PROJECT ISR

INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

RITESH RAMCHANDRA DHURI

ADMISSION NO. HPGD/JL14/3471
SOCIAL CAUSE: VARIOUS ACTIVITIES FOR DISABILITY
NAME OF THE NGO: ASMITA

PRIN. L. N. WELINGKAR INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

DEVELOPMENT & RESEARCH

DEC 2015

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DECLARATION
I, Ritesh Dhuri, student of Prin. L. N. Welingkar
institute of management development & research, with admission no.
HPGD/JL14/3471, hereby declare that I have completed this project on
ISR DESABILITY, NGO ASMITA, in the academic year 2015.
The information submitted is true and original to the best of my
knowledge.

Signature of the Student

Ritesh Dhuri

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INDEX
SR.N
O.

PARTICULARS

PAGE NO.

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1.

INTRODUCTION : -

1. The Constitution of India ensures equality, freedom, justice and dignity of all
individuals and implicitly mandates an inclusive society for all including persons with
disabilities. In the recent years, there have been vast and positive changes in the perception of the
society towards persons with disabilities. It has been realized that a majority of persons with
disabilities can lead a better quality of life if they have equal opportunities and effective access to
rehabilitation measures.
2. According to the Census 2001, there are 2.19 crore persons with disabilities in
India who constitute 2.13 percent of the total population. This includes persons with visual,
hearing, speech, locomotor and mental disabilities. Seventy five per cent of persons with
disabilities live in rural areas, 49 per cent of disabled population is literate and only 34 per cent
are employed. The earlier emphasis on medical rehabilitation has now been replaced by an
emphasis on social rehabilitation. There has been an increasing recognition of abilities of persons
with disabilities and emphasis on mainstreaming them in the society based on their capabilities.
The Government of India has enacted three legislations for persons with disabilities viz.
(i) Persons with Disability (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act,
1995, which provides for education, employment, creation of barrier free environment, social
security, etc.
(ii) National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Pa lsy, Mental Retardation and
Multiple Disability Act, 1999 has provisions for legal guardianship of the four categories and
creation of enabling environment for as much independent living as possible.
(iii) Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992 deals with the development of manpower for
providing rehabilitation services.
3. In addition to the legal framework, extensive infrastructure has been developed.
The following seven national Institutes are working for development of manpower in different
areas, namely:
* Institute for the Physically Handicapped, New Delhi.
* National Institute of Visually Handicapped, Dehradun
* National Institute for Orthopaedically Handicapped, Kolkata
* National Institute for Mentally Handicapped, Secunderabad.

* National Institute for Hearing Handicapped, Mumbai

* National Institute of Rehabilitation Training & Research, Cuttack.
* National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities, Chennai.

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4. There are five Composite Rehabilitation Centres, four Regional Rehabilitation
Centres and 120 District Disability Rehabilitation Centres (DDRCs) providing various kinds of
rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities. There are also several national institutions
under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare working in the field of rehabilitation, like
National Institute of Mental Mealth and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore; All India Institute of
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mumbai; All India Institute of Speech and Hearing,
Mysore; Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, etc. In addition, certain State Government
institutions also provide rehabilitation services. Besides, 250 private institutions conduct training
courses for rehabilitation professionals.
5. National Handicapped and Finance Development Corporation (NHFDC) has
been providing loans on concessional terms for undertaking self-employment ventures by the
persons with disabilities through State Channelizing Agencies.
6. Panchayati Raj Institutions at Village level, Intermediary level and District level
have been entrusted with the welfare of persons with disabilities.
7. India is a signatory to the Declaration on the Full Participation and Equality of
People with Disabilities in the Asia Pacific Region. India is also a signatory to the Biwako
Millennium Framework for action towards an inclusive, barrier free and rights based society.
India is currently participating in the negotiations on the UN Convention on Protection and
promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities.

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2.

What Is Social Responsibility?

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Winston
Churchill.

