Person With Disabilities In India

As per Census 2011, at the all India level, disabled persons constitute 2.21% of the total population. 7.62% of the disabled persons belong to the age group 0-6 years.

India signed the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disability, and subsequently ratified the same on October 1, 2007. 

Enactment of a new disability legislation (Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016) increased the number of disabilities from 7 conditions to 21.

Focus on disabilities has been shifted from the individual to society, i.e., from a medical model of disability to a social or human rights model of disability.

Various Models of Disability

Medical Model

In the medical model, individuals with certain physical, intellectual, psychological and mental impairments are taken as disabled.

According to this, the disability lies in the individual as it is equated with restrictions of activity with the burden of adjusting with the environment through cures, treatment and rehabilitation.

Social Model

The social model focuses on the society which imposes undue restrictions on the behaviour of persons with impairment.

In this, disability does not lie in individuals, but in the interaction between individuals and society.

Constitutional Framework For Disabled In India

Article 41 of the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) states that the State shall make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, within the limits of its economic capacity and development.

The subject of ‘relief of the disabled and unemployable’ is specified in the state list of the Seventh Schedule of the constitution.

Issues Related To Persons With Disability In India

Discrimination

Continuous discrimination on the basis of the stigma attached to persons with disabilities, compounded by a lack of understanding of their rights, makes it difficult for them to attain their valued “functioning’’.

Women and girls with disabilities are at a higher risk of experiencing sexual and other forms of gender-based violence.

Health

A large number of disabilities are preventable, including those arising from medical issues during birth, maternal conditions, malnutrition, as well as accidents and injuries.

However, there is a lack of awareness, lack of care, and lack of good and accessible medical facilities.

Education And Employment

Lack of availability of special schools, access to schools, trained teachers, and educational materials for the disabled.

Even though many disabled adults are capable of productive work, disabled adults have far lower employment rates than the general population.

Lax Implementation

The government has had some admirable initiatives to improve the condition of PwDs.

However, even now, most buildings in India are not disability-friendly, despite the government of India, under the Accessible India Campaign, instructing all ministries to make their buildings accessible to persons with disabilities.

Similarly, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act has provided for a quota of reservation for persons with disabilities in government jobs and higher education institutions, but the majority of these posts are vacant.

Way Forward

Preventive Actions

Preventive health programs need to be strengthened and all children need to be screened at a young age.

Kerala has already started an early prevention programme.

The Comprehensive Newborn Screening (CNS) programme seeks early identification of deficits in infants and reduces the state's burden of disability.

Collaboration With States

Awareness regarding care for pregnant mothers and good and accessible medical facilities across the rural heartland are the important pillars for addressing the occurrence of disabilities.

For facilitation of both these factors, the state governments should be actively supported by the union government for fiscal decentralisation in their health sector as health comes under the ‘state subject’ in our constitution.

Recent Initiatives To Empowerment of Disable's'

India

1. Unique Disability Identification Portal
2. Accessible India Campaign
3. DeenDayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme
4. Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/fitting of Aids and Appliances
5. National Fellowship for Students with Disabilities

Global

• Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific.
• United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disability.
• International Day of Persons with Disabilities
• UN Principles for People with Disabilities