Abstract
Though late, the subject of 'mental retardation' has reached at present a stage when it is capable of knocking at the door of people of all strata in our country. People of Bangladesh had no idea about the mentally handicapped before the 70's.
Nowadays, the government, social workers, intellectuals and NGO's in the country, are a little bit aware of the matter. But it is not sufficient for them. They are neglected citizens in all respects, they do not get respect as other human beings in the family, in the society. They are a burden to the family or to the person himself.
Current statistics indicate that there are approximately 3.6 million people with mental handicaps living in communities throughout Bangladesh who currently receive little or no assistance. People with intellectual disability are usually left out of development as the result of a lack of awareness among the people who design and manage development programmes, so that they are able to include the people with mental retardation and their families in development programmes of government and non-government.
Enhancing equal opportunity and full participation of the mentally handicapped other disabled people in the national commitment was adopted in Asian and Pacific Decade of disabled persons (1992-2002). The Dhaka declaration adopted on the occasion of 2nd South Asian Conference on CBR Network urged to consider the Disability Issue as a development issue requesting the government and non-government authorities to develop basic services accessible for people with disabilities.
 |
 |