Being Socially Responsible means that people and organisations

must behave ethically and with sensitivity toward social, cultural,
economic and environmental issues. Striving for social
responsibility helps individuals, organisations and governments
have a positive impact on development, business and society with
a positive contribution to bottom-line results.
Individual Social Responsibility (ISR) to achieve Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSP)
ISP may appear to be a new concept in relation to CSP, but it is a concept as old as The
Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. ISR expands on
this by promoting a proactive stance
towards positively influencing and affecting the people and environments outside your
immediate circle. ISR is at the roots of CSR, because a corporate comprises of
individuals and hence determines the social responsibility culture it creates. This is the
intermingled relationship between CSR and ISR. Individuals are becoming more socially
responsible and, in response to this Corporations and Companies need to become more
socially responsible to meet consumer demand.
The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) states: In the wake of
increasing globalisation, we have become increasingly conscious not only of what we
buy, but also how the goods and services we buy have been produced. Environmentally
harmful production, child labor, dangerous working environments and other inhumane

conditions are examples of issues being brought into the open. All companies and
organisations aiming at long-term profitability and credibility are starting to realise that
they must act in accordance with norms of right and wrong. Socially responsible
individuals are demanding companies and organisations to become more socially
responsible.

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2.1 How Does an Individual Become Socially Responsible?

The Workshop for Civic Initiatives Foundation (WCIF), Bulgaria, describes ISR in its
position statement on Social Responsibility as,
The individual social responsibility includes the engagement of each person towards
the community where he lives, which can be expressed as an interest towards whats
happening in the community, as well as in the active participation in the solving of some
of the local problems. Under community we understand the village, the small town or
the residential complex in the big city, where lives every one of us. Each community
lives its own life that undergoes a process of development all the time. And everyone of
us could take part in that development in different ways, for example by taking part in
cleaning of the street on which he lives, by taking part in organization of an event,
connected with the history of the town or the village or by rendering social services to
children without parents or elderly people. The individual social responsibility also could
be expressed in making donations for significant for the society causes social, cultural
or ecological. There are many ways of donating, as for example donating of goods or
donating money through a bank account or online
Social Responsibility can be negative, in that it is a responsibility to refrain from acting
(resistance stance) or it can be positive, meaning there is a responsibility to act
(proactive stance). Being socially responsible not only requires participating in socially
responsible activities like recycling, volunteering and mentoring, but to actually make it
a lifestyle. Only through a commitment to embrace and embed social responsibility into
your personal value and belief system can you truly become socially responsible in all
you do.

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According to The Harris Poll #57 , June 18, 2007, when it comes to individual social
responsibility, there are
three types of people:
1.Two-thirds of adults have Good Intentions they believe that social responsibility is
a good idea, and theyo what they can in terms of volunteering, but they do not sacrifice
huge amounts of time or money.
2.At the top end of the spectrum, 8 percent of adults Practice What They Preach and
for this group, individual, as well as corporate, social responsibility is extremely
important.
3.One-quarter of adults, however, follow a philosophy of To Thine Own Self Be True
and, for this group, social responsibility has little consequence in their lives.
On the other hand the trends show that the biggest growth for big charitable
organisations in the world is coming through individuals and not through Corporations
and Governments.
To take a proactive stance, ISR can start off as a simple act of philanthropic
behaviour. My husband and I actually budget for giving, just like we do for living or car
expenses. Add to this the campaigner, volunteer and activist in you that picks-up and
supports issues affecting society. You may just start off volunteering once a month
somewhere that suits your skills, abilities or interests. The other day, I asked a friend if

he could teach my son guitar. We determined a tuition cost but instead of me paying
him, he asked me if I could pay the charity of his choice. If you have the choice of two
products and one product supports a good cause or was produced in a more ethical
way, then purchase that product. You may only be one person but if everyone did their
part, we could change the world!
All Social responsibility, both individual and corporate, is voluntary; it is about going
above and beyond what is called for by the law(legal responsibility). It involves an idea
that it is better to be proactive toward a problem rather than reactive to a problem.
Social responsibility means eliminating corrupt, irresponsible or unethical behavior that
might bring harm to the community, its people, or the environment before the behavior
happens.

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3.

What is Disability ?

Disability is the consequence of an impairment that may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory,
emotional, developmental, or some combination of these. A disability may be present from birth, or
occur during a person's lifetime.
Disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions.
An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered
by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced
by an individual in involvement in life situations. Thus, disability is a complex phenomenon, reflecting an
interaction between features of a persons body and features of the society in which he or she lives.
World Health Organization

Individuals may also qualify as disabled if they have had an impairment in the past or are seen as disabled
based on a personal or group standard or norm. Such impairments may include physical, sensory, and
cognitive or developmental disabilities. Mental disorders (also known as psychiatric or psychosocial
disability) and various types of chronic disease may also qualify as disabilities.
Some advocates object to describing certain conditions (notably deafness and autism) as "disabilities",
arguing that it is more appropriate to consider them developmental differences that have been unfairly
stigmatized by society. Others argue that disability is a result of exclusion from mainstream society and
not because of impairment..

