Inclusive Bhutan

The fact that Bhutan has 48,325 persons with disabilities (five and above), which is 6.8% of our population, should come as a wake up call for policy makers, institutions and society as a whole.

The main problem for persons with disabilities in Bhutan and their family members is not the lack of adequate policies but the fact that they are not being implemented or they are not being factored in when policies are made.

Bhutan has the National Policy for Persons with Disabilities of 2019, which is a thorough policy that touches on several aspects, but it is collecting dust on some shelf.

The National Council this year passed many recommendations in education, economy, health, access and de-stigmatization for a more inclusive society to include and help Persons with Disabilities (PWD) but this may also go the same way as the above.

As shameful as it is, the main thinking behind not implementing policy measures to help the disabled is that it is not worth the resources, effort and time given their limited productivity.

There are a variety of disabilities from mild, to moderate to severe and many people with disabilities can still contribute to the economy and society in a major way.

But they need help and inclusive institutions and society to be able to contribute.

If not, we are consigning 48,325 persons with disabilities to be unproductive at a time when many of our best and brightest are leaving in large numbers for foreign shores and the history of migration shows that most will not come back.

Most of the disabled can contribute if given the opportunity through a more inclusive society.

People may think it takes a lot of budget and effort to help the disabled or make society and institutions inclusive but it is not so.

It has a lot more to do with changing attitudes and inculcating an inclusive mindset and making small changes and the rest will follow.

There is major economic cost to the system not being inclusive, supportive and disable- friendly.

In the case of many children with disabilities, due to a lack of an inclusive system one of the two parents resign from work which takes away productive people from the economy and offices that needs all hands on deck.  The reduced income also reduces their purchasing power and affects the local economy.

The lack of an inclusive system also ensures that the child with disability cannot get the necessary help, barring the child from contributing economically when she or he grows up, and thus taking away yet another worker from the economy. This is two per family or more, and adds up to tens of thousands of productive people lost as it happens in thousands of families.

The other option is to make small adjustments in health, education, finance, economy etc and make sure these losses are prevented.

Beyond the economic figures and imperatives the issue of disability is also about ensuring basic human rights and dignity that every Bhutanese citizen deserves.

We cannot call ourself a GNH nation if the margins are filled with excluded people.

It is also about our international image and meeting international commitments through the UNCRPD.

For too long the issue of disability has been left to some annual days and some CSOs when it requires the whole of government and whole of society approach. The insensitivity can be seen when other national policies are drafted but there is no thought for the persons with disabilities or the impact on them.

At the societal level there needs to be a change at two levels. Families should stop hiding away or not acknowledging the persons with disability in their family and they should actively seek help and support them.

The person with disability needs the first acceptance and support from the family unit.

Along with that our society should cultivate an inclusive mindset and other institutions should step in with adequate support measures.

People should remember that disability does not just happen to others, but can happen to them and they may just be a stroke, a car accident or even a slip in the bathroom away from it.

In the bigger picture Bhutan is not doing enough for persons with disability overall though some small starts are being made in a few areas like education and health.

We need to do much more and have a long way to go.

“Equal rights, fair play, justice, are all like the air: we all have it, or none of us has it. That is the truth of it.” – Maya Angelou