People with Disabilities in India: From Commitment to Outcomes

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growing role of PRIs and use it as an opportunity to extend institutional reach to the village level, and more importantly to increase the local channels for accountability of public and other disability service providers. NGOs should also be brought more actively into both policy and implementation, but with strengthened financial accountability and monitoring of program outcomes. Finally, there needs to be more direct engagement between both public and NGO sectors with PWD themselves and their families, with SHGs being a logical vehicle. -143-
CHAPTER 8: ACCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES 209 8.1. Many of the rights provided for people with disabilities in India can not be realized without ensuring that the services to which they are entitled are accessible, and that barriers to access in their broader environment are reduced. Accessibility for people with disabilities can mean many things, ranging from physical access to services and the built environment, to access to appropriate services such as adapted curriculum and rehabilitation services, to access to civil and political participation, including voting and the justice system. The focus of this chapter is largely the more narrow one of physical accessibility for people with disabilities and standards and outcomes in India. The issues are touched on already in some of the sector chapters, in particular education. Overall, while India has standards on promoting access to the built environment and basic services, it faces major challenges in implementation due to a combination of institutional coordination challenges, poor enforcement mechanisms, and lack of awareness of the needs of people with disabilities. 8.2. (a) Public policy and access: The provisions on access for people with disabilities in the PWD Act are framed as contingent entitlements, i.e. obligations on the authorities are subject to the proviso “within the limits of their economic capacity and development”. As such, the authorities are encouraged to take various interventions to promote access, but the nature of the legal obligations is somewhat vague. 210 Indeed, there are no specific enforcement provisions or sanctions for failure of authorities to be proactive in undertaking their obligations under the Act. Nor is a mechanism spelt out for how authorities should move to implement the Act’s provision, e.g. amendment of bye-laws etc. As a result, people with disabilities have relied on a combination of general non-discrimination provisions of the Act and the specific provisions on access. The main provisions specifically related to access are: • “special measures” (not specified) to adapt rail, bus, aircraft and vessels for easy access by PWD, and adaptation of toilets, waiting rooms etc. • adaptation of traffic signals, pavements etc to permit use of built environment for PWD, including adaptation of traffic signals, adjustment in curbs, etc. • provision of ramps, braille and auditory signage etc to permit use of public buildings and health and rehabilitation institutions. • provision for research on modifications in offices and factories to promote access. 8.3. Several observations can be made on the Act’s provisions for promoting accessibility. First, the general approach is one of accessible design or adaptation of public facilities and to some extent the built environment, rather than universal design. Accessible design refers to buildings that are accessible by PWD, while universal design is buildings or products that are accessible by all, including PWD. The former tends to result in access channels for PWD which are separate, while the latter provides for design solutions that accommodate all people in the same manner. For example, an accessible building might have a separate ramp entrance, while a universal design building would not have steps at all. The draft national Policy for Persons with Disabilities recognizes the distinction, and commits rather ambitiously that “all future infrastructure development will ensure universal access.” 209 This chapter has benefited from a background paper by Singh (2005). 210 See Human Rights Law Network (2005), which describes the Act’s policy framework for access as “a half-baked policy rather than a definitive law”. -144-
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PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN INDIA:
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Abbreviations and Acronyms ADL ANM
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Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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Figure 5.3: Employment rates of PWD
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Box 5.4: A Jobs Fair Bringing Emplo
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NGOs, both quantitative and qualita
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Out of school rates for CWD are hig
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needs to respond more proactively t
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government strategies for promoting
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Safety Net Schemes 33. Safety nets
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40. In early 2006, a National Polic
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should move to implement the Act’
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54. Addressing current and future p
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disability SHGs, which has been sho
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have comparative advantage is putti
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extent of individual functioning du
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converting income into well-being o
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21. In light of the challenges that
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not be explained by this. The major
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Table 1.2: Disability Prevalence ra
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The share of disability impact due
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• It is also important to recall
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1.17. A second issue with obvious i
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Figure 1.9: Employment rates of PWD
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Box 1.2: Census questions on disabi
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Box 2.1: Disability in Indian mytho
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• overall, there is low acceptanc
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Table 2.2: Positive perceptions of
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different areas, as for example the
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governmental sectors drive home the
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Box 2.4: Raising awareness and chan
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• onset of mental disabilities is
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3.9. Locomotor disability is the ca
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B. Prevention of Disability 3.15. A
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3.20. The NBCP, like other vertical
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almost three times more likely to h
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PWDs. The scheme operates in 11 cen
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Figure 3.4: Proportion of disabled
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Table 3.11: Type of Service Accesse
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Urban 1.46 North 1.40 South 1.10 Ea
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Box 3.1: WHO’s “Ten Question Pl
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3.51. (f) Financial barriers to acc
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including for road accidents, and e
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A. Indian and International Policy
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4.9. A specific feature of SSA is a
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• significant gender differential
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Out of school rates for CWD are hig
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Only around 5 percent of children w
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4.30. (b) Financial performance of
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only factor contributing to both po
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The numbers of CWD identified by SS
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IE training options. The impacts of
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part of the authorities to increase
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well beyond the needs of CWD alone.
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performance in the schooling system
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DLROs has contributed to West Benga
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CHAPTER 5: EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONS WI
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atios, while others such as J&K, Bi
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Figure 5.8: Employment rates over t
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• the relative wages of PWD to no
Page 121 and 122: of age and disability status. Multi
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Page 131 and 132: exchanges are in any event servicin
Page 133 and 134: Source: NHFDC website reporting cum
Page 135 and 136: Box 5.5: Good practice in NGO skill
Page 137 and 138: D. Conclusions and recommendations
Page 139 and 140: is set. In the case of SGSY, the gu
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Page 143 and 144: Table 6.4: Coverage of disability s
Page 145 and 146: Table 6.6: Contributions and benefi
Page 147 and 148: 6.24. Easily the largest scheme for
Page 149 and 150: 6.35. While the design of the insur
Page 151 and 152: people. The transfer under NOAPS wa
Page 153 and 154: 7.4 (a) The Persons with Disabiliti
Page 155 and 156: 7.8 (ii) Sectoral policy issues in
Page 157 and 158: • in the area of education, the p
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Page 163 and 164: 7.28 There is little detailed analy
Page 165 and 166: Table 7.2: Institutions providing b
Page 167 and 168: systematically related to the numbe
Page 169 and 170: • collaboration between NGOs and
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Page 175 and 176: Box 8.1: International and regional
Page 177 and 178: The comparison of institutional arr
Page 179 and 180: laudable, there are concerns that m
Page 181 and 182: ANNEX 1: COMPARING THE INCOMPARABLE
Page 183 and 184: of prevalence estimates across the
Page 185 and 186: person will be treated as having
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People with Disabilities in India: From Commitment to Outcomes

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