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3.1

Types of Disability :-

The term "disability" broadly describes an impairment in a person's ability to function, caused by changes
in various subsystems of the body, or to mental health. The degree of disability may range from mild to
moderate, severe, or profound. A person may also have multiple disabilities. Disability can be measured
objectively (observed) or subjectively (self-report).
Conditions causing disability are classified by the medical community as:
1. Inherited (genetically transmitted);
2. Congenital, meaning caused by a mother's infection or other disease during pregnancy, embryonic or
fetal developmental irregularities, or by injury during or soon after birth;
3. Acquired, such as conditions caused by illness or injury;
4. of unknown origin.
Types of disability may also be categorized in the following way:

Physical disability
Any impairment which limits the physical function of limbs, fine bones, or gross motor ability is a
physical impairment, not necessarily a physical disability. The social model of disability defines physical
disability as manifest when an impairment meets a non-universal design or program, e.g. a person who
cannot climb stairs may have a physical impairment of the knees when putting stress on them from an
elevated position such as with climbing or descending stairs. If an elevator were provided, or a building
had services on the first floor, this impairment would not become a disability. Other physical disabilities
include impairments which limit other activities of daily living, such as severesleep disorders.

Sensory disability
Sensory disability is impairment of one of the senses. The term is used primarily to refer to vision and
hearing impairment, but other senses can be impaired.
Vision impairment
Vision impairment (or "visual impairment") is vision loss of a person to such a degree as to qualify as an
additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease,
trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as
refractive correction, medication, or surgery. This functional loss of vision is typically defined to manifest
with
1.best corrected visual acuity of less than 20/60, or significant central field defect,
2.significant peripheral field defect including homonymous or heteronymous bilateral visual, field defect
or generalized contraction or constriction of field, or
3.reduced peak contrast sensitivity with either of the above conditions.
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Hearing impairment
Hearing impairment or hard of hearing or deafness refers to conditions in which individuals are fully or
partially unable to detect or perceive at least some frequencies of sound which can typically be heard by
most people. Mild hearing loss may sometimes not be considered a disability.
Olfactory and gustatory impairment
Impairment of the sense of smell and taste are commonly associated with aging but can also occur in
younger people due to a wide variety of causes.
There are various olfactory disorders:
Anosmia inability to smell
Dysosmia things do not smell as they "should"
Hyperosmia an abnormally acute sense of smell
Hyposmia decreased ability to smell

Olfactory Reference Syndrome psychological disorder which causes patients to imagine they have
strong body odor
Parosmia things smell worse than they should
Phantosmia "hallucinated smell", often unpleasant in nature
Complete loss of the sense of taste is known as ageusia, while dysgeusia is persistent abnormal sense of
taste,
Somatosensory impairment
Insensitivity to stimuli such as touch, heat, cold, and pain are often an adjunct to a more general physical
impairment involving neural pathways and is very commonly associated with paralysis (in which the
motor neural circuits are also affected).
Balance disorder
A balance disorder is a disturbance that causes an individual to feel unsteady, for example when standing
or walking. It may be accompanied by symptoms of being giddy, woozy, or have a sensation of
movement, spinning, or floating. Balance is the result of several body systems working together. The eyes
(visual system), ears (vestibular system) and the body's sense of where it is in space (proprioception) need
to be intact. The brain, which compiles this information, needs to be functioning effectively.
Intellectual disabilityIntellectual disability is a broad concept that ranges from mental retardation to
cognitive deficits too mild or too specific to qualify as mental retardation. Intellectual disabilities may
appear at any age. Mental retardation is a subtype of intellectual disability, and the term intellectual
disability is now preferred by many advocates in most English-speaking countries.
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Mental health and emotional disabilities

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with
subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and perceived by the majority of society as
being outside of normal development or cultural expectations. The recognition and understanding of
mental health conditions has changed over time and across cultures, and there are still variations in the
definition, assessment, and classification of mental disorders, although standard guideline criteria are
widely accepted.

