Rt. to Information -guide to activist in disability sector

I am very happy to share with you a guide developed by Sakshi Trust and ActionAid India on the use of RTI to get information related to the issues faced by persons with disabilities

Sakshi Trust and ActionAid India have released a Right to information guide to improve government facilities for Disabled People.

Keeping in mind the maxim "Information is Power", this handbook intends to place power in the hands of Persons with Disability. Disabled persons are handicapped not because of their disability, but because of the lack of access to information about their rights, entitlements and procedures to access the entitlements.

Thus through this instrument we wish to empower each Person with Disability their family members, government and non-government development professionals and all other stakeholders to be able to advocate for themselves.

This book intends to provide a stepwise guide on drafting an RTI application in the context of disability. However, the book has been especially designed for use by NGO's, parents of disabled children, caregivers, students or any concerned individual in the Disability. It contains a detailed background on the different benefits that a disabled person is entitled to from the government. The main topics covered are disability certification, education, employment, public access, poverty alleviation schemes, assistive devices and complaint process and as such will be useful to any one seeking general information as well.

A ready to use list of applications have been pre-formatted and drafted and one can use this to seek information from any State or central office. We put down RTI applications for your reference so that you may seek relevant information in an effort to facilitate a more transparent and accountable system of governance.

The guide contains RTI applications for:
1. Obtaining a disability certificate
2. Facilitating barrier free access in government buildings
3. Improving access to public education and employment opportunities for disabled people
4. Ensuring complaints and appeals of disabled people are expedited by the Commissioner PWD
5. Reservation for PWD in poverty alleviation schemes.

You can download it from here:

http://www.actionaidindia.org/RTI_guide_Disability_Issues.htm