Learning, blood disorders to get disability status (India)

In a progressive leap for the disability movement in India, a draft bill prepared by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has widened its definition of disability to give legal recognition to include those living with blood disorders (haemophilia and thalassaemia), speech and language disability and specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia. The existing Persons with Disabilities (PWD) Act 1995 recognizes only the standard seven disabilities. The new draft, once passed, will entitle a thalassaemia patient, for instance, to legal rights and benefits similar to those living with blindness or locomotor disabilities.

The Draft Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill 2012 was unveiled by the ministry in September and the definitional change is in keeping with India's ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which seeks to recognize disability as an evolving concept that is not narrowly limited to standalone medical conditions.
"Once the act is passed, there will be a procedure for assessment and certification of these disabilities," said TD Dhariyal, deputy chief commissioner for persons with disabilities under the Union ministry.



Groups hail draft.
The Draft Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill 2012 offers the most comprehensive and inclusive legal definition of disability till date by also including categories from another legislation, the National Trust Act, which caters specifically to autism, celebral palsy and mental disabilities. It seeks to protect disabled persons against discrimination, provide affirmative action and penalize and punish offences committed against them.
Javed Abidi, founder of the Disability Rights Group, said the proposed changes were "very progressive". "It is in our interests that the bill becomes a law at the earliest," he said.
Many grey areas, however, remain.

For instance, the bill entitles those with a "benchmark disability" of 40% or more to reservation in jobs and higher educational institutions to ensure that government benefits don't go to those with minor disabilities at the cost of others. But it is yet to be ascertained as to how these benchmarks will be applied for new categories such as thalaessemia or learning disabilities.
"The 40% standard seems to be a hangover from the earlier versions of the Act which covered physical disabilities. How this would apply to thalaessemia, haemophilia or mental illness, for that matter, is inexplicable," said Rahul Cherian of Inclusive Planet Centre for Disability Law and Policy, Chennai. The formulation would have to be re-examined given the widened cover, he said.

India had 22 million people with disabilities according to the Census 2001 which roughly constituted 2% of its population, though the World Health Organization pegs the figure at 10%.

Times of India

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