Pervasive developmental disorders

The diagnostic category of pervasive developmental disorders refers to a group of five developmental
disabilities characterized by differences in the development of multiple basic functions including

socialization and communication. The DSM-IV-TR listed the pervasive developmental disorders as
autistic disorder, Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome,childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive
developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). The DSM-5 does not describe individual
diagnosis of any of the pervasive developmental disorders, replacing all of them with a unified diagnosis
of autism spectrum disorder. The ICD-10 also includes the diagnosis of overactive disorder associated
with mental retardation and stereotyped movements.

Developmental disability
Developmental disability is any disability that results in problems with growth and development.
Although the term is often used as a synonym or euphemism for intellectual disability, the term also
encompasses many congenital medical conditions that have no mental or intellectual components, for
example spina bifida.

Nonvisible disabilities
Several chronic disorders, such as diabetes, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, epilepsy, narcolepsy,
fibromyalgia, and some sleep disorders may be counted as nonvisible disabilities, as opposed to
disabilities which are clearly visible, such as those requiring the use of a wheelchair.

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3.2

Sociology of Disability :-

Terminology
Different terms have been used for people with disabilities in different times and places.
The euphemism treadmill and changing fashions have caused terms to rise or fall in
popularity.
At this time, disability or impairment are commonly used, as are more specific terms,
such as blind (to describe having no vision at all) orvisually impaired (to describe having
limited vision).
Handicap has been disparaged as a result of alse folk etymology that says it is a
reference to begging. It is actually derived from an old game, Hand-i'-cap, in which two
players trade possessions and a third, neutral person judges the difference of value
between the possessions. The concept of a neutral person evening up the odds was
extended to handicap racing in the mid-18th century. In handicap racing, horses carry
different weights based on the umpire's estimation of what would make them run
equally. The use of the term to describe a person with a disabilityby extension from
handicap racing, a person carrying a heavier burden than normalappeared in the early
20th century.
Handicap replaced terms that are now considered insulting, such as crippled.

People-first language
Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of
handicapped. "Cerebral Palsy: A Guide for Care" at the University of Delaware offers the
following guidelines:
Impairment is the correct term to use to define a deviation from normal, such as not
being able to make a muscle move or not being able to control an unwanted movement.
Disability is the term used to define a restriction in the ability to perform a normal
activity of daily living which someone of the same age is able to perform. For example, a
three-year-old child who is not able to walk has a disability because a normal three-yearold can walk independently. Handicap is the term used to describe a child or adult who,
because of the disability, is unable to achieve the normal role in society commensurate
with his age and socio-cultural milieu. As an example, a sixteen-year-old who is unable
to prepare his own meal or care for his own toileting or hygiene needs is handicapped.
On the other hand, a sixteen-year-old who can walk only with the assistance of crutches
but who attends a regular school and is fully independent in activities of daily living is
disabled but not handicapped. All disabled people are impaired, and all handicapped
people are disabled, but a person can be impaired and not necessarily be disabled, and
a person can be disabled without being handicapped.
The American Psychological Association style guide states that, when identifying a
person with an impairment, the person's name or pronoun should come first, and

descriptions of the impairment/disability should be used so that the impairment is

identified, but is not modifying the person. Improper examples are "a borderline", "an
obsessive-compulsiveman," or "a mentally ill person"; more acceptable terminology
includes "a woman with Down syndrome" or "a man who has
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schizophrenia". It also states that a person's adaptive equipment should be described
functionally as something that assists a person, not as something that limits a person,
for example, "a woman who uses a wheelchair" rather than "a woman in/confined to a
wheelchair."
A similar kind of "people-first" terminology is also used in the UK, but more often in the
form "people with impairments" (such as "people with visual impairments"). However, in
the UK, the term "disabled people" is generally preferred to "people with disabilities". It
is argued under the social model that while someone's impairment (for example, having
a spinal cord injury) is an individual property, "disability" is something created by
external societal factors such as a lack of wheelchair access to the workplace. This
distinction between the individual property of impairment and the social property of
disability is central to the social model. The term "disabled people" as a political
construction is also widely used by international organisations of disabled people, such
as Disabled Peoples' International (DPI).
The use of people-first terminology has given rise to the use of the acronym PWD to
refer to person(s) (or people) with disabilities (or disability). The acronym is frequently
used by people with disabilities and advocacy organizations.

