That the conference to be organised by the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People will have ordinary members of the public rather than activists, is expected to make it stand out as a unique gesture of togetherness on World Disability Day (December 3) when the two-day conference begins.

Javed Abidi, Executive Director of the Centre, who announced the meet at a news conference here today, said that the disabled have been ignored so far because they are not being considered as a vote-bank. The disabled are one of the three sectors covered by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. While the other two sectors, minority and SC/ST get sufficient attention, the disabled have remained a disintegrated, and hence, an unnoticed lot. Seven crore in number, they amount for six per cent of the population. But the funds allotted to them in this year's budget are a mere Rs 141 crore, he said.

The Centre, which is an advocacy group for the disabled, expects roughly 300 to 500 people to turn up though it has no plans of issuing free tickets or other sops. Abidi hopes to mobilise participants through NGOs, acquaintances, the media and by word of mouth publicity.

The conference will mark a new phase in the struggle for the rights of the disabled, when the movement will demand implementation of the Disability Act, Abidi said. The Act, which was ready in February 1996, got a Disability Chief Commissioner as recently as September 1. The implementation of the Act is yet to happen.