A DISABLING SOCIETY

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.