The Enabling Unit, Equal Opportunity Cell is based at University College of Medical Sciences and

Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital (or GTBH or GTB Hospital) is a large hospital situated at Dilshad Garden, Shahdara, Delhi, India, and is affiliated to and acts as the teaching hospital of University College of Medical Sciences, University of Delhi. ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. It ensures affirmative action’s concerning persons with disabilities including students, nonteaching staff, faculty as well as patients at UCMS. It is first such unit for students with disabilities in any medical institution in India.

History

The Enabling Unit was created as per the

University Grants Commission (India) University Grants Commission (UGC) is a statutory body set up by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India in accordance to the UGC Act 1956 and is charged with coordination, determination and maintenance ...

guidelines and disability policy of

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

. Dr Satendra Singh was appointed the Coordinator in 2011 who constituted an 'Equality and Diversity Committee' to include the disability perspective. All the members of this committee are persons with disabilities in line with the motto ‘ Nothing About Us Without Us.’ The composition is also in conjunction with theme of United Nations' International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2011- “Together for a better

Initiatives of the Enabling Unit

Accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

of all the medical institutions in India On the petition of Coordinator, Dr Satendra Singh, Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment,

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

instructed

Medical Council of India The Medical Council of India (MCI) was a statutory body for establishing uniform and high standards of medical education in India until its dissolution on 25 September 2020 when it was replaced by National Medical Commission. The Council grante ...

to make all medical institutions in India accessible to persons with disabilities and submit a compliance report. Accessible Automated Teller Machines (ATM’s) Both the Bank of Baroda ATM and the Canara Bank ATM at University College of Medical Sciences and

were inaccessible to persons with disabilities. After a lengthy advocacy by Enabling Unit and directives from Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, both the respective Banks constructed ramps to make the ATM's accessible to

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

users. Inccessible Post Offices in New Delhi India Postal Services (trading as India Post) in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

was found to be inaccessible when information under the

Right to Information Act The Right to Information (RTI) is an act of the Parliament of India which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens' right to information. It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002. Under the provisions of RTI Act, an ...

(RTI Act) by the Coordinator of Enabling Unit, Dr Satendra Singh, revealed that a majority of post offices in India's capital city are inaccessible to persons with disabilities. Plea to simplify process of getting assistive devices from Indian Red Cross Society Coordinator, Dr Singh, highlighted the complex procedure for availing free assistive devices from Indian Red Cross Society, Haryana Branch. The Indian Red Cross Society, Haryana State branch acknowledged the lacuna and vowed to simplify the procedure without accounting system. Clearing air on World Polio Day commemorated to celebrate Salk's birthday Coordinator of Enabling Unit challenged the erroneous correlation of Jonas Salk's birthday with World Polio Day. His publication in the journal 'Vaccine' clears the air with appropriate references and contributes to correction of literature.

References

{{Reflist Affirmative action in Asia