair.

Arora’s take on films as a disabled person and a critic is refined. “People don’t love disabled characters on screen, they love the actors – Vidya Balan in Guru, Rani Mukherjee in Black, Hrithik in Guzaarish.. it only means that they’re disconnected when they meet people with such disabilities in real life,” she explains. She’d love mainstream cinema that would weave in disability and not separate it. “Have you watched Vicky Donor for example?” she asks. Her opinion on the Guzaarish director Sanjay Leela Bhansali isn’t too glorious though: “He was all ‘Divya-Divya-Divya’ while making the movie, where is he now?” she asks of his disconnect. “I’m not surprised that his film flopped!” she gestures, but admits she’d work with him if an opportunity arises.

There isn’t a dearth of opportunities now though, Arora is currently ideating, writing and acting in a big banner film she tells us little about. At our obvious question about her first love, she doesn’t hesitate to say ‘theatre’. “It’s more interactive, more impactful,” she reasons, although not having taken to it in a while now. Also, not that we didn’t guess it, she loves watching and writing romantic comedies (she’d be good at it too, we feel, given all the romance in her life). “I loved Jaane Tu, and Jab We Met!” she exclaims. And like that of many wielders of the pen in Bombay, Arora’s five-year-plan too is of producing her own film.

We are not surprised that unlike the quadriplegic magician’s character she helped portray two years back, she loves happy endings and are convinced she’ll have a more dramatic one herself. “I want to win a dozen Filmfares, six Oscars, live a love life feeling complete and eventually die in his arms, in Bombay!” she grins. If only she could script this story too.

(An initiative of Trinayani, a nonprofit NGO founded by Ritika Sahni, the THIS ABILITY articles celebrates the intriguing lives of persons with disabilities. Trinayani works towards Disability Awareness and Support, communicating through workshops/seminars, print, radio, films and other electronic media.  Visit www.trinayani.org or write to us at trinayani.contact@gmail.com)

The Articles in the Series “This-Ability” are copyrighted material of Trinayani.  This Blog is carrying the series on the request of Ritika Sahni, Founder Trinayani.  Any queries or request to publish these articles please contact Ritika Sahni. The owner of this Blog is not responsible for any copyright infringement

Nilesh Singit

Keen and able

Malay Desai

This World Disability Day, we looked back at five memorable characters in films on disability… and reflect upon what we can seek from them.

‘The International Day of People with Disability’, ever since United Nations put it on the global calendar, falls on December 3 every year, and unlike its predecessor of two days, the World Aids Day, goes largely unnoticed in our part of the world.

Issues related to disability need not make it to mainstream news and discussions only after cases of discrimination or crimes, for we Indians have good reason to talk about and get sensitized to some facts. Facts such as the 70-100 million disabled citizens of our country.

Without any more statistical details to intimidate you, here we present our favourite picks of film characters; those who’re not necessarily disabled themselves, but have given away a crucial lesson or two through their films. Beware, this list is only indicative and post year 2000, for a fresher recall. For best results, call your local DVD parlour and revisit these masterpieces.

1. Jean Dominique – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Lauded as one of the greatest films on disability of all time, this Belgian drama is the true story of the extraordinary life of French magazine editor Jean Dominique, who suffers a stroke and finds himself ‘trapped in’ a completely paralysed body – but for his left eye.

Jean’s character, who is grappling through the film to accomplish and publish a book simply by batting his eyelid to communicate with his people, is one of the most inspiring ones you’ll see on screen. His therapist is an epitome of patience too, for reciting the entire alphabet repeatedly to wait for his ‘blink’.

Jean managed to write, edit and published his book.. and in the process also brought together his ex and current lovers, aged father and children. He died days after publishing it. The lesson: impossible is nothing!

2. Joseph Braganza – Khamoshi

Closer home, we dare not leave out one of Bollywood’s most endearing disabled characters – Nana Patekar’s Goan man of the musical Khamoshi. Credit to his incredible acting or to director Bhansali for etching out an in-depth character, but truth is that Mr Braganza taught many of us how to emote, and that there is no such thing as too much emotion.

Braganza, a deaf father and husband amidst tough domestic relationships, introduced the masses to the charms of the Indian Sign Language. That said, he also let his eyes do the talking… and crying too, bucketfuls of it.

Next time you see your child achieve/lose anything, be sure to let them tears flow like nobody’s watching. It’s a therapy that will win you many friends, and bring you closer to yourself!

3. Driss – The Intouchables

Earlier this year, a French film about a quadriplegic man and his relationship with his caretaker fleeted by our urban theatres, and chances are that you might’ve not heard of it at all.

Driss is a broke black man newly hired by an aristocrat for his personal upkeep as he has quadriplegia. The former, simply by being his brash, unapologetic and casual self, wins over the heart of his boss and others; and embarks upon many self-discovering adventures too. Like the Diving Bell, this one’s a true story too!

The lesson – you need not study protocol or think twice before interacting or forming new equations with disabled persons. A healthy dose of humour, friendship – even if insensitive – is preferable over ignorance.

