This manual on ‘Human Rights, Disability and Law’ could not be possible without the critical inputs and support of a number of persons and institutions. It is always difficult to sufficiently acknowledge the valued and unique contributions of each one. The NHRC certainly is indebted to all the institutions that have been associated with the NHRC-CHRC-IGNOU Linkage Project. This manual is a major outcome of this collaborative initiative.
The assistance of Prof. Andrew Byrnes of National University of Australia and Ms. Anuradha Mohit, Special Rapporteur, Disability, NHRC is highly appreciated in developing the framework of the manual. The structure of this manual fits well with the designed curriculum, which may be helpful in initiating a stand-alone certificate course or an optional paper focusing on disability and human rights.
We have been very fortunate to receive rich and comprehensive inputs from eminent academics and activists who possess a rare combination of expertise, without which the analysis of international and domestic law presented in this manual from a disability perspective would have been impossible. The Commission undertook an extensive talent search to generate a team of authors, each of whom possess extensive knowledge in human rights and disability issues. The team comprises Prof. Marcia Rioux, Professor and Chair, School of Health Policy and Management, Director, York University Centre for Health Studies; Prof. Andrew Byrnes, National University of Australia; Prof. Amita Dhanda, NALSAR, Hyderabad; Mr. SK Rungta, Secretary General, National Federation of the Blind, India and a leading human rights advocate; Mr. Kieren Fitzpatrick, Director, Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions; Mr. Colin Gonsalves, Executive Director, Human Rights Law Network (India) and a Senior Advocate. However, the most crucial of all contributions was provided by Ms. Anuradha Mohit, who has been deeply involved over the last two years in the design and management of this project.
A word of special gratitude is necessary to acknowledge the crucial support that we received from various young lawyers, particularly Ms. Ritu Kumar, Ms. Anne Carbert, and Ms. Priyanka Chirimar. The range of their support include visits to libraries, net searches, data entries, proof readings and most importantly, the preparation of brief summaries of cases that have been used in various parts of the manual.
We also acknowledge, with gratitude, the financial contribution made by CHRC and the financial management provided by the Indira Gandhi National Open University.
To ensure quality, as well as efficient management of the vast body of knowledge, an editorial team was comprised from India and Canada, headed by Ms. Anuradha Mohit, as the chief editor, and Prof. Marcia Rioux and Dr. Sanjay Kumar (Faculty, St. Stephens College, New Delhi) as co-editors. While Prof. Rioux undertook the initial and critical editorial task of ensuring the organization of material in line with the structure of the manual, Ms. Anuradha Mohit not only set the tone but also often added content, particularly to the catalogue of rights for the manual identified by the activists and academics. Dr. Sanjay Kumar’s inputs are greatly appreciated in bringing diverse writing styles as close as possible, fundamental for giving the Manual its cohesive appearance. The committed and tireless efforts of the editorial team are placed on record with appreciation as they were responsible for coordinating with a team of incredibly learned but extremely busy persons.
Behind any successful team there is an army of quiet and dedicated individuals whose efforts must be acknowledged. First and foremost, I would like to thank the Secretary Generals of both NHRC and CHRC and of course Ms. S. Jalaja, former Joint Secretary, NHRC and Ms. Aruna Sharma, present Joint Secretary, NHRC for their committed support and close supervision of this project. The logistics and field management of the Project have been handled in a most business like fashion by Mr. YSR Murthy, Deputy Secretary (Research), NHRC, and his team members C. Sasidharan and. Nishith, Mr. Sebastien Singouin, Program Manager International, CHRC, Chris Gilbreth, Project Manager and Prof. Prabha Chawla, IGNOU for which I thank them also.
The Project has also greatly benefited from a number of young and energetic interns especially, Ms. Mayuri Mehta, Ms. Gauri Gopal, Ms. Tanya Julka and Ms. Misha Rai.
The National Human Rights Commission of India would also like to thank everyone who may have helped in the Project and have not been named here.
I have found the impressive range of information, the depth of analysis and the brilliant commentary on law and jurisprudence extremely useful in understanding disability in the framework of human rights. It is my sincere hope that the academics, practitioners and activists will make optimum use of this Manual. NHRC will feel really rewarded when the manual serves the purpose and reaches large number of people to serve the cause of humanity so that “all Human Rights for all” become the spirit of living and do not remain merely as declaration on paper.
Any shortcomings or omissions on the part of the NHRC team in producing this manual as and when noticed shall be taken into consideration for further improvement in future.
Dr. Justice Shivaraj V. Patil
Member
National Human Rights Commission, India.