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Greater Efforts Required to Address the Concerns of People with Disabilities

Team Social Xleration, 22^nd February 2021

Introduction

Disability is a major social concern for any society and it still remains so with various societies still at different points in terms of integration of its people with disabilities completely into their social fabric. In India, over time, multiple endeavors have been made to assuage the concerns of people with disabilities and amalgamate them into the mainstream. However, there is a multitude of challenges encompassing social, economic, and medical issues that continue to dodge people with disabilities. Therefore, more concerted and continual efforts in this regard are needed.

Who Constitutes as a Person with a Disability and Extent of Disability

The Cambridge dictionary describes ‘disability’ as an illness, injury, or condition that makes it difficult for someone to do the things that other people do.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), disability is an outcome of certain health conditions such as cerebral paralysis, syndrome, and depression, as well as various other causes such as negative behaviors, and paucity of accessible transport and public facilities, and adequate social support. WHO further states that disability is part of being human and almost everyone will temporarily or permanently experience disability at some point in their life.

In this regard, it is necessary to mention the report titled, “Disabled Persons in India: A Statistical Profile 2016” developed by the Social Statistics Division under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India. While describing disability, it states “From the conceptual point of view, there is no universal definition of what constitutes a disability or of who should be considered as having a disability. Moreover, there is no one static condition of disability. A disability is a result of the interaction between a person with a health condition and a particular environmental context.”

Throwing light on the magnitude of the issue of disability in India, the report revealed that as per the figures of the Census 2011, out of the 121 crores population, there are 2.68 crores people with disabilities which is 2.21 percent of the total population. The report citing the figures of the Census 2011 further goes on to add that 20 percent of people with disabilities in India have a movement disorder, 19 percent have a vision disability, 19 percent have a hearing disability, and 8 percent have multiple disabilities. The report also indicates that with 46.2 lakh people, the proportion of people with disabilities is highest in the 10-19 year age group.

As per WHO, over one billion people – about 15 percent of the global population – live with some form of disability and this number is increasing.

Reasons for Disabilities and Challenges Faced by People with Disabilities

Generally, disability is categorized into two categories. In the first instance, a person is born with a disability and in the second instance, a person acquires a disability at some point in his/her life. The first type of disability is due to a paucity of good and effective healthcare services within reach that results in health complications for both the expecting mother and unborn child, frequently resulting in a disability in a child. Another attributed cause is the lack of proper care provided to the pregnant mother due to lack of awareness which contributes to the disabilities among the children. Insufficient earnings of a household force women to work up to the advanced stage of their pregnancy in difficult conditions, which also results in the birth of a child with a disability. There are data available to point to the link between ‘disability’ and ‘poverty’. The reasons for acquired disability comprises accidents, disasters, wars, violence, and other factors.

Apart from the medical conditions, a combination of factors hinders the integration of persons with disabilities with mainstream society. These comprise a cynical attitude towards persons with disabilities, misconceptions about them, and lack of equal opportunities and accessible physical spaces. The aforementioned is substantiated by the fact that only 14.6 million people with disabilities in India are literate. Among those, only a little over 1 million are graduates, and the condition for women is worse than for men.

There seems to be a lack of information on the work opportunities and largely a lack of supportive environment for the people with disabilities at the workplaces and in accessing the workplace alongside an absence of provisions such as reimbursement of the individual transportation services for them.

What complicates the situation further is the fact that all the persons with disabilities have been simplistically bundled into one category without according any consideration to the peculiarity of each medical disorder and the unique conditions of people with such disorders. Appropriate care and management of the various disorders are difficult to come by. This situation is further exacerbated when it comes to rare conditions, wherein finding the right medical treatment is difficult and expensive. This is more so reflected in people with a psychiatric disability, who experience varied symptoms that impact psychological and cognitive function, and their needs are complex. They are vulnerable to stress and may not be able to put up with the pressures of everyday life and may lack evolved problem-solving skills. They may experience anxiety and side effects of medication and would require a high level of sensitivity, which is generally absent due to lack of awareness and orientation among the general populace.

The lack of proper medical care and a supportive environment is reflected by the unsavory fact that 33 percent of people with disabilities belong to the 10-29 year age group. Hence, many find themselves cooped in their home leading each day of their lives filled with struggle.

Legal Aspects and Schemes for Persons with Disabilities

The Constitution of India guarantees different basic rights for people with disabilities in the country. The constitutional rights of persons with disabilities ensure the prohibition of discrimination, equity in social, economic and cultural rights, right to work, right to liberty, and right to freedom of expression.

Various Acts related to persons with disabilities have been framed over the years. These include the Mental Health Act, 1987, the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992, and Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. The latest legal provision in this regard is the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, enacted on 28 December 2016 and came into force from 19 April 2017. It replaces the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995. It complies with the obligations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), to which India is a party. The landmark Act has included 21 disabilities from the earlier provision of seven. The Act covers people with intellectual and psycho-social disabilities, acid-attack survivors, and people affected by Parkinson’s, Haemophilia, Thalassemia, and Sickle-Cell diseases. The Act defines persons with “benchmark disabilities” as those certified to have at least 40 percent of the 21 disabilities included in the Act.