Masculinity
According to author Daniel J. Wilson, the characteristics of masculinity include strength,
activeness, speed, endurance, and courage. These characteristics are often challenged
when faced with a disability and the boy or man must reshape what it means to be
masculine. For example, rather than define "being a man" through what one can
physically do, one must re-define it by how one faces the world with a disability and all
the obstacles and stereotypes that come with the disability.
In Leonard Kriegel's book, Flying Solo, he describes his fight with poliomyelitis and the
process of accepting his disability in a world that values able-bodiedness. He writes, "I
had to learn to be my own hero, my own role model which is another way of saying
that I had to learn to live with neither heroes nor role models".

Femininity
Some note that women who are disabled face what is called a "double disability",
meaning they must not only deal with the stereotypes and challenges posed by
emininity, but they must also deal with those posed by being disabled. Culture also
tends to view women as fragile and weaker than men, stereotypes which are only
heightened when a woman has a disability.
According to the "Survey of Income and Program Participation", as described in the 2005
book Gendering Disability, 74 percent of women participants and 90 percent of men
participants without disabilities were employed. In comparison, of those with a form of
disability, 41 percent of women and 51 percent of men were employed. Furthermore,

the nondisabled women participants were paid approximately four US dollars less per
hour than the nondisabled men participants. With a disability, women were paid
approximately $1.00 less than the nondisabled women participants and the men were
paid approximately $2.00 less than the nondisabled men participants. As these results
suggest, women without disabilities face societal hardships as compared to men;
disability added to the equation increases the hardships.

Disability and poverty

There is a global correlation between disability and poverty, produced by a variety of
factors. Disability and poverty may form a vicious circle, in which physical barriers make
it more difficult to get income, which in turn diminishes access to health care and other
necessities for a healthy life.
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The World report on disability indicates that half of all disabled people cannot afford
health care, compared to a third of non-disabled people. In countries without public
services for adults with disabilities, their families may be impoverished.

Disability and disasters

There is limited research knowledge, but many anecdotal reports, on what happens
when disasters impact people with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities are greatly
affected by disasters. Those with physical disabilities can be at risk when evacuating if
assistance is not available. Individuals with cognitive impairments may struggle with
understanding instructions that must be followed in the event a disaster occurs. Those
who are blind, hearing impaired, etc. may have difficulty communicating during the
emergency. All of these factors can increase the degree of variation of risk in disaster
situations with disabled individuals.
Research studies have consistently found discrimination against individuals with
disabilities during all phases of the disaster cycle. The most common limitation is that
people cannot physically access buildings or transportation, as well as access disasterrelated services. The exclusion of these individuals is caused in part by the lack of
disability-related training provided to emergency planners and disaster relief personnel.

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3.3 SOCIAL IMPACTS OF DISABILITY

According to the Disability Funders Network, more than 20 million out of the United States' 69.6
million families have at least one family member who has a disability. The impacts of disability
include economic, political, psychological and social factors. Specifically, social impacts are
those consequences of disability that are experienced at the individual, family and community
level. These include poverty, issues of access as well as social exclusion. These social impacts
further affect how individuals and communities cope with disability.

Family
Families living and caring for a person with disability experience both

positive and negative impacts. Disability can bring about a sense of cohesion
and closeness within the family and community as awareness on how to

cope with disability increases. But disability can also be a source of family
strain between spouses and also between parents and children. According to
the Medscape website, families with special-needs children are predisposed
to divorce and tension because of the psychological and emotional strains
that disability can bring about.

Risk of Poverty
According to a study by Tania Burchardt of the London School of Economics,

disability increases the risk of a person's slide into poverty. Results from this
research indicate that 14 percent of those studied and had a disability slid
into poverty. Families or individuals with disability slid into poverty twice as
fast as those that had not experienced a disability. Poverty as a social impact
of disability is mainly due to a loss of paid employment. Even though there
are provisions against discrimination such as the Americans with Disabilities
Act, many disabled people still have difficulty gaining meaningful
employment.

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Social Exclusion
Social exclusion as a result of disability means a lack of belonging in a given

social context. A person with disability may face limitations in interacting

with colleagues at work, fellow students and also family members. This may
be as a result of his pushing these people away or from the stereotypes and
societal attitudes toward disability. The impact of exclusion is that a person
with disability may lack social support and social skills, such as
communication, to cope with the disability.

Access
Society still holds biased stereotypes toward people with disability. The

social mode of disability indicates that the problem is with society's attitude
toward disability and not with the person with disability. There are increased
efforts to ensure that people with disability can easily access education,
employment and social amenities. But the impact of this is that it has
resulted in the provision of segregated services