4. Barfi

So much has been written and talked about Ranbir Kapoor’s portrayal of a deaf character that we thought it won’t be worth featuring it here; but  testing your retention capacities is worth it!

It’s a fact that unlike Barfi, most men with verbal or auditory impairments lack the panache and confidence to begin conversations with strangers or make the mischief he does in the film. But the point to be taken here is – they can be as flirtatious, friendly or conniving as any guy next door. Bring them out of their shell, using sign language is a good hook to do so!

Besides, thanks to some responsible film making, we learnt through Barfi that mockery or sympathy have no place in interactions with disabled persons.

5. Nikumbh sir – Taare Zameen Par

Finally, we must invoke our man Aamir’s character in the 2007 film to wind up this list. Firstly, here was a ‘hero’ of Indian cinema who’s not into daredevilry, but is a simple, passionate teacher. Nikumbh sir, through his sensitive attitude and body language in class (we saw much of that in Aamir Khan himself in Satyamev Jayate this year), won over the hearts of many.

Perhaps the most impact this pretty old-fashioned teacher with new values had was in the scenes when he roars at parents of the autistic child for being regressive. His words were lessons in parenting to many – especially to those who see their children as ‘investments’ – ready to push them into the most ‘lucrative’ fields.

Respecting each child’s uniqueness and abilities, whether he/she’s disabled or not, was Nikumbh sir’s biggest lesson, which is worth re-visiting regularly in India!

(An initiative of Trinayani, a nonprofit NGO founded by Ritika Sahni, the THIS ABILITY articles celebrates the intriguing lives of persons with disabilities. Trinayani works towards Disability Awareness and Support, communicating through workshops/seminars, print, radio, films and other electronic media.  Visit www.trinayani.org or write to us at trinayani.contact@gmail.com)

The Articles in the Series “This-Ability” are copyrighted material of Trinayani.  This Blog is carrying the series on the request of Ritika Sahni, Founder Trinayani.  Any queries or request to publish these articles please contact Ritika Sahni. The owner of this Blog is not responsible for any copyright infringement

Nilesh Singit

What Women Want: The ability debates

DEEPA ALEXANDER

The triumphs and disasters of the differently-abled in India are two ends of the spectrum. Among the 70 million disabled in our country are those who have conquered peaks, won gold at the Paralympics, and raced in Himalayan and desert car rallies. But, millions more struggle to meet daily challenges in a society that tends to portray the disabled  as either heroes or victims with little or no access to their rightful resources. The proposed amendments to the Copyright Act (1957) are seen as restrictive and discriminatory, as the copyright exception, which aims at allowing persons with disability easy access to copyrighted material, applies only to certain types of disability. We spoke to activists who address these issues, not as charity or welfare but as matters of development and dignity.

Change in attitude

National Trust’s programmes work on building capacity, changing patronising attitudes, building trust in the abilities of people with developmental disability and creating an equal playing field. Unfortunately, deeply entrenched attitudes  continue to exclude people with disabilities. Even if an opportunity is given, it is given only once; if a person with  disability fails, incapacity is assumed. But, in the recent case of a young woman with intellectual disability who had been raped in a women’s home, the Supreme Court upheld her right to ‘choose’ to keep her baby, and she has proved to be a competent mother. However, the disapproval of the intelligentsia in the media is an indicator of the social prejudices people with disabilities have to live with.

Implement their rights

Ability Foundation’s thrust is on creating an equitable society. Through our magazine Success & Ability, we spread this message at a time when service to the disabled was seen only at the physical, and not at the emotional level. Persons with disabilities need access to inclusive education, employment and public places. Being ‘accounted’ in the Census 2011 will open up a plethora of possibilities. Accurate data will enable Government intervention at various levels, leading to proactive action. We need ramps for wheelchair users, audio announcements in bus / train stations for the visually-impaired, and video announcements for the hearing-impaired. Floor numbers in Braille for lifts, sign language interpreters in every hospital, police station and court of law, slip-proof flooring in malls, and large-print books in public libraries for those with low vision are the other needs. The implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities as per the United Nations convention and the Persons with Disabilities Act (PWD), in letter and spirit, is also essential.

A development issue

My daughter Tamana was born with cerebral palsy. It pushed me to found an organisation in 1984 to fulfil the dreams of children with special needs and those of their parents. Therapy and counselling for children and their families is essential for optimum adult rehabilitation. Since Independence, the disabled have been categorised along with sections such as women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. While these have had powerful political lobbies, there has been no spokesperson for the disabled. The dichotomies between the Ministries of Education and Social Justice further worsen the exclusion. Most policy-makers look at disability as a welfare, not a development issue. Disability should be jointly addressed by the Ministries of Health, Women and Child Development, HRD, Social Justice and Empowerment. The definition of disability in the PWD Act does not include autism, which leaves out nearly two million autistic persons in India. Admitting disabled children in normal schools is not enough — you need to have professionally trained staff, who are sensitised. I also hope for a different curriculum for special children, even as they are being integrated in the mainstream. Better pay scales will also bring in more jobs in the disability sector.

