Every year on 3rd December, International day of Person with Disability is celebrated with the aim of equality, empowerment and inclusiveness. International day of person with disability was initiated by the declaration of United Nations general assembly resolution 47/3 in 1981. Government across the world had made necessary guidelines, rules and rights. 1983-1992 was international decade of person with disability. This day focuses to end discrimination in society, provide equal opportunities to them and treat them equally and it aims to promote the rights and well- being of person with disability. It is a social movement to generate awareness, secure equal opportunities and safeguard equal rights for all persons with disabilities. This is for providing them a safe environment, barrier free infrastructure, safe transportation etc. In India, the rights of person with disability, 2016 was passed by Indian parliament to fulfil the needs of person with disability. The theme of 2020 for International day of person with disability was declared by W.H.O that is “NOT ALL DISABILITIES ARE VISIBLE”. This theme focuses on spreading awareness and understanding about disabilities are not visible. Such as mental illness, sight or hearing impairment, neurological disorder, learning differences etc. This theme reflects an understanding that disability is an integral part of human condition. Almost everyone in their life have temporary or permanent impairment.
What is Disability?
Disability involves impairment, restrictions on activities, and restrictions on participation. It generally refers to physical disorders, cognitive disorders, sensory disorders, mental retardation, mental illness and various types of chronic diseases. Significant minority in the world are the people with disabilities. People with disabilities generally face poor health, lower education, lower economic opportunities and higher poverty rates than people without disabilities. It is mainly due to the lack of available services and the many obstacles they face in their daily lives in terms of their physical, social attitudes or political or discrimination. People with disabilities generally face violence due to stigmatization, discrimination, and ignorance about disability and lack of social support for those who care for them. Children with disabilities are more likely to be affected by violence than children without disabilities.
Types of Disabilities:
- Visual impairment: It refers to people who are blind or who have partial vision.
- Hearing impairment: It refers to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Hearing impairments can range from mild to profound.
- Loco motor impairment: It is the problem in locomotion or movement from one place to another, that is, disability in legs. It is taken as a disability associated with bones, joints and muscles. It causes problems in movement like walking, picking or holding things in hand, etc.
- Cerebral Palsy (CP): It includes problems with sensation, hearing, vision, swallowing, and speaking.
- Intellectual disability (ID): Persons characterized by average intelligence or mental ability and a lack of skills necessary for our daily life. People with intellectual disabilities learn concepts at a very slow rate.
- Dyslexia or Reading Disability: It is a learning disability that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words.
- Dysgraphia or Writing Disability: It includes difficulties with spelling, poor handwriting and trouble putting thoughts on paper.
- Dyscalculia: It is also called “number dyslexia” or “math dyslexia.” It is a math learning disability that affects an individual’s ability to learn number-related concepts, perform accurate math calculations, understanding logical and reasoning problems, and perform other basic math skills.
- Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): It is a chronic condition that affects many children and often continues into adulthood.
Challenges faced by disabled students in the field of education:
- Blind students are dependent upon Braille materials and that is rarely available to them. Even Braille material only provide them limited knowledge and they are deprived from any extra knowledge building requirements.
- Children with hearing impairments also face a lot of difficulties. They are always isolated from mainstream communication. In India, there are only around 250 sign language interpreters and sometimes very few persons have to cater to the requirements of an entire state. This is the reason they grow and are educated in isolation without proper means of integration in inclusive schools.
- The physical environments in many schools tend to be inaccessible for those who have mobility impairments.
- The course content put out by different boards are not in accessible formats, so organisations serving the blind have to convert them into an accessible format. There is strain of resources.
- Children with disabilities also have very limited access to books.
- There is also lack of trained teachers and resources to provide quality education to the students with disability. Often these teachers are paid much lesser than other teachers, considering that they actually need more patience and skills to teach children with disabilities.
- Children not only have to deal with limited resource conditions, but also difficult social conditions and stigma at school. A student with disability has to actually deal with severely restricted support.
- There is also the lack of Individualization. Education providers are relying on blanket approaches to accommodation, rather than customising it for each student on an individual basis.
- Students with disabilities regularly face negative attitudes and stereotypes in society and the education system. Lack of knowledge and sensitivity to disability issues on the part of some educators, staff and students can make it difficult for students with disabilities to access equal and quality educational services.
