Disabilities Bill
The Government is trying to pass the Disabilities Bill in the winter session of Parliament.
In 1997, India became the 7th nation to ratify the UNCRPD (United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities). This shifts disability from a medical perspective to a human-rights approach.
This includes disability in seeing, hearing, movement and mental illness.
It is estimated that there are 600 million people world-wide with some form of disability. Of these, 100 million are in India.
As per census 2011, there are 5.5 million people in India who are disabled in movement.
The criteria for inclusion in the “disabled in movement” category are as follows:
Paralytic persons
Those who crawl
Those who are able to walk with the help of aid
Have acute and permanent problems of joints/muscles
Have stiffness or tightness in movement or have loose, involuntary movements or tremors of the body or have fragile bones
Have difficulty balancing and coordinating body movement
Have loss of sensation in body due to paralysis, Leprosy etc.
Have deformity of body like hunch back or are dwarf.