Public-private partnership

NGO-run establishments provide free schooling for disabled children. The Government has provided legislative intent  through the Inclusive Education Act, which makes it mandatory to include all kinds of impaired children. However,  Government schools that cater to the poor are generally marked by grossly inadequate infrastructure and teaching  aids, so imagine the predicament of the disabled. I would like a public-private partnership for day-care and residential  institutions which provide educational and recreational service on a long-term basis. This needs to be supported by   research institutions which focus on technology, communication and teaching aids. We need to benefit from global  expertise, and customise them to local needs. As Childline’s primary mandate is child protection, I feel that the  Government must compulsorily provide for a child protection policy in any institution that deals with disabled children, as, such children are more vulnerable to abuse.

The copyright angle

The Centre for Internet and Society is associated with the copyright amendment movement for persons with  disabilities, and is one of the founding organisations for the Indian Right to Read campaign. At present, the proposed copyright amendment is detrimental to the disability sector’s needs. The exception extends only to ‘specially designed’ formats such as Braille and sign language, and does not benefit the millions who have cerebral palsy, dyslexia and low vision, and the visually-impaired persons who do not know Braille. Such persons require audio, reading material with large fonts and electronic texts, which are not ‘specially designed’ formats. For conversion to non-specialised formats, the amendment proposes a licensing system, which will permit only organisations working for the benefit of the disabled to undertake conversion and distribution. This will prevent educational institutions, SHGs, other NGOs and print-disabled individuals from undertaking conversion. The licensing system will also require approaching the Copyright Board for each work, which will be extremely time-consuming. The waiting period for obtaining permissions and subsequent conversion will result in students losing academic years, a violation of their right to education. The  proposed amendment violates the Constitutional guarantee of equality under Article 14 since it discriminates between  those visually-impaired persons who know Braille and those print-disabled persons who do not. It is important for the  nation as a whole to take the concern of persons with disabilities as a mainstream concern.

The Hindu

SUPERFEST 2010: International Disability Film Festival

May 10: From Profound to Profane: Superfest Shines a Spotlight on 13 Remarkable Films in 2-Day Festival Celebrating Disability Culture June 4 & 5 in Berkeley  When a boy’s fluttering eyelashes are finally recognized as communication, 16 years of silent isolation end and a soulful poet’s life takes flight in Like A Butterfly (Poland, Best of Festival), a lyrical, intimate portrait that’s a testament to the profound resilience of the human spirit; the adrenalin rush as the athlete pushes the limits, the awesome beauty of the snowy landscapes, the thrill as the snowboarder soars higher, the tricks, defying gravity, and then, Wipe Out (Canada, Merit) — three compelling stories about life after your head hits the icy hard-pack; unflinching and raw, at times unhinged, The Last American Freak Show (UK, Merit) turns a voyeuristic lens on a low-rent troupe of self-defined freaks and outsiders as they hit the road in a revival of a marginalized “art form” that many believe should have been “bagged and tagged” long ago.  These are just three of thirteen remarkable award winning-films, a taste of what’s in store at the 30th Superfest International Disability Film Festival, a community event celebrating disability culture June 4 & 5 in downtown Berkeley at the Gaia Art Center, 2120 Allston Way. The accessible and affordable event includes Friday and Saturday afternoon screenings of the 13 award-winning films, a lively “Q & A” with attending filmmakers, a meet and greet the film-makers reception and an award ceremony with live entertainment. The festival is presented by Culture!Disability!Talent! (CDT), a grass-roots non-profit dedicated to promoting quality, authentic films that represent the rich diversity of the world’s disability community.

Top Honors

The Best of Festival and Excellence Awards go to three films representing the power, passion, craft and art of the documentary. Taking us to cultures as disparate as Poland, China, and California, these superb films remind us that there are no language barriers or national boundaries in our universal need to be heard, recognized, understood, accepted, and yes, loved and embraced as a valued member of the human family.

Best of Festival Award

Without gimmicks or artifice, Polish filmmaker Ewa Pieta delivers an intricate portrait, charged with brilliant moments of emotional intensity. Like a Butterfly tells the story of Przemek, a 23 year-old poet who spent his first 16 years of life trying frantically to communicate, get someone, anyone, to notice him. When an institution worker finally recognizes his persistent tapping and blinking as dammed up intelligence, his desperate isolation comes to an end. With training on a communication system, Przemek dives passionately into his longed for world of words, eventually earning national recognition for his poetry.

