Disability Unit

India has made significant progress in addressing disability rights and promoting inclusivity. The country has implemented various policy instruments and interventions to uphold the principles of dignity, equity, and non-discrimination for persons with disabilities. These include the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, which provides legal rights and protections, and the Accessible India Campaign, which focuses on creating accessible public spaces and transportation. Other initiatives include the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for inclusive education, the National Action Plan for Skill Development, and the Mental Health Care Act. These interventions aim to provide support, services, and opportunities for persons with disabilities to lead fulfilling lives and participate fully in society. India's commitment to inclusivity and empowerment is evident in the range of policies and programs that have been implemented. Hello learners, today we are going to discuss the topic policy instruments and interventions for redressal of disability in India. After studying this unit, you will be familiarized with select public policies for redressal of disability in the country and you will be in calculated with the specific interventions that are necessary to address the concerns regarding the rights of persons with disability in India. As you know, India is a fairly young country and the journey towards social inclusion and equal opportunities for individuals with disabilities have been fairly recent, particularly in the last 20 to 30 years, leaps and bounds have been made in the direction of commitment to uphold the principles of dignity, equity, non-discrimination and a number of policies which have a concerted effort to dismantle the barriers and foster an environment that empower people with disabilities to lead fulfilling lives. As a nation characterized by our diversity, we recognize it is imperative to address the multifaceted needs of the disabled population. As such, within the complex mosaic of India's diversity, there is a commitment to inclusivity, equality, human dignity that finds expressions through a series of targeted interventions aimed at addressing the concerns that have long challenged the full realization of rights for the marginalized community of people with disabilities. Guided by international frameworks such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to domestic imperatives, India reflects a multifaceted approach encompassing policy reforms, policy framework, policy advocacy and awareness and a number of effective interventions to address the plight of people with disabilities in India. Public policy instruments simply mean the various tools, methods and approaches that governments and public authorities use to design, implement and evaluate policies and address societal issues specifically towards a particular domain of development in our case to address the development of people with disabilities. In this context, addressing disability-related concerns and promoting the rights of inclusion of persons with disabilities require various public policy instruments that are employed to create a more accessible, accommodating and equitable society. As such, certain instruments such as laws and regulations like the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act in India have set out the legal rights and protections for individuals with disabilities. Similarly, updating the accessibility standards and guidelines, the government has developed such standards for physical environment, transportation, digital platforms and information and communication technologies to ensure that persons with disabilities can access services and participate full-fledgedly in society. Let us now look at select public policies for redressal of disability in India. The Right of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 is a comprehensive legislation that replace the Persons with Disabilities Equal Opportunities Protection of Rights and Full Participation Act 1995. This RPWD Act broadened the scope of disabilities, introduced the concept of reasonable accommodation and mandated accessible environment. It covered areas such as education, employment, healthcare, accessibility, social protection and many more. The Accessible India Campaign or Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan which was launched in 2015 is another initiative to make public spaces and transportation available to the persons with disabilities. As such, infrastructure has to be made in such a way that there will be availability of ramps, braille, signage, accessible toilets, easy access to government buildings, public buildings, transportation systems and other public places. The United Nations Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities also emphasize the right of persons with disabilities to access information, services and facilities on equal terms with others. Coming to the domain of education, there is a great initiative which all of you know, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan which has also been tweaked in the form of Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary Stage, the short form is IEDSS which focus on providing necessary support materials and teacher training to ensure that students with disabilities receive education tailored to their needs. Similarly, the National Institute of Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities, NIEPMD was established in 2005 to provide training, research, rehabilitation services to individuals with multiple disabilities. The National Action Plan for Skill Development of Persons with Disabilities which came into effect from 2015 aimed to enhance the employability and providing persons with disabilities with essential skills, training, vocational rehabilitation and entrepreneurship development to make them self-reliant. Another important act, the Mental Health Care Act 2017 not only focused on disabilities but also to provide mental health care and services to persons with mental illnesses apart from physical disabilities. Now let us look at certain specific interventions to address the concerns of persons with disabilities in India. We already heard about the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan, similarly, the Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana was a scheme to provide free assistive devices like hearing aids, walking sticks, wheelchairs to senior citizens and persons with disabilities. Similarly, Sugamya Pustakale is an online library offering a diverse collection of accessible books for persons with print disability or persons with visual impairment. Dindayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme is another popular public policy to provide rehabilitation services, training as well as financial assistance for persons with disabilities to promote their employment, education and holistic social integration. The National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation, NHFDC offers a variety of financial assistance programs to support the economic empowerment, skill development and entrepreneurship amongst persons with disabilities. UD ID card or the unique disability ID card which has also been implemented with the aim of creating a national database of persons with disabilities to streamline their access to the government schemes, services and various national trust welfare initiatives for persons with variety of disabilities as well as mental issues such as cerebral palsy, autism, mental retardation etc. To summarize, India has a number of policy instruments and interventions which have been discussed in this unit with a firm determination to pursue an inclusive society that not only empowers persons with disabilities but also ensure that they thrive and they develop at par with any other citizen of the country as well as the world. Amidst these myriad of public policy initiatives and implementationist interventions, India demonstrates its unwavering dedication to create a harmonious society where individuals with disabilities will no longer feel that they are disabled because of their physical or mental challenges but they feel empowered to access opportunities, services and live a dignified life with par with their fellow citizens. Thank you for your patient hearing.