Prof. Dr. Jai Rup Singh chairs the Plenary Session on “Ethical & Legal Issues Concerning Disabilities”

Prof. Dr. Jai Rup Singh, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda (CUP) chaired the Plenary Session on Ethical and Legal Issues Concerning Disabilities on Oct 07, 2009 during the 4thInternational Conference on Birth Defects and Disabilities in the Developing World, 4-7 Oct,2009 held at New Delhi.

Spread over four days, the different sessions of this Conference brought into focus the widening demographics of the persons with disabilities in the world vis-a-vis the shrinkage of their legitimate and rightful space and place in society.

While delivering his Plenary Lecture during the session on Ethical and Legal Issues Concerning Disabilities, Prof. Dr. Jai Rup Singh deplored that despite several UN Declarations on the Rights of Disabled Persons, the platitudes of the civil society, and the legal remedies, the persons with disabilities in our society are constantly sliding to the margin of neglect and helplessness. Prof. Dr. Jai Rup Singh rued that the most of the developed countries have failed to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability.

The solution lies in changing the mindsets by sensitizing the people to recognize the dignity, the privacy and the autonomy of the persons with disability in society, he added.