Deaddiction centres not equipped to cater to differently abled

Manikkam (name changed), who suffered a spinal cord injury, recently was battling alcohol addiction. His aging mother voiced that she wanted to admit him to a centre, however, owing to lack of accessibility she was unable to do so.

S Namburajan, the State General Secretary, Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled and Caregivers (TARATDAC) said that in almost all cases, the differently abled cannot access the deaddiction centres. “Even a number of government ones aren’t disabled friendly and the private ones flout norms,” he pointed out.

Dr Anita Rao, Director, Medical Services, TTK Hospital (TT Ranganathan Clinical Research Foundation) cites the stigma associated with the conditions and the disability as a combined factor. Admitting that even the centre is not entirely disabled friendly without elevators, she pointed out that she had patients with disabilities being treated in out-patient wards. “They come regularly and seek treatment for their addictions. However, not as in patients. Alcoholism was more common while ganja could be the most common form of substance addiction.”

Meanwhile, Dr Poorna Chandrika, director in-charge, Institute of Mental Health (IMH), questioned the need for identifying patients as differently-abled. “We don’t have a separate category for the disabled. In fact, the stigma is more for women, not for the disabled,” she added, pointing out the IMH was disabled friendly. “Also, considering the Persons with Disabilities in a different ward would be more stigmatising,” she said.

The hospital has a 50-bed facility that takes in-patients without a caregiver.

“Many of the disabled, who are addicted to alcohol or other substances tend to be depressed as they stay away from social life and remain isolated,” said Dr R Sathianathan, former director, IMH and added that a comprehensive infrastructure should be available at the private and government centres.

Activists blame the lack of laws and guidelines that have failed to ensure a fair atmosphere for the disabled. They also added that the estimate of disabled would be higher than the one recorded in the last census. TMN Deepak, president, December 3 Movement and Professor at Department of Social Work, Loyola College said, “We don’t take into consideration disability among the aged or the various forms of disabilities beyond physical disabilities. We need to change our mindset towards the disabled - we can’t assume that they won’t have addictions because they are disabled,” he said.