THE country observed National White Cane Safety Day on October 15 with a renewed call for making mobility safe for visually impaired people. A number of civic groups campaigning for the rights of physically challenged people held a public rally and a human chain in Dhaka, marking the day and demanding safe mobility in public places, especially on the road, public transport and educational institutions. In 2020, the National Blindness Survey reported about 1.43 million people with visual impairment in the country. The public transport system is generally designed by excluding concerns of the visually impaired people. Footpaths and traffic signals are also unfriendly to the people with white canes. In 2022, Bangladesh signed the Marrakesh treaty, an international agreement that facilitates access to copyrighted works for blind, visually impaired and other print-disabled people, but the government is yet to realise practical benefits of the treaty. Apart from textbooks, not many Braille books written on subjects such as fiction are available on the local market. For visually impaired people, accessing any public services remains a challenge, as the infrastructure is inaccessible.
In 2007, Bangladesh ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that obliges the government to incorporate affirmative action in their disability policies so that equal participation and opportunity can be ensured with some positive interventions. The Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act was passed in 2013. However, policy-level prioritisation has not been translated into action. As educational institutions do not have infrastructure and trained teachers to attend to special needs of students, parents are burdened with the care work. In 2024, of the total 524,288 children with disabilities, only 25,564 were admitted to pre-primary classes in government primary schools. There are only 11 government schools for children with autism, seven schools for children with speech and hearing disabilities, five for visually impaired children and one centre for mentally challenged children. Women with any form of disability or physical challenges are particularly vulnerable and face major barriers because of social prejudice. They experience higher illiteracy, limited education and very low participation in vocational training. There is a general lack of understanding and awareness of the special care and needs of physically challenged citizens, leading to a routine violation of the basic rights, including the right to education.
The government should, therefore, ensure that visually impaired people or citizens with disabilities in general are not deprived of their basic rights. The government should immediately address the mobility concerns of visually impaired people. As a first step towards building an inclusive system, it should identify the policy gaps and allocate adequate resources to make public infrastructure friendly to people with disabilities.
