The National Advisory Council's suggestions for strengthening the draft law on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (PWD) is a potentially far-reaching intervention. The step is in sync with the recent notification of a separate Department for Disabilities in the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, which was announced in the President's 2012 address to Parliament. Ever since India ratified the United Nations Convention on the rights of PWDs in 2007, the formulation of a comprehensive law became imperative and these two developments suggest things are finally moving ahead. Currently, there are four separate pieces of legislation pertaining to India's disabled population. The earliest, the 1987 Mental Health Act, predates the discourse on affirmative action for the disabled in India and, to that extent, the status of mental illness as a disability remains ambiguous. Then, there is a separate law that deals with the creation of qualified and trained personnel for the provision of rehabilitation and education services for this segment of the population. The third, the PWD Act of 1995, is underpinned by an emphasis on anti-discrimination and guarantees of equal opportunities. Although the latter was envisaged as a comprehensive law, it did not address fully the conditions of persons with other equally severe disabling conditions. Hence the 1999 Act for people with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities.
It is hardly surprising that these four laws in themselves have not mitigated the sense of apathy and bureaucratic red tape that hamper the creation of an enabling environment. The mechanisms and procedures involved are riddled with duplication and inconsistencies, as evidenced by the evolving case law over questions of jurisdiction and interpretation of different laws. More than a billion people around the world experience one or another form of disability, according to the World Health Organisation and World Bank 2011 report. On other estimates, about 10 per cent of the population in developing countries is disabled. By any reckoning, India's numbers would be much larger than what governments are prepared to acknowledge, given the detrimental influences of poverty, illiteracy and poor health on disability. It follows that stepping up investments in health and education is one of the important ways of preventing disabilities and mitigating their impact over the long term. Requiring service providers to furnish a declaration of conformity with the relevant laws is the other means to ensure accountability and effective enforcement. An umbrella legislation will go a long way in altering the present state of affairs.
The article states this "The earliest, the 1987 Mental Health Act, predates the discourse on affirmative action for the disabled in India and, to that extent, the status of mental illness as a disability remains ambiguous." How can there be any ambiguity when the People With Disabilities Act of 1995 has mental illness in its definition of disability as quoted below?! 'Disability' means- blindness; low vision; leprosy-cured; hearing impairment; loco motor disability; mental retardation; mental illness; Please issue a correction in this regard as well.
1. This article is misleading as it quotes an incorrect PTI article that appeared in your sister publication (Panel proposes sops for cos hiring differently abled)on the 'merged comprehensive law' which the NAC has NOT recommended. Please refer the recommendations on the NAC website - relevant extract quoted below : The NAC recommends that all relevant laws concerning rights of persons with disabilities may be reviewed from the view point of avoiding inconsistencies and duplication; and amendments if necessary may be carried out in close coordination by various Ministries to ensure furtherance of rights of persons with disabilities. All the concerned Ministries concur with this approach proposed by NAC. Kindly correct the same and update / retract the PTI article and reflect the changes in this article as well.
There are many laws for managing our society as a law abiding society and for facing any challenge in order to deal with any unforeseen situation. Obviously, there must to be separate department to deal with issue of PWD. Obviously, then lot many people will pin-pointedly focus on this so far not very well attended domain of the society.But, it should be kept in mind that law alone can only mitigate the impact of this terrible situation. It is the action which can make things move. One simple attempt may be that in every office or institute there should be a cell dealing with exclusively the PWDs. Second could be that the portraits of PWDs who could make dent like Stephan Hawking, the most brilliant physicist of this century despite the motor neuron disease or a variant of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis could achieve what is almost unimaginable and Ms Sudha Chandran- amputee, an accomplished dancer and many others should be displayed in every institution to encourage PWDs.
In my opinion, it's high time that we stop depending on our government to pass a law or to set up a task force. We have seen time and again how corruption and bereaucracy come in the way of proper execution of any well-intentioned policy. What we need is general awareness among the people about the struggles of people with disabilities, about their success stories and how they can be valuable assets of the society. After awareness, we need action. We should start pressing our respective organisations, schools, companies and societies to become disabled-friendly. We need to collectively appeal to make the infrastructure more accessible to disable people. One organisation at a time, one school at a time.
There has to be an attitudinal shift in the society's outlook towards persons with disabilities-mental and physical.The disabled are an important segment of society and require a compassionate and helpful response from society.Studies all over the world have shown that the disabled are equally competent as their able bodied counterparts. Recently the British Parliament has passed a law stating that mental illness will no longer be a bar to standing elections or holding any responsible position in the society.
The State and the private sector have to formulate affirmative action
policies to bring the disabled into the mainstream. According to the UN convention on disabilities it is imperative on member states to provide special amenities for the disabled in all public buildings.
The Supreme Court in several judgments have upheld the right to employment and non-discrimination on the part of the state in selecting persons with disabilities.
There is need of a task force to be set up.
It is a bitter fact that our society in general is very insensitive to the difficulties faced by lacs of people with different kinds of disabilities. Of course, there are many organizations and committed individuals who are striving hard to bring some cheer to the lives of the disabled. But Indians’ apathy to recognize the rights of the disabled is the root cause of the present sorry state of affairs as regards the welfare programmes for the disabled. Unless this attitude changes, no law may succeed in bringing about any noticeable improvement. If one probes further, one can see a link between the Hindus having a strong belief in the theories of 'fate', 'karma' etc. We cannot also ignore the fact that the plight of the disabled among the poor is far worse than that of the disabled who hail from better-off families. Perhaps solution lies in implementing laws for the disabled after considering factors mentioned above.
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