SIALKOT: The department of sociology of the Govt College Women University Sialkot (GCWUS) with the collaboration of ‘Safia Foundation’ organized a one-day awareness seminar on ‘Disability and Social Change’ here on Monday. Speakers highlighted the issues faced by persons with disabilities and how the public should deal with them. In his opening remarks, Department of Sociology head Dr Muhammad Umair Ashraf stressed the need for an inclusive approach to deal with the issues in the society. He said the persons with disability face socio-cultural exclusion and stigma. On the other hand, he said public policies, relationships, environments, and institutions such as the family, employment, marriage influence individual, collective choices and chances, and could trigger turning points to new trajectories and pathways for individuals.
Hence, persons with disabilities were important segments of the society and their inclusion in every part of life was necessary, he added. At the end, he suggested that the persons with disability need more care such as respect, honour choices, wellbeing, quality of life, social support, and acceptability in society. Shamsa Kanwal, the founder and CEO of Safia Foundation highlighted the important elements that should be considered for persons with disability. She said that it was very important to accept who you were as a person and disability should not be the defining factor. She shared her life experiences with the students. She quoted “Life without Vision is a journey without destination”. Later, Dr Muhammad Shahbaz (HOD Department of English), concluded the session by thanking all the stakeholders for their valuable input. He underscored the need for having a balanced and inclusive approach instead of excluding the persons with disabilities.