It has also increased the number of seats reserved for people with disabilities in government jobs from 4 percent to the earlier provision of 3 percent and in higher education institutes to 5 percent from the earlier figure of 3 percent. The Act also provides for the appointment of a guardian to people with mental disability, who cannot take care of themselves or take legally binding decisions through the district court. Simultaneously, it also allows a person with a disability who is distressed by the appointment of a legal guardian to complain against it to an appellate authority. Furthermore, under the Act, persons living with disabilities can sue anybody or government agencies if their rights are breached.

The persons with disabilities in the country are entitled to a disability certificate, which is the basic document that a person with a disability must possess to avail certain benefits and concessions. This certificate is issued by the State Medical Boards established under the State governments to any person with more than 40 percent disability. The Government also entitles people above 18 years and above with 80 percent disability and living below the poverty line to the disability pension under the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme. Furthermore, under sections 80DD and 80U of the Income Tax Act, 1961, persons with disabilities are also entitled to certain income tax concessions.

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment launched the “Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan)” in December 2015 for achieving universal accessibility for all citizens including the elderly & persons with disabilities. The campaign focuses on Built Environment, Public Transportation, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

Besides, there are many other schemes for persons with disabilities. These include the Divyangjan Swavalamban Yojana Scheme for Persons with Disabilities that offers concessional loans to persons with disabilities for their economic and overall empowerment. The Ministry of Education scheme, Government of India operates Saksham Scholarship Scheme for students with disabilities administered by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) that offers support to children with disabilities to pursue technical education. Another effort to boost the careers of people with disabilities is the creation of the Skill Council for Persons with Disability (SCPwD), an organization that provides them useful industry-specific skill-based training.

Six national institutes have also been developed to enhance the lives of people with disabilities in the country. These institutes under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment are the National Institute for the Physically Handicapped, National Institute for the Orthopedically Handicapped, National Institute for the Visually Handicapped, National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped, and the National Institute of Rehabilitation, Training and Research.

Measures to Enhance the Lives of Persons with Disabilities

Although some level of effort has been made to enhance the lives of people with disabilities, a lot more needs to be done to better their lives.

• First and foremost, a higher level of sensitivity and awareness on the conditions and the concerns of people with disabilities needs to be undertaken across the country. This should focus on eradicating biases and appropriate conduct towards people with disabilities. The emphasis should be on making people understand the different types of conditions and the varying circumstances of each condition.
• Regular attention and care including proper diet, supplements, and medical attention of the expecting mothers are key to avert numerous avoidable cases of disabilities.
• It should be a collective effort to ensure the provision of specialized treatment and care to all people with disabilities. Thrust needs to be provided on training a higher number of medical professionals that provide specialized treatment and care.
• Efforts are required to create awareness at all levels to accommodate every child with a disability in specialized schools with special educators in compliance with the Right to Education Act 2009.
• As far as possible, the focus of specialized educational institutions must be on educating children with disabilities on skills that enable them to manage their day-to-day life to the maximum extent possible.
• Providing special counseling sessions is an effective way of encouraging children with disabilities to understand their potential, realize it, and develop a positive outlook towards life.
• Vocational education needs to be provided after a assessment of each person with a disability. Appropriate skills training should be provided based on suitability and these courses should have a high degree of customization to suit the needs of the students.
• A renewed thrust needs to be provided to the Accessible India Campaign for barrier-free and unhindered access to the various buildings and other services. Besides the government sector, the private sector too needs to be proactive in voluntarily conducting accessibility audits and make appropriate changes in their assets for easy access to people with disabilities.
• It must be ensured that all the jobs reserved for people with disabilities in the government sector must be filled up. The private sector must be also proactive in offering jobs to persons with disabilities or promoting initiatives that promote the professional engagement of persons with disabilities. For instance, technology firm Accenture acknowledges more than 60 types of disabilities in line with the UN guidelines. It has educated over 23,000 individuals with disabilities. It also came up with a six-month internship to develop a professional talent pool of people with disabilities.
• In order to facilitate a greater awareness of their differences and needs in the public domain, attempts should be made to bring more people with disabilities into government, schools, and workplaces.
• A safe environment for people with disabilities especially females needs to be ensured at home, care-houses, educational institutions, institutions, and workplaces to shield them from any kind of abuse, exploitation, or violence.
• Readily available legal recourse must be put in place for the speedy delivery of justice in case of any crime being committed against a person with a disability. Special courts at the state and center levels must be considered in this regard.
• More public and private investment and allocations need to be made on research on developing assistive technologies as well as higher-level treatment to address the needs of the people with disabilities.

Only a collective and concerted push and efforts encompassing all the above measures and much more are required to control the causes of disabilities and address the concerns of people with various conditions to make them feel equal citizens in the true spirit of the word.