A Lifetime of Advocacy for Disability Rights

The recent incident involving Dr. Manmohan Singh being moved to the last row in Rajya Sabha due to his wheelchair shocked many, particularly disability rights activists. Dr. Singh had pushed for a more inclusive society during his term as Prime Minister, and Padma Shri Mithu Alur remembers that it was with Dr. Singh’s support that students with disabilities were included under the Right to Education Act in 2010.

Dr. Alur’s lifetime has been dedicated to campaigning for the rights of persons with disabilities, and she is grateful for the support she has received over the years. Her daughter, Malini, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy in 1966 when so little was known about the condition that she was once asked to pull her
daughter out of a swimming pool at a prominent Mumbai sports club because someone felt that CP was infectious.

Dr. Alur decided to train to be a special needs educator in the UK because India had no infrastructure to support the development of children with disabilities back in the late 1960s. She then opened The Spastics Society of India (now known as ADAPT) in Mumbai, which was supported by people who wielded
considerable influence, including actress Nargis Dutt.

Over the years, the ADAPT Rights Group has pushed for accessibility in the design of public spaces and transport systems, including buses, airports, malls, banks, hotels, and offices. A national chapter was formed to inform and empower persons with disabilities in rural, urban, slum, and tribal areas. In 1989, the ADAPT Skills Development Centre was set up in Chembur to help young adults with disabilities become employable, and a decade later, Dr. Alur established The National Resource Centre for Inclusion (NRCI) to bring down barriers to learning.

Staff Reporter