Faisalabad: April 29, 2011. (By Shazia George) On 23rd April 2011, Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM) organized a consultation meeting on the theme “Registration Process for Persons with Disabilities: Hurdles and Required Measures” held at Quilim Restaurant in Faisalabad. This consultation was joined by participants including women with disabilities, political workers and representatives from government departments, media and civil society organizations. The purpose of the consultation was to engage stakeholders in participatory exercise for tackling the challenges facing persons with disabilities in their bid to get registration certificate and disability concession card to benefit from government schemes and provisions. During the consultation, Mr. Naseem Anthony (Executive Secretary-AWAM) and Ms. Shazia George (Coordinator-AWAM) highlighted the numerous problems of people with disabilities through a presentation, and emphasized the need to take a united stand for providing relief to the most oppressed group of our society. At this juncture, Mrs. Khalida Mansoor (Parliamentarian), Mr. Sarfraz Ahmed (District Officer-Social Welfare), Dr. Captain Muhammad Akram (Additional Medical Superintendent-DHQ Hospital), Dr. Zahida Naz (Medical Social Officer-Social Welfare), Mr. Akhtar Aziz (Manager-Labour Department), Mr. Tahir Mehmood (Supervisor-NADRA), Mr. George Clement (Political Worker), Mrs. Amina Zaman (Director-ASDP) and Mr. Qadeer Sikandar (Journalist) shared their views for alleviating the problems of the PWDs. Mrs. Khalida Mansoor said that People with disabilities were the most deprived and neglected group of our society, therefore we should endeavor to mitigate their pains and sufferings through creation of friendly atmosphere for them to excel in life. She promised to address the disability issues on the floor of the parliament by tabling a bill for the rights of persons with disabilities. She also pledged to raise the issue in the legislative assembly, for the increase of existing two percent job quota reserved for the people with disabilities in the government sectors. Dr. Captain Muhammad Akram ensured that a lady doctor would be engaged at DHQ hospital in order to verify the disability of girls/women. Mr. Sarfraz Ahmed ensured that extra paper containing information about the disability registration process would be attached with the registration form, and any update concerning registration process would be placed on notice board outside the Social Welfare Department. Furthermore, he said that a notification to speed-up and relax the disability registration process would be issued by social welfare after consultation with concerned departments. The participants of the consultation after thorough discussion agreed on the following measures in order to cut short the processing period for the issuance of disability certificate that normally takes 4-6 months, and demanded from the government that: The disability registration process should be integrated into one-window operation at the DHQ hospital with the better coordination of all government stakeholders including social welfare, labour and health departments, therefore one representative of labour department must be shifted to DHQ hospital on permanent basis for ensuring disable friendly registration process, keeping in view the difficulty facing women/people with disabilities in mobility and accessibility; The disability registration certificate must be issued not later than one week time after the district board of disability, by making the registration process short and easy, whereas certificates must be sent to persons with disabilities through postal services at their home address; The availability of registration form in Urdu along with English (or bi-lingual) must be ensured, and necessary information about the registration process of persons with disabilities must be attached with the registration form in written form for the convenience of the applicants. Moreover, complete information about the disability registration process, and any new update, notification and amendments in policy/procedure/criteria should be placed on notice board outside the Social Welfare Department and District Surgeon’s office; A lady doctor along with male district surgeon must be engaged to complete the initial assessment step for girls/women with disabilities keeping in view our cultural norms, values and limitations; NADRA should accept all patterns of disability registration certificate issued by social welfare department, and must issue CNIC with disability logo to persons with disabilities for availing all benefits and facilities provided by government for them; The data of persons with disabilities must be computerized to avoid the duplication and omissions.