Excellence & Spirit Awards

Rhianon Guiterrez’s When I’m Not Alone is as direct and down to earth as Sam Durbin, the extraordinary ordinary man at its center. Sam’s life, like this story, is all about possibilities. He heads the consumer advisory committee for California’s Department of Developmental Services and is a published author, achievements he never imagined while institutionalized or homeless. This powerful gem, which chronicles Sam’s efforts to reclaim his life with the help of Integrity House, a clubhouse to help people with disabilities become self-advocates, also earned the Spirit Award, given to an outstanding work by a filmmaker with a disability.  In China, families with autistic children face hostility, discrimination, and financial ruin. Services don’t exist. One small school, Stars and Rain, on the outskirts of Beijing, offers a ray of hope. Parents travel thousands of miles with their 5 year-olds to join this intensive 11-week residential course in skills and behavior, aimed at acceptance of the child by public schools. British director, Rob Aspey, skillfully draws us into how hard it is for the Children of the Stars to communicate their needs or show affection. We experience frustration, glimmers of hope, the joy of a father hearing “I love you” for the first time from his son, and our hearts travel with them as they leave and head home to an uncertain future.

The P.K. Walker Award

Named for experimental artist, Pamela Walker, a pioneer in the Berkeley disability arts scene, this award is given to a film that pushes artistic boundaries, that surprises us, that demonstrates innovation in expressing disability experience. With White Sound, Australian filmmaker Sarah Tracton, gives us a totally fresh take on what it means to hear, to listen, when she uses her own hearing loss as catalyst to visually explore the texture of sound.

Awards for Achievement and Merit

Two of the three Achievement Award winners provide windows into the experiences of people restarting their lives somewhere new. Miya of the Quiet Strength was life long activist Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, who first drew national attention as the sole survivor of a campus mass shooting before moving from Iowa to Berkeley to continue her fight for human and civil rights out of the spotlight glare. Filmmaker Daniel Julien’s loving tribute captures the essence of this beloved and respected community worker and the family who supported her efforts. In Beyond Borders, children and adults from Iraq, Uzbekistan and Morocco immigrate to Belgium seeking much needed services or to escape oppression and war in their homelands. Director Brecht Vanmeirhaeghe introduces us to a boy with Down syndrome and his family, a mother who is developing multiple sclerosis and a young blind man determined to run a marathon.

The third Achievement winner and two of the five Merit Award winners are films that focus on the power of art to represent, challenge, and transform ideas about disability, films that call into question the nature of artistic expression. Achievement winner, The Portrait of a Disabled Man, is a documentary about the discovery of an unusual 400 year-old Austrian painting. The man’s body is laid out, as if for a medical examination, but his head is turned to eye the viewer and challenge our gaze. Filmmakers Volker Schoenwiese and Bernd Thomas explore views by disability scholars, activists, and artists on the history and significance of the painting.

Two Merit Award winners also delve into the significance of the gaze that people with visible disabilities are subjected to in public, and how disabled artists can choose to refashion it into performance. Richard Butchkins takes us on a long and winding road trip with The Last American Freak Show, a rough, sometimes messy look at a troupe of unapologetic “freaks” who flaunt their differences and charge you to gaze. David Levitt Waxman takes us inside The Art of Movement with the Bay Area’s world renowned AXIS Dance Company. These dancers, with and without disabilities, know full well that the audience is at first absorbed by what they perceive as different and resist seeing their performance as art, so they raise the artistic bar and push the creative envelope until they astonish audiences with their innovative moves.

Challenging Assumptions

The three remaining Merit winners and the special award for outstanding emerging artist go to filmmakers for films that demonstrate a strong creative vision and powerful point of view. They are:

• My Friend Claude driven by a bluesy sound track that serves as narrative, is Canadian Yves Langlois‘s unsentimental tribute to his close friend that captures his joie de vivre as he fulfils his bucket list;
• Wipe Out is Lionel Goddard’s compelling, close-up of three young Canadians who were head injured through extreme snowboarding and are now involved in public education about safety measures;
• Far From Home is Elissa Moon’s incisive look at life in Laguna Honda, and how a lawsuit against the country’s largest nursing home enabled some disabled residents to escape institutionalization into independent living in the community; and
• Winner of Emerging Artist award Laurence Parent for Je me Souviens: Excluded from the Montreal Subway Since 1966, her passionate and poetic expose of a long, so far futile battle for accessibility of the Montreal subway.

Public Screening Schedule and Reception/Awards Event

Public screenings of the award-winning films will take place on Friday, June 4, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., and Saturday, June 5, 12-5 p.m., at the Gaia Arts Center, 2120 Allston (one block from the downtown Berkeley BART station) in Berkeley, California. Tickets are $5-$20/day sliding scale and will be sold only at the door. Please refrain from wearing perfume and other scented products. A “Meet the Makers” reception will take place on Saturday, June 5, 6-7 p.m., followed by an awards ceremony with live entertainment from 7-9 p.m. The reception and awards ceremony are free and open to the public.

Access Accommodations Available

The venue is wheelchair accessible. Braille and large print screening schedules are available. All films will be audio described and most are captioned; check screening schedule. Film introductions, as well as the reception and awards event will be ASL interpreted.

For additional access information, or to get a copy of the SUPERFEST 2010 screening schedule, visit http://www.culturedisabilitytalent.org/superfest/index.html, e-mail: info@culturedisabilitytalent.org or call the CDT voice mailbox at 510-845-5576.

