Disability festival begins at Kozhikode beach

Disability is not a limitation or a drawback faced by an individual who needs medical treatment. But it is a condition generated by material situations and social attitudes. This is the message the Kerala Disability Festival, which began at the Kozhikode beach on Thursday (January 29), wishes to convey.

According to the organisers, the four-day festival with the theme ‘Towards an inclusive society’ aims to develop a new social order that does not see differently-abled people with a sympathetic eye but considers them as individuals who have their own rights. Thanal, a Kozhikode-based non-governmental organisation, and over 30 other voluntary institutions, are behind the initiative. The Kozhikode district administration has offered its support as well.

The organisers say that one of their objectives is to remove the hurdles that keep differently-abled people away from the mainstream of society. The main attraction of the festival is an ‘experience zone’ where visitors can get a direct feeling of the practical issues faced by people with 21 different types of disabilities. Academic sessions, cultural events, and book releases, among others, are also being held. It was opened by representatives of people experiencing 21 types of disabilities, District Collector Snehil Kumar Singh, and Malabar Group chairman M.P. Ahmed on Thursday evening.