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Most of this season tackled discussions around budgeting, financing, education policy or the use of technology in classrooms. With season 4 coming to its conclusion, our host Areebah Shahid, (Executive Director, PYCA) sat down with Amima Sayeed, an Education and Development Professional, with decades of experience of working both abroad and in Pakistan in community education, teacher training, and inclusion to have a candid conversation about disability inclusion in Pakistan.
Amima’s Journey
Amima’s work on disability and inclusion began when she started working with the Aga Khan Social Welfare Board in 2006. “Although I was not visually impaired at that time, working with the board was a huge learning experience.”
Her expertise in inclusion and disability comes not only from her extensive portfolio of work with various organisations and institutions, but also from her personal experience of living with a disability. Opening up about the onset of her visual impairment in 2017, Amima said it helped her realize the importance of seeking help and the need to talk about disability and the struggles of living with it. But she was quick to point out that this conversation is significantly shaped by a society that often views disability with pity or judgment rather than understanding. Highlighting the level of stigmatization regarding disability in the society , Amima shared,
“You know, I don’t want to get into your podcast being heated, but really, we have had a handsome Prime Minister who said that disabled people, children, are a punishment by God. It is a punishment for taking bribes, for being corrupt. This is on record. I am not coining it.”
Amima’s account of casual, high-level prejudice raises an uncomfortable question: if even the country’s leadership can openly stigmatise disability, what does genuine inclusion actually require? For Amima and Areebah, the answer starts with unpacking the word itself.
Defining Inclusion
Unfortunately, inclusion has become a buzzword these days like development or foundational learning. Despite the multitude of books written on the subject, there is not a single definition for inclusion that a group of educationists or experts can agree on.
Agreeing with Amima, Areebah said, “As soon as a term evolves into a buzzword, the debate about how to define it takes over and until the buzz dies, the debate continues. And, I think, in all this, the actual application of that buzzword disappears, unfortunately.”
Discussing the practical implementation of disability and inclusion in classrooms, Areebah stated that in her experience the on-ground application of inclusion can be achieved through targeted training and intervention through minimal cost and effort. Despite this, why is there a lack of will or effort towards truly implementing it practically?
Amima agreed that people are wary of being the ones initiating the change to avoid being the ones responsible for it.
“The society bears a greater burden of responsibility than the persons with disabilities. However, neither is the society fulfilling their responsibility nor are we. That is the truth. We talk about rights but with rights come responsibilities.”
One space where this gap between talk and responsibility is especially visible, Amima noted, is academia.
Defining Inclusion
Amima’s experience of working with different universities underlined the disconnect the academia has with the ground reality of persons with disability. Digging deeper into this, Areebah asked about the reason for this detachment.
“Academia is often referred to as proverbial ivory towers and there is a reason for that.”
There is an increasing focus on specialization and technical terms that are not relatable to students or the general public. The practical world is not concerned with theoretical frameworks and as a result the students are kept in a bubble. Once they go out to into the real world, the bubble bursts and they have to unlearn many things.
“While I am not denying the important role of intellectuals, all I am saying is that they have to get up and smell the coffee. Nowadays you can’t be an armchair professor because the world has changed.”
Bridging that gap between theory and practice, Amima said, is exactly where progress is already happening.
The Road Ahead
Despite the deep rooted prejudices and problems in the society, there is great work being done in creating a more inclusive space for people with disabilities in Pakistan. An example of this is an app created by young individuals that have made recipe books for the visually impaired. However, assistive technology also comes with a lot of limitations, reiterating the need to create more spaces and avenues for guidance.
Amima states that screening and diagnosis is the most important aspect that needs to prioritized while simultaneously working on awareness and educating people. The lack of awareness in the society breeds insensitivity and the brunt of it is borne by persons with disabilities.
Acceptance is a fundamental step. While it starts with the parents, it needs to extend to the whole society, so disability is not treated as something alien and persons with disabilities are made to feel like a burden.
