DU gets first elected disabled Academic Council member

Founder-president of Sambhavana,an organisation formed in 2001 to address the rights of the disabled,Jain is also an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Dyal Singh College.

Jain describes Sambhavana as a group that “primarily supports progressive disability politics”.

During the AC elections,which took place on December 23,Jain contested representing Sambhavana — Teachers’ Collective,a platform of three Left-leaning organisations,had endorsed his candidature.

Sitting on a bench in a park near his Faridabad residence,Jain spoke of politics. “Disability as an issue has been alive for some time. But disability as politics has not emerged anywhere.”

Jain talks in a new language of inclusiveness. His line of argument matches that of the green warriors — that the issues being talked of concern us all.

“Reading material is still not accessible for Hindi-medium students,because translations are not easily available. There is no policy for an audio archive. An audio archive will not just help a visually impaired person,it will benefit all,” Jain says.

Though Jain says he is all for academic reforms,he is guarded against the implementation of the semester system. “The semester system has been difficult for persons with disabilities. For example,the visually disabled have to convert printed material into a recorded format to make it more readable by the assistance software. Given the infrastructure that DU has,it is not sufficient,” he says,pointing out that the disabled will lose time trying to scan documents into the software that would read out to them.

Jain also wants to make the Academic Council more relevant. “In the last two years,the last Vice-Chancellor reduced the Academic Council to a rubber stamp. There is a need to make the AC more democratic. We have to give more chance to debate.”