Friday Nov 29, 2024
Friday Nov 29, 2024
Thursday, 5 September 2013 00:46 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Born to A.M.J. Attanayake, a Member of Parliament (from 1970-1977 and 1994-1999), former Basnayake Nilame of the Ruhunu Maha Kataragama Devalaya and W. Manathunge of Pitakumbura, a village in the Monaragala District, Senarath Attanayake is the eldest in a family of three, with a brother and a sister.
At the age of two, he was struck by polio. Despite being wheelchair bound, Attanayake excelled in his studies and was called to the Bar. This was just a stepping stone for him and he went on to represent the Monaragala District after 1999.
He has been instrumental in finding alternate solutions to add quality to the rural life to the Monaragala district through his CSR project ‘Back To Earth,’ which designs and markets eco-friendly attractive eco-friendly gift items and mementos created using natural refuse and are sold at Colombo’s lifestyle stores, bringing additional revenue.
He heavily advocates creating a disabled friendly environment in Sri Lanka and has initiated a pilot project in Monaragala, making it the first disabled friendly district.
Attanayake told the Daily FT: “When I leave Sri Lanka for a foreign event such as a conference, I don’t want anyone to assist me. I want every place to be disabled-friendly; even public transport should be disabled-friendly, with ramps and spaces for wheelchairs. All schools should be disabled-friendly so that children who are differently-abled should not have to go to special schools. I want to change the mindset of Sri Lankan people – especially the way they perceive those who are wheelchair-bound.”
In 2012 Attanayake presented a paper titled ‘Making Monaragala the First Disabled Friendly District of Sri Lanka’ to the Uva Provincial Council as well as several organisations and donors. The Country Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Colombo considered this proposal and saw a similarity between their Global Age-Friendly Cities concept.
WHO then pledged its support to the project with the altered theme ‘Monaragala, the First Disabled-Friendly/Age-Friendly District in Sri Lanka’. The Wellawaya Division pilots the project and is the first city in Sri Lanka and the second in South-East Asia to join the network.
At present Attanayake is coordinating the project (pro-bono) which involves DPOs, CBR Networks, WHO-SEARO, WHO-CO in Sri Lanka, Ministry of Social Services, Ministry of Health, Uva Provincial Council, other Government administrative bodies and structures and the community of the division in general.
Ramps and other accessibility features have been constructed utilising his provincial budgetary allocations as well as through his personal funds; in many public buildings in the District of Monaragala (Uva Province). He provides accessibility devices to persons with disabilities including children, often selected on the basis of their lower income status.
Attanayake is currently having discussions with a number of policy and research organisations in Sri Lanka with regard to increasing academic interest in disability. He was instrumental in including a disability rights session for the first time in the history of the National Law Conference of Sri Lanka and was a panel member of the session.
He constantly raises the issue of disability with the Government as well as the private sector and has managed to secure accessibility in many public and private institutions. Attanayake is also a recognised speaker on disability rights in Sri Lanka.
In July 2013 Attanayake participated in the sixth Conference of State Parties on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) at the United Nations Head Quarters in New York. He was invited as an independent observer by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and by Disabled People’s International (DPI).
He made two presentations at two separate side events to the conference representing the global south as the leader. He is currently compiling an extended essay titled ‘A Study of the Economic, Social and Psychological Status of a Family with a Disabled Child and the Effect of those Factors on the Mental Wellbeing of the Family’. Senarath is also an entrepreneur with a knack for nature friendly products. He contributes a percentage of the profits from his eco-friendly business, Back to Earth, towards the wellbeing of Persons Living with Disabilities in Sri Lanka.
