India Rehabilitation Policies, Some Local Level Initiatives for Inclusion
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- First global report on disability
- 1 billion disabled people worldwide: 15 pc of the global population
- Despite all the shift towards inclusion, disabled people remain ‘second class citizens’ according to WHO and WB
- Barriers/Problems
- Stigma/negative social attitude
- Discrimination
- Lack of adequate healthcare and rehabilitation services
- Inaccessible transport, buildings and information/built environment
- A large proportion of the physically challenged are not even aware of their entitlements
India
- Census 2001: 2.19 crore persons with disabilities in India (2.13% of the total population)
- India is a signatory to the Proclamation on the Full Participation and Equality of People with Disabilities in the Asian and the Pacific Region.
- The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995
- Notes
- Provides for the Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities which has been mandated to take steps to safeguard the rights of the persons with disabilities
- Compliance with the recommendations in the law has been extremely uneven
- Because it says that the concerned organisations/governments/local bodies should adopt these measures within the “limits of their economic capacity and development”
Other initiatives by the govt
- Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India, 1972
- National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation
- Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992
- National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disability Act, 1999
- National Policy for Persons with Disabilities 2006
- Physical rehab
- Educational rehab
- Economic rehab
- New legislation for persons with Disabilities has been proposed
Some Local Level Initiatives for Inclusion
- Mayurbhanj District Administration (Orissa) launched an initiative called ‘Window of Hope’
- Re-engineering of complex government processes to suit the needs of the differently abled peoples