The recent State government order on reservation for the differently abled in government jobs is facing protests from the hearing impaired as they claim that a large number of them have been excluded from jobs citing technical reasons.
The order dated August 25, 2020, offering 4% reservation for people from various categories of differently abled in common category posts in government offices is being questioned by the All Kerala Association of the Deaf (AKAD) on grounds that it has violated the tenets of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016 by denying jobs to people who are completely deaf.
V.A. Yusuf, State chairman of Deaf Employees Forum and State secretary of AKAD, said people who were 70% to 100% hearing impaired were not qualified for any of the jobs listed under the order. He alleged that the order deemed mandatory for the hearing impaired to be able to function normally with the help of hearing aids or cochlear implants to be found qualified for the jobs. “The completely deaf have not been allotted any jobs, not even that of a sweeper. A lot of completely deaf people are doing several government jobs efficiently at present, while the same jobs are being denied to them through this order,” said Mr. Yusuf.
The RPWD Act had maintained that sign language should be popularised to help the deaf be part of mainstream society. However, the State government had taken a shortcut by imposing hearing aids and cochlear implants on the deaf instead, he said.
