Goa is currently hosting the second edition of the International Purple Fest which will run till January 13. The whole idea of the Purple Fest is to get people sensitized towards persons with disabilities. It is learnt that parents of special students were compelled to protest demanding the reopening of the vocational training and rehabilitation centre at Sanjay School which has been shut for almost four months. The Right of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 casts responsibility upon the appropriate governments to take effective measures to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy their rights equally with others. Public places should have ramps, rails and special toilets, and other necessary changes to suit the special needs of PwDs. Aid for those with visual and hearing impairment can be done by having Braille or raised lettering wherever possible, signboards that are large enough to read, announcements if any need to be done over a public address system. Buildings need to mandatorily have elevators which should be in working condition with backup power supply.
