An estimated 7,91,998 persons in Kerala suffer from various disabilities, according to Social Justice Minister M. K. Muneer.
Releasing the draft of the “Disability Census 2015’ here on Wednesday, he said they constituted 2.2 per cent of the State’s total population. He claimed that the census was the first of its kind in the country. The government has identified 22 types of disabilities that have afflicted the State’s population.
It has broadly classified them, in the order of prevalence, as movement disability, muscular dystrophy, chronic neurological disorder, multiple-sclerosis, hunched back, dwarfism, blindness, seriously impeded vision, learning disability, speech disability, mental retardation, mental illness, autism, deafness, leprosy free persons, haemophilia, thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, deaf and blind, and multiple-disabilities.
An estimated 9.87 lakh households in Kerala have disabled people. Such homes constitute 11.01 per cent of the total number of dwellings in the State. Importantly, the census has revealed that 42.86 lakh persons in Kerala are above the age of 60 and they constituted 12.03 per cent of the total population.
Various government departments were involved in the disability census. Census enumerators, around 33,000 Anganwadi workers, visited 83.88 lakh houses in the State to complete the counting process.
The census was conducted in three phases. It found that 2.34 lakh people had been erroneously categorised as disabled persons.
Dr. Muneer said the census would usher in a host of welfare measures for the disabled.
Importantly, government offices and hospitals would be fitted with ramps, grab rails and specially designed toilets to make movement easy for disabled persons.
