Need to recognise rights of disabled people stressed

With an estimated 10 percent population with different kinds of disabilities, it is imperative to recognise their rights of employment, education and healthcare in Pakistan. Almost all disabled people in Pakistan are completely dependent on their families as majority is illiterate, hence unable to lead their lives like normal people.
This was the crux of a seminar held at TradeKey here on Saturday. People with physical disabilities attended the seminar to learn about how they can lead their lives effectively. The speakers said: "We must enable people with disabilities to realise their rights, and encourage them to become active members of society. We must realise that these special people need our special attention, and the objective of this Seminar is to develop future leaders in privileged people society"
They said: "We will be excited if we can convert even a single disabled person into an active member of society". Speakers urged the special people to believe in themselves as its first step to success. They said that being disabled does not mean being 'unable'.
CEO TradeKey, Junaid Mansoor said that whom as much is given as is required. "Therefore, realising our responsibility, we have initiated the project of enabling the people with disabilities to stand on their feet. TradeKey feels its responsibility and wants to play its part in building the community". Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan, CEO Brookes Pharmaceuticals & Board Member of Indus Hospital, said that the biggest problem in Pakistan is that there is no concept of social accountability, which deals with the problems of disabled people. He said: "We must work on providing disabled people with easy locomotion, enabling them to participate in life".
He said: "It is our social and religious responsibility to help the disabled people to move forward in the society, and I am hopeful that this workshop will play an important role for the betterment of disabled people of Pakistan, and I offer my full support to the project".
Abdullah Mansoor, CEO, Feather Engineering, said: "We started the project of Feather Wheel Chairs 3 years ago and the objective of the workshop is to develop leadership in the disabled people." He said that leaders are those people who bring positive change and a successful person is the one who attains his/her goals.
Asim Zaffar (with disability and a social worker), who hosts Radio program, said that the disabled people firstly have to love themselves. "Disabled people are not to be considered as patients, but rather as different people with different lifestyle." He said that wheel chair is a basic right of a disabled person. He said that disability is an experience, and a person who is suffering from it can guide better of his/her needs about the design and features of a wheelchair.