Rights for Disabled persons in India
Persons with Disability Act,1995 defines disability under part 2(i) as persons with low vision, blindness, locomotor disability, hearing impaired, physically handicapped, mental retardation, loco – motor disability. Persons with disabilities should be taken care as normal persons.
- Under the Indian constitution they guaranteed some following fundamental rights:
- Right to Education available to all citizens including the disabled persons article 29(2) of the constitution provides that no citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the stated or receiving aid out of state funds on the ground of religion, race, caste, language.
- Article 45 provide free and compulsory education for all children (including disabled persons).
- Article 25 right to freedom of every religion including disabled persons.
- Equal opportunities for all citizen in relating to employment or appointment to any office under the state.
- Equality opportunity for all.
- Respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as it is a part of humanity and human diversity.
- Full and effective engagement and involvement in society.
- Constitution ensures that persons with disabilities have a right to expression, religion, worship, justice, addition to liberty of thought.
- Article 15(1), Discrimination of citizens (including persons with disabilities) it’s on the basis of sex. race, caste.
- Right to employment in any workplace without any discrimination.
- Article 17 Indian should not handle as untouchable.
- Article 23 prohibits trafficking or forceful employment to persons with disability.
- Persons with disability has a right to choose language, culture.
- Persons with disability has a right to vote and voted for upon attainment of 18 years.
- People with disability have a right to approach Supreme Court
Basic rights for disabled persons by Indian Constitution
- Disability Certificate – It is document that certifies the type and extent of person’s disability. In India, certificate by medical board constitute by certain government hospital. Certificate valid for 5 years for temporary disability and for lifetime for permanent disability.
- Disability Pension – This pension is for person with temporary or permanent disability. It provided to above 18 people. This scheme comes under the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme.
- Legal Guardianship Certificate – It is required when the person is not able to take authorized decision, like the person is having disability of psychological retardation or cerebral palsy and this certificate is issued to guardian and take legal decision on behalf of the disabled person.
- Income Tax Concession – a deduction of Rs.75000 and Rs.125000 is allowed for people with disabilities and severe disabilities respectively as per Income Tax Act, 1961 section 80DD & 80U.
- Employment – There are 3% reservation for disabled persons as per Indian Constitution.
- The Mental Health Act, 1987 – This Act is to provide healthcare services for the persons with mental illness. It promotes, protect and fulfil the rights of persons with mental illness.
These rights are for persons with disabilities like,
- The persons who so ever are suffering from mental issue their medical bill shall be borne by government, except in that cases where the relatives agree to pay the medical bill.
- Mentally issued persons have the right to receive pension from government.
- Prepare Concession – Person with disabilities are entitled to coach concession while purchasing railway ticket and bus ticket in some states.
What can be done?
In general terms we can increase people’s awareness and understanding of the problem of people with disabilities. Helping people with disabilities to obtain dignity, rights, wealth, prosperity and security in society. Address their problems in all aspects of life. Analyse whether the rules and regulations applied by government organizations function and follow them well or not. We can help them with appropriate rehabilitation, to provide equal opportunities, to reduce poverty and to promote their role in society. As a society we have to focus on their health, well-being, education, and social dignity.
Everyone should enthusiastically contribute in promoting the equality of people with disabilities and promoting their morality. This International Day of Persons with disabilities should be celebrated in full enthusiasm all around the world to generate awareness among the people. This will not only increase people’s attention to the disabilities of people with disabilities but also raise awareness of the valuable role of people with disabilities in society.
There have been many evidences that disabled people face discrimination at workplace. Either they are denied the opportunity or they are under-paid. We can work together to bring inclusiveness in the workplace. Employees at organisations should be provided with behavioural and communication trainings so that they can interact with people with disability in a proper manner. Disabled people should be offered with equal opportunities. Companies can provide flexible working hours to them. This will boost their morale. A regular feedback and career guidance program should also be provided to them at work. This will enhance their confidence level and they will able to work with their full potential.
For the students with disabilities, we have to build good resource centres at each college and school with adequately paid and skilled teachers. Technology can play a key role for the enhancement and improvement of learning abilities of such types of students. Also, learning content should be specifically designed for them.
As it apparent that there is a long way to go before, we can talk of inclusive education for children with disabilities. To improve and improvise, individual efforts alone will not make a difference. It is important to work collectively and have a systemic approach to inclusive education, with sufficient implementation and infrastructural support, if we are to progress to a point where every child with disability is encouraged and promoted to learn and be prepared for a world of employment, independence and dignity.
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