Issues Related to Differently Abled

Over 1 billion people in the world have some form of disability, that’s 1 in 7. More than 100 million disabled persons are children. 50% of disabled persons cannot afford health care. 2011 Census says 2.21% are disabled in India. Movement disability in children went down by 11 % because of polio immunization program in India

Issues around Disability in India

Disability is not being measured properly due to different definitions of disability in various censuses
India looks at disability from medical or pathological angle only, not from social angle
Census depends on self-reporting of disability which may leave out mental & even physical disability
Lack of Institutional and Infrastructural Support for the disabled in India

Government Initiatives

India signed UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disability
Term “divyang” is being considered in place of “viklang” to change mindset – will help in raising self-confidence and subsequent empowerment, however-

Mere change of terminology is not going to bring about any change

It will only invoke sympathy and underline that charity is what is needed

disability is not a divine gift and would only tend to create myths

Kerala became first state to conduct a census of its own called Kerala Disability Census
New ‘Rights of Persons with Disability bill’ proposes to increase job reservations for disabled from 3 to 5 %
It also seeks to widen scope of disabilities covered under the bill from 7 to 19

Rights of Persons with Disability bill

Instead of seven disabilities specified earlier, the Bill covers 19 conditions.
Persons with at least 40% of a disability are entitled to certain benefits such as reservations in education and employment, preference in government schemes, etc.
The Bill confers several rights and entitlements to disabled persons viz. friendly access to all public buildings, hospitals, modes of transport, polling stations, etc.
In case of mentally ill persons, district courts may award two types of guardianship viz.limited guardian & plenary guardian

The bill provides for setting up of National and State Commissions for persons with disabilities. The Commissions will be required to:

identify any laws, policies or programmes that are inconsistent with the Act;

inquire into matters relating to deprivation of rights and safeguards available to disabled persons and recommend appropriate remedial measures;

monitor implementation of the Act and utilization of funds disbursed by governments

The bill provides for setting up of Central and State Advisory Boards on disability to –

advise the government on policies and programmes

developing a national/state policy concerning persons with disabilities

Concerns

Center imposing legal & financial obligations on states and municipalities, while disability is a state subject
The Bill overrides the Mental Health Act, 1987 with respect to guardianship provisions. This may result in the safeguards against misuse of guardianship, being lowered

Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan)

In line with Marrakesh treaty – Flagship campaign for achieving universal accessibility for persons with disabilities
targets three separate verticals – built up environment, transportation eco-system, information & communication ecosystem

Aims and Objectives

Making transport, government buildings, tourist spots, airports, railway stations and internet technology friendly for differently-abled people
Use of IT and social media for spreading awareness about the campaign

Steps to be taken under this Program

Ramps in public buildings
Provision of toilets for wheelchair users
Braille symbols and auditory signals in elevators or lifts
Ramps in hospitals, primary health centres and other rehabilitation centres
For enhancing accessibility of Television programmes – incorporation of features like captioning, text to speech and audio discription
Government will create ‘Accessible police stations’, ‘Accessible hospitals’ and ‘Accessible tourism’ respectively across the country.