More than a billion people in the
world experience some form of disability according to the World Health Organization
(WHO) and World Bank Report 2011. Around 10 percent of the populations in the
developing countries have disabilities according to the estimates. At the same time, the government of India’s
estimate of around 21 million based on the 2001 census (2.13 per cent) with
disabilities in the country is a gross underestimation, mainly to the defective
definition of disability and inadequate training to the enumerators. Union
Minister Jairam Ramesh observes that the present definition of disability by
the government is “atrocious”. WHO
defines disabilities as “ an umbrella term covering impairments, activity
limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body
functions or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by
an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction
is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations”.
Disability is a complex
phenomenon involving a close interaction between “ features of a person’s body
and features of the society” in which the individual lives. Social attitudes,
prejudices and structural barriers often due to a callous indifference from
those concerned cause exclusion of persons with disability from all aspects of
society; education, employment, marriage, recreation and social participation. Jeeja
Ghosh, a teacher on the wheel chair, was ordered to be deplaned by a pilot of
Spice Jet in February 2012. But this blatant discrimination has gone unpunished
because of legal deficiency. Article 15 of the constitution of India states ; “The
state shall not discriminate against citizens on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or
any of them”. As article 15 is silent on disability, discrimination against
persons with disability has been on the increase. Sri Lanka, South Africa and
many other countries have specific constitutional bar on discrimination on grounds of disability. Our law makers
amended our Constitution nearly 100 times and yet left this issue untouched.
There are four laws concerning
disability in India ; Mental Health Act (1987), Rehabilitation Council Act
(1992), Personal Disabilities Act (1995) and National Trust Act (1999) dealing
with developmental disabilities. The laws are by and large ineffectively
implemented due to bureaucratic apathy and the general lack of sensitivity
among the planners and administrators. Union Minister Mukul Wasnik himself
admitted that the implementation of the 1995 act was “skewed and uneven”. A comprehensive law is
being drafted and therefore have been serious debates on the desirability of
one umbrella legislation. There is a strong view that developmental
disabilities concerning children, and mental health would get better attention
by not bringing these two under the new PWD Act. Stringent provision against
discrimination on the ground of disability is a must in the proposed
legislation. India ratified the United Nations convention on the rights of
persons with disabilities in 2007. It is
necessary for the new Indian law to be in sync with the UN convention which
stipulates that persons with disabilities are to be treated as equals to
persons without disabilities.
The creation of a Department of
Disability Affairs in the Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment is a welcome measure though it is belated step.
Much is expected from this department as Bureaucratic red-tape and
insensitivity of the political establishment have done more harm than good to
persons with disability. Disability can strike anyone at anytime. Yet persons
with disability are treated as an exclusive class. From the perspective of
economics, the country’s GDP growth is significantly deprived of the
contribution of a large number of persons with disability. The present charity
model has to be replaced with the rights-based model.
Can we expect a proactive, inclusive approach in the
architecture of buildings and infrastructure , and design of public
transportation in India ? Or is it a far cry ? A society is judged by the way
it treats persons with disabilities, the children and the elderly. An enabling
society creates a nurturing and positive environment. But the sad Indian
reality is that person with disability today are living in a disabling society.
