People with Disabilities in India: From Commitment to Outcomes

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8.4. Second, the legislation fails to distinguish between the existing stock of public buildings, services and public infrastructure, and future construction and development. While retrofit adaptations may in some – though not all – cases be costly, the same is rarely true of either universal or accessible design which is allowed for at the design stage. For example, it has been estimated that making buildings accessible adds less than 1 percent to total construction costs in several OECD countries. 211 While similar exercises have not been carried out systematically for India, information for example from Delhi Metro indicates that accessibility features added during design added a similarly small fraction to total construction costs. 212 It would thus seem useful to make such a distinction in policy, more so as monitoring and enforcement with respect to new construction, public transport etc. places more reasonable demands on administration, and clearer obligations on service provision organizations. Such a suggestion was made in proposed amendments of Amendment Committee for the PWD Act in 1999, but has not been taken up. 213 8.5. Third, the provisions of the Act, and to some extent their subsequent interpretation and implementation, show a relative focus on access for people with disabilities in urban areas. This is to some extent understandable, but as a result lessens the focus on the types of access priorities of rural people with disabilities. These in many cases may be more fundamentally focused on access from the home to buildings or facilities than on access to facilities themselves. The latter clearly remains important, but does not become relevant if the person with a disability can not access the facility in the first place. The UP and TN survey results indicate that in a number of cases, physical accessibility of the end facility appears to be less of a problem in the village covered than the basic transport links that get the disabled person to the vicinity of the facility. Even in urban areas, work by DPOs with the railways has revealed that access stages well before railway carriages themselves often prevent use of public railways. 214 It may be useful in future policy development to focus for rural areas more closely on the “mobility/accessibility chain”, i.e. the key steps which a person with disability needs to take from home to the service or building, and what links in that chain prove the most binding. 215 Such an approach of course raises a much more challenging set of institutional coordination and resource issues, but would assist at least in focusing policymakers on the key constraints in the mobility chain for rural people with disabilities. 8.6. Fourth, the access provisions of the Act – like all those where the commitments are subject to economic capacity proviso – have no provisions or process outlined for either determining appropriate minimum standards of access at different level of development or for sanctions on authorities that fail to make any efforts to improve accessibility. This will increasingly need attention now that the new UN Convention on rights of persons with disabilities has entered into force, which requires states to “develop, promulgate and monitor implementation of minimum national standards and guidelines for the accessibility of public facilities and services” (see Box 8.1). 211 Schroeder et al. 1979, Ratzka 1984, Cholet and Steinfeld 1979, and Grinnel et. al. 1993. Some accessibility features need add no cost, e.g. wider doorways for wheelchair users may cost more for the door frame, but the need for less wall space constructed can offset that cost. 212 See Singh (2005). The paper also stresses that even net costs for accessibility should be viewed as investments in promoting greater participation for disabled people, which may pay for themselves in terms of improved employment rates, health facility usage etc. 213 See Committee Report, which proposes that all public transport “whether constructed or acquired” and all public conveniences to be built in future are accessible. 214 Samarthya (2005). 215 There is work for example on adapting mobility devices for rural populations, such as the joint project of the National Institute for Design in Ahmedabad and ICACBR from Canada. See Sharma (2006). -145-
Box 8.1: International and regional standards on promoting access for people with disabilities Accessibility for people with disabilities has been increasingly stressed in regional and international initiatives. A few of the key milestones in this respect are: • The 1993 UN Standard Rules, which commit states to recognize the importance of accessibility in promoting equality of opportunity for people with disabilities. • The UNESACP Biwako Millennium Framework for Action for 2002-2012 which committed states to an inclusive and barrier-free environment for people with disabilities, with specific reference to rural settings. • The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has the following provisions on accessibility: 1. “…State Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensures to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and rural areas. The measures, which shall include the identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility, shall apply to, inter alia: (a) Buildings, roads, transportation and other indoor and outdoor facilities, including schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces; (b) Information, communications and other services, including electronic services and emergency services. 2. State Parties shall also take appropriate measures: (a) To develop, promulgate and monitor the implementation of minimum standards and guidelines for accessibility of facilities open or provided to the public; (b) To ensure that private entities that offer facilities and services which are open or provided to the public take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities; (c) To provide training for stakeholders on accessibility issues facing persons with disabilities; (d) To provide in buildings and other facilities open to the public signage in Braille and in easy to read and understand forms; (e) To provide forms of live assistance and intermediaries, including guides, readers and professional sign language interpreters, to facilitate accessibility to buildings and other facilities open to the public; (f) To promote other appropriate forms of assistance and support to persons with disabilities to ensure their access to information; (g) To promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the Internet; (h) To promote the design, development, production and distribution of accessible information and communications technologies and systems at an earl stage, so that these technologies and systems become accessible at minimum cost. 8.7. Fifth, there is no obligation to consult people with disabilities themselves on both priorities in improving accessibility or on design aspects. This is a key process need in terms of prioritizing investments in accessibility. Experience such as that of the Delhi Metro indicates that such consultation need not tax administration too greatly, and that the -146-
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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
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of age and disability status. Multi
Page 123 and 124: 5.23. For males in the survey, a de
Page 125 and 126: equirement of specific post identif
Page 127 and 128: 5.34. Nonetheless, there has been u
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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
Page 159 and 160: awareness raising about disability
Page 161 and 162: more formal institutions in disabil
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 173: CHAPTER 8: ACCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH D
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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