Sponsors

Superfest 2010 is made possible in part by the generosity of: AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah, the California Arts Council, Gabriel Ledger, M.D., the National Arts and Disability Center at UCLA, and the True North Foundation. CDT is also currently funded by the City of Berkeley Civic Arts Program.

DISABILITY NEWS ASIA

Profile: Bethany Stevens, Disability rights activist

April 5, 2010 at 5:00 pm by Bobby Feingold in Profile

Bethany Stevens, who holds both a law and sexuality studies degree and works at Georgia State University’s Center for Leadership in Disability, recently helped organize the Reel to Real Disability Film Fest to better portray the realities of disabled people.

When did you first become involved in disability rights activism?

I lost somebody that I loved to suicide. Before he committed suicide, he told me that the reason he was feeling so tired was that he couldn’t achieve erections because he had a spinal cord injury. I also hosted a conference about disability and sexuality while I was in law
school, and that [experience] really shifted my focus to disability and sexuality.

Tell us about the film festival.

I’ve selected films that focus on people with disabilities played by actual people with disabilities. We’re moving away from things like My
Left Foot with Daniel Day-Lewis, when people get Oscars when they play people who are disabled. Similarly, if they act like they’re gay —
like with Milk. That’s just annoying. There are actors who are disabled and gay Why can’t they be playing those parts? Shouldn’t they have visibility? Shouldn’t they have a presence in media?

Why do you think so few people, both disabled and non-disabled, have neglected to have meaningful conversations about disability?

I think part of it is that people don’t want to be disabled. I think that my visual presence — disabled people’s visual presence — frightens
nondisabled people because it’s a slippery category. People can slide into it with that freak accident. I also think that historically we’ve
been excluded, and we’ve been institutionalized. We’ve just now been coming out. We’re just now being able to physically access places.

What do you see for yourself in the future?

I want to be a scholar-activist forever. I want to get into media production. I want to start making films and short documentaries. I want people to pay me to speak all over the world. I have a book that I need to publish. I’m definitely going to be a die-hard disability
activist until I die.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Telework firm urges federal training on hiring disabled workers

By Ed O’Keefe

Almost half of human resources officials responsible for hiring and retaining federal workers say they have not received adequate training on how to manage and retain employees with severe disabilities, according to the results of a survey by the Telework Exchange and the Federal Managers Association set for release Monday. Many are also unfamiliar with mandates designed to promote the hiring of disabled applicants and hiring rules that allow for the noncompetitive hiring of disabled people. Though 71 percent of the respondents said their agencies are committed to hiring disabled workers, 40 percent said they have not received adequate training to effectively manage disabled employees, according to the survey. The Telework Exchange, continuing its push for advancing teleworking, and the Federal Managers Association partnered on the study in advance of a conference set for next week that will press the Obama administration on the teleworking option for federal workers. “Telework is certainly one way that would allow many people with disabilities to utilize their talents on behalf of the government, while overcoming barriers that may keep them out of the workplace,” said Todd Wells, executive director of the Federal Managers Association.

The survey also noted that 45 percent of federal hiring managers surveyed said they have not received adequate training on retaining disabled employees. The voluntary online survey of 513 federal hiring officers from across the government was taken between Jan. 25 and Feb. 5, roughly a month before the Office of Personnel Management held a training session for more than 600 federal hiring managers about hiring and retaining disabled workers. During the session OPM unveiled a new online training tool for hiring officials that instructs them on how to use Schedule A, a noncompetitive hiring waiver that permits agencies to hire severely disabled individuals, an OPM spokesman said. The agency is developing a similar training tool for disabled applicants wishing to be hired under the waiver. “We are working diligently to attract and hire individuals with disabilities,” OPM spokesman Edmund Byrnes said in a statement.

OPM and the Labor Department’s Office of Disability Policy also will hold a hiring fair on April 26 at the Washington Convention Center. More than 70 agencies with job openings have been invited to search a database with more than 4,000 resumes of disabled applicants. Agencies are encouraged to schedule interviews with disabled applicants at the April event, OPM said. A House committee last week approved a bill that would require the federal government to develop plans to expand the policy across the federal workforce. Agencies would be required to hire a telework managing officer, responsible for overseeing implementation of the policy. By the end of fiscal 2011 OPM Director John Berry, a teleworking advocate, hopes to double the number of teleworkers from the 102,900 of fiscal year 2009. The White House said Kareem Dale, President Obama’s special assistant on disability policy, will address the survey’s findings at next week’s conference.

Washington Post Sunday, March 28, 2010; 9:17 PM

Disabled by society

New thinking in the last century has radically changed political concepts that determine relations between the state and its citizens, and between society and its members. New rights are now being defined although the ground realities have yet to change.

