Philip Sharad, Gangwani Nonita, Singh Satendra
Consultant Psychiatrist and Family Physician Self Employed, Kochi, Kerala, India.
Doctors with Disabilities: Agents of Change, India.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2022 Nov;11(11):6622-6629. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1049_22. Epub 2022 Dec 16.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi published guidelines, titled "Report of the Expert Group for framing Guidelines for admission of candidates with benchmark disabilities in postgraduate courses at AIIMS, New Delhi", for doctors with disabilities seeking postgraduate admissions to the Institutions of National Importance. The expert group, which lacked representation of people with disabilities, in general, and doctors with disabilities, in particular, puts immense effort into justifying why trainees with disabilities must not join AIIMS, at times in bold and/or capital letters, and at other places, in an outright ableist language. In addition, there is blatant plagiarism from well-known advisories and guidelines which are known for promoting the inclusion of trainees with disabilities. Attitudinal barriers and biases remained incorrigible as sections of these documents were selectively abridged to justify prevailing exclusion practises. We link the connection of these members to the controversial National Medical Council guidelines for undergraduate admission of persons with specified disabilities, which were successfully challenged in courts, as well as to the identification of posts for employment at AIIMS. We justify disability accommodations by citing inclusive court interventions from India to emphasise that the notion of inclusive equality includes the provision for reasonable accommodations. It is high time that the motto "Nothing about us, without us" becomes a for immediate change of these discriminatory guidelines, as well as the prescribing powers of such experts.
新德里全印医学科学研究所(AIIMS)发布了一份指南,题为《新德里AIIMS研究生课程招收基准残疾考生指导方针制定专家组报告》,面向寻求进入具有国家重要地位机构攻读研究生的残疾医生。该专家组总体上缺乏残疾人代表,尤其是残疾医生代表,却投入大量精力为残疾学员为何不得进入AIIMS寻找理由,有时用加粗和/或大写字母,其他地方则使用公然的能力主义语言。此外,还存在对以促进残疾学员融入而闻名的知名咨询意见和指导方针的公然抄袭。态度障碍和偏见依然难以纠正,因为这些文件的部分内容被有选择地删减,以证明现行的排斥做法是合理的。我们将这些成员与有争议的国家医学委员会关于特定残疾人员本科招生的指导方针联系起来,这些方针在法庭上被成功质疑,同时也与AIIMS的就业岗位确定联系起来。我们通过引用印度包容性的法庭干预措施来证明残疾便利措施的合理性,强调包容性平等的概念包括提供合理便利。现在是时候让“没有我们参与,就与我们无关”这句座右铭成为立即改变这些歧视性指导方针以及此类专家的规定权力的口号了。