CHENNAI: The State government on Monday informed the Madras High Court that exclusive counters will be provided for persons with disabilities (PwDs) at Covid vaccination centres across the State. Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy directed the State to take immediate steps to ensure that such counters are accessible to PwDs.
The bench passed the interim order on a PIL moved by Meenakshi Balasubramanian, a disability rights activist, seeking to add disabled persons to the priority group.
According to the petitioner, disabled people by the reason of their unique characteristics, are incapable of maintaining social distancing and wearing masks and mortality among disabled people is reported to be higher. Blind persons are more reliant on their sense of touch as a substitute for impaired vision, she added.
Similarly, wearing masks is not an option for those with cerebral palsy, autism or any developmental disability as it is not an object they are used to, the petitioner said.