Take the case of persons with disabilities. Until recently, providing them with care was perceived as charity. Today, they can legally claim respect for their dignity, inclusiveness in society, non-discrimination and equality of opportunity as a matter of right.  Disability is being redefined in a social rather than a physiological context. Sociologists and human rights activists now place the onus on society to make the necessary structural changes for enabling persons with disabilities to realise their full potential and make a contribution to the state.  This attempt to bring about a paradigm shift led to the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008 — which Pakistan has also signed but has yet to ratify.  In view of the sociological research that has been done on the basis of the narratives and experiences of people with disabilities, the modern approach no longer focuses on the limitations of individuals or holds them to be the cause for the multiple constraints that are imposed on them. The social interpretation now is that people with disability are disabled not by their impairment but by economic, social and physical barriers erected to marginalise them.

With capitalism having a field day and ruthless consumerism dictating the system’s working, the disability movement has suffered a setback. Since the convention was opened to signature in 2007 only 143 states have signed it but only 70 ratifications have been received. Of the 87 signatories to the protocol only 45 have ratified it. The protocol gives the right to the citizens of a state to complain against their government to the committee established by the convention. The ethos of the Marxian principle of “from each according to his ability to each according to his need” has been dying and the wielders of power at every level marginalise people with disabilities even though they may be competent and skilled in their own fields.  It is remarkable how people with disabilities have taken it upon themselves to help themselves. With minimal assistance from the government, philanthropists have gone to unprecedented lengths to set up institutions to train and facilitate the mainstreaming of people with disabilities.

Take the Ida Rieu Welfare Organisation in Karachi for example. I revisited it last week after more than a decade. The occasion was a seminar arranged by their teachers’ resource centre. It was inspiring to see the development that has taken place there. In a country where institutions are breaking down it cheers the heart to find enterprising people who continue to build. In the year 2000 the Panjwani School Complex for the Blind started functioning with a school and college for children with visual disabilities, there being another school for children with hearing disability.  With a history of 86 years of dedicated service behind it, the institution is a memorial to honour Ida Rieu, the wife of a British civil servant who rose to be the commissioner of Sindh in 1919. Ida devoted her life to social welfare activities and in the process won the hearts of the people of Sindh. This institution terms its vision to be “turning disability into ability” by providing knowledge and training to the disabled to mainstream them in society.  With about 200 children in school and another 30 studying for their graduate and Master’s programme in college, Ida Rieu is producing excellent manpower and womanpower every year under the tutelage of 35 teachers, five of whom have visual disability. It is here that I met Shazia Hasan Rizvi who is the programme manager and also takes computer classes. Every student is trained to operate the computer with the JAWS (Job Accessed With Sound) programme.

Shazia lost her sight when she was eight but that did not deter her from studying. She graduated from Karachi University and also did a diploma course in computers. Now she is passing on her skills — and also her motivation — to others with visual disability. To facilitate the empowerment of persons with disabilities, Shazia arranges for the recording of audio books and organises workshops for teachers and parents.  When I asked her if society facilitates the mainstreaming of the youth who graduate from Ida Rieu, Shazia identified the barriers they face. The Board of Secondary Education, Karachi, refuses to allow candidates appearing for their school-leaving examination to use Braille. It insists on their hiring the services of an amanuensis to write out their script — quite a cumbersome process. Shazia suggests that candidates with visual disability be allowed to use a JAWS-fitted computer. Why not?  Another problem her students face is in job placement. Some organisations have a very practical and fair approach. If a person qualifies he is hired and is provided facilities to overcome the limitation created by his disability. But that is not the norm. In most cases employers reject applications from persons with disabilities without even testing/interviewing them.

This is social justice denied and Badri Raina, a retired teacher of English in Delhi University who writes extensively on culture, politics and society for ZMag, captures this injustice succinctly (excerpts quoted):

Having disabled the world,
You turn around and call us
Disabled.
You have eyes, hands, legs.
And all you do is kill and maim,
From antipode to antipode.

Your abled greed
Makes of the earth
A vengeful ball of catastrophe,
Promising apocalypse
Against all your leaps of science.

Disabled we may be
In eye, hand, leg, or feet,
Our able minds wish nothing

But well.
We have no hand but write
With our toe;
We have no legs but run miles
Every day in what we make
With our hands;
We have no eyes but see far, far
Beyond your black-hearted blindness.

When we love.
We love not for a fleeting hour,
But for ever.
And when we sing, our inward eye
Draws inexhaustible melody
From god’s own navel.

By Zubeida Mustafa

Dawn, Pakistan,
Wednesday, 07 Oct, 2009

Do Kids with Disabilities Strain or Strengthen Our Schools?

