National Conference on Arts, Recreation & Rights of Persons with Disability The National Conference on Arts, Recreation & Rights of Persons with Disabilities initiated with the inauguration ceremony at Institute of Engineers, Unit-IV, Bhubaneswar on the 15th January 2019 by Aaina Besides the dignitaries, delegates and subject experts there were about 200 participants from academia, development organizations, corporate sector, media, film industry, parents, professionals and persons with disabilities. Sri Prafulla Samal Hon’ble Minister, Department of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Women & Child Development, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Department, Government of Odisha was the Chief Guest of the ceremony. Padmashree Dr. (Mrs.) Priyambada Mohanty Hejmadi, former Vice Chancellor of Sambalpur University was the Guest of Honor. Mr. Anant Mohapatra, the grand old man of theatre, cinema, radio and television broadcasting and travels in India and abroad was the Chairperson and presided over the session. Ms. Sneha Mishra - Secretary, Aaina cordially invited everyone and presented the concept note of the conference to set the tone of discussion.
The conference had three sessions:
1. Performing Arts
2. Creative Arts
3. Film, Sports & Recreation
The daylong National Conference on Arts, Recreation & Rights of Persons with Disability discussed the present state of participation and scope for the person with disability in the creative and performing arts, sports and recreation domain. The causalities, needs and avenues were analyzed over the three sessions. It was felt that the RPD Act 2016 has quite strongly articulated the rights of persons with disability to participation and profession in those areas and the obligation on the part of the government and administration to make it real. There have been sporadic efforts in the society to provide space to them in the stated fields. But that will not do – a complete structural and functional framework has to be worked out and kept in place in light of the RPD Act for the person with disability to access and realizes their right to Arts, culture, recreation and sports. A summary of the discussion was collated as a list of recommendation for presentation to the government for perusal.
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