Posted by: Anne Newman on September 27

So what goes through your mind when you see a child with cerebral palsy using a wheelchair, an adolescent with the social short-circuiting of Aspergers, or a kid whose speech isn’t as quick and facile as his peers? Few of us are as candid as my friend Dan Habib about the prejudice he once held against kids and adults with disabilities. “When I saw people who couldn’t walk or talk … It’s painful to admit, but I often saw them as less smart, less capable, and not worth getting to know.”  That was a lifetime ago. Specifically, the life of Dan’s son, Samuel, a fourth grader with cerebral palsy whose odysseys and those of four others with disabilities are chronicled in Dan’s award-winning documentary, Including Samuel. The film chronicles the efforts of Dan, his wife, Betsy, and their older son, Isaiah, to involve Samuel in every part of their lives and in the public schools in their hometown of Concord, N.H. When I first blogged about the film in May it had just been featured on the likes of Good Morning America and NPR’s All Things Considered and was catching on among advocates of inclusion, as Dan says, “giving all individuals equal opportunity to learn and engage with their peers.” The film has since spanned the globe with screenings from Iraq to Belgium and throughout this country with showings and discussions at universities, school districts, and disability rights conferences. And Samuel, whom I first met when he was a baby at a Thanksgiving dinner shared by our two extended families, has since developed fascinations held not so long ago by my sixth-grade son: the Titanic and all things related to it, the deafening roar of a throng of boys cheering their wooden race cars over the finish line in that annual Cub Scout ritual, the pinewood derby.

With National Disability Employment Awareness Month (October) around the corner, the Habibs have taken the film and their campaign for inclusion up a few more levels: Including Samuel is about to air across the nation on PBS broadcasts supported by the National Inclusion Project and CVS Caremark All Kids Can, a CVS program to help kids with disabilities. Isaiah has helped put together a “teen movie party toolkit,” encouraging kids to set up their own screenings of the film with their friends and posing questions only an 8th grader like himself could ask: “Have you ever seen kids in wheelchairs being pushed down the hall of your school by someone that looks like they’re thinking about retirement?” And Dan, once a national award-winning photographer for the Concord Monitor and a Pulitzer Prize jurist this year, now supports his work and family as the filmmaker in residence at the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire.

But in this economy, just how much enthusiasm is Dan getting for inclusion? Not everyone is a fan—not by a long shot, judging by some of the comments on my blog last May. While the vast majority of commenters agreed that inclusion should be the next civil rights movement, there were dissenters. “Why do we even bother paying for education for these kids?,” wrote a commenter named Lilly. “Their parents chose to have kids and now their disability and special needs amount to a rise in taxes. Their parents just get a lawyer and fight and fight until the school district ends up paying for special programs. Why? Why not divert the funds for gifted and talented students instead of kids who will need societal support their whole life.”

Lilly’s anger about how taxpayers’ money is spent is not unheard of. How many of us have heard the same complaint in our own school districts? And how many Lillys does Dan run into on his travels?

I pitched that question to him by e-mail, and he replied with a list of “myths and realities” about inclusion. One myth, he says, is the notion that taxpayers are throwing away money by educating kids with disabilities. His response: “How can Lilly or anyone else predict which child will contribute to our society? Would Lilly really argue that Bernie Madoff … added more to the world than the physicist Stephen Hawking (who wrote his greatest work after he was severely disabled by ALS)? How about Albert Einstein (widely thought to have had Asperger Syndrome), Helen Keller (blind, deaf, and unable to speak) and Vincent Van Gogh (mentally ill)? People are not limited by their disability, they are limited by a lack of opportunity.”

Another complaint? “Inclusion just stresses out teachers and takes away from the education of the ‘other’ kids.” Says Dan: “Nearly every teacher I have met in my travels has told me that teaching kids of varying abilities and learning styles has made them a better teacher. Inclusion has reinforced the importance of cutting-edge teaching methods like differentiated instruction, co-teaching, and universally designed curriculum, which benefit all kids in the classroom.”

What about it, readers? If you attended a school that included students with special needs, what was your experience? Have your attitudes about such children changed over the years? Do students with disabilities in your schools learn along with their peers? Are your schools strained or strengthened by including them?

Business Week

RTE Bill to include all categories of disabilities

Anubhuti Vishnoi

Just a month after it was passed by Parliament, the Right to Education (RTE) Act is set to be amended to include all categories of differently-abled children in its ambit. The move comes after an intervention by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) following protests from disabled rights groups.  The HRD Ministry has conveyed its decision to amend the Act to the PMO, confirmed highly placed sources. In a climbdown from its earlier stand, it has also admitted that the Section of the Act pertaining to the “disadvantaged section” will have to be changed as it does not cover all disabled children.  While the ministry was earlier planning to incorporate enabling provisions in the “Rules” to be framed for the Act, it was later felt that rules alone would not suffice in making it legally binding.  Barely a week after the Act was passed, the PMO had written to the HRD Ministry, asking it to ensure that the concerns of the disabled are addressed. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal had assured, both in Parliament and more recently at the meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), that all categories of disabled children would get the benefits of the RTE Act.

The RTE Act proposes free and compulsory education to all children aged between 6 to 14 years, and makes it binding on all public and private schools to reserve 25 per cent of their seats for children from “disadvantaged sections”. Section 3 states that the “disadvantaged sections” will cover children with disabilities as specified under the Persons With Disabilities Act — an Act that is not very comprehensive as it leave out several disabilities like cerebral palsy, autism and other mental disorders.  As per the proposed amendment, the RTE Act will now include children also covered under the National Trust Act and any other legislations which deal with those suffering from mental as well as physical disorders.  The Bill was at the centre of a row just before it was tabled in the Lok Sabha, with activists alleging that it deliberately excludes disabled children from its ambit. They claimed the Bill ignores the rights of disabled children by not providing for disabled-friendly facilities, not including “disability” within the definition of “disadvantaged sections”, and not including the mentally challenged within the definition of “disabled”. Activists had said that where the Bill defines “disability”, it takes the meaning as given in the Disability Act, 1995, which covers people with physical disabilities only.

Indian Express Monday , Sep 21, 2009 at 0507 hrs  New Delhi:

A wider screen

The movie My Name is Khan, starring the sparkly eyed superstar of Indian cinema, Shah Rukh Khan, has been bought by Hollywood’s Fox studio, ushering yet another merger between the East and West, and more greatly, serving to increase awareness. The character suffers from Asperger syndrome, an illness which in communities is often shunned. Yet, one of its outcomes is to produce people of exceptional intellect.

The power of cinema has never been doubted. It transports you to a world which traditionally depicts fairytale concepts, a chance to escape the humdrum realities of life. However, increasingly Indian cinema has undergone a sort of revolution, both in concept and content. Major stars have started to put their names on alternative movies which target real-life issues, increasing awareness, initiating a cultural re-analysis of illness and the challenges included with acceptance.

Rani Mukherjee’s role as a blind student in Black, and Aamir Khan in Taare Zameen Par have won critical acclaim and ushered in a change in perception. Autism spectrum disorders, specifically Asperger syndrome, was defined in the 70s as an illness affecting children, but research indicated that its presence lingers on into adulthood. Though initial interest was limited to academia, attention slowly filtered through, along with indications that physicists and mathematicians such as Paul Dirac, Albert Einstein, and Isaac Newton had some form on mild autism. Thus the question: why is this illness often dismissed as spurts of sudden madness? The simple fact is that those who suffer skills are often at odds with norms, and their mind wanders. It is through these wanderings that we have made leaps in knowledge and it is assuring that Bollywood has acknowledged the need to set facts straight.

Indian Express, Editorial Monday , Aug 10, 2009 at 0341 hrs

Hindi cinema tilting towards the disabled

Subhash K. Jha [Friday, January 20, 2006]

http://www.nowrunning.com/news/news.asp?it=5569

Mumbai, Jan 21 (IANS) Hindi cinema has suddenly become conscious of the physically and psychologically challenged sections of society.

Consider this: In Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Black”, Rani Mukerji plays a deaf-and-blind girl, Amitabh Bachchan, her tutor in the film, is going blind and also suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. A far cry from the way we saw the traditional hero-heroine axis in our films.

“It is a sign of our cinema’s maturation that we got to see a hero and heroine who were not romantically involved and who were in different ways impaired physically and emotionally,” Amitabh Bachchan told IANS.

In Jahnu Barua’s “Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara”, Anupam Kher suffers from rapid memory degeneration. Daughter Urmila Matondkar’s trauma is palpable. Anupam studied the history of Alzheimer’s patients before plunging into the part.

In Onir’s “My Brother Nikhil”, Sanjay Suri became our first-ever hero to have AIDS. Earlier, Rajit Kapur played an HIV positive in “Ek Alag Mausam” while Shilpa Shetty and Salman Khan played the same in Revathy’s “Phir Milenge”.

But it was Suri who gets the credit for playing the first gay hero in mainstream Hindi cinema.

Recalled Suri: “Initially I just wanted to produce the film. We went to a lot of prominent leading men. When all of them baulked at the idea of playing a gay HIV positive character, I had no choice but to come to my own film’s rescue.”

In filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor’s “Iqbal”, Shreyas Talpade is a young deaf-and-mute wannabe cricketer who becomes a national champ.

Said Nagesh: “We were certainly not inspired by ‘Black’. ‘Iqbal’ doesn’t even dwell on the physical deficiencies of the protagonist. It moves ahead of the handicap.”

In “Siskiyan”, “Dansh” and “Rain”, the female protagonists are severely traumatised women caught in a web of psychological questions that go back to a rape in their past.

Salman Khan was seen as a severely traumatised patient of Kareena Kapoor in Priyadarshan’s “Kyon Ki”.

That isn’t all. There are several forthcoming films where the protagonist is physically or psychologically challenged.

In debutant director Vicky Tejwani’s “Maratthon”, Sammir Dattani will star as a young man with an amputated leg who is determined to participate in and win the Mumbai marathon. In Priyadarshan’s next film, Kareena Kapoor plays a deaf and mute girl.

So are films about the psychologically and physically disabled in vogue?

“You really can’t make a mental or physical handicap a fashion statement. In ‘Rain’, Meghna Naidu who’s blind keeps her bosom largely uncovered for the camera. This is physical disability combined with voyeurism! We have to guard against sensationalising sensitive issues,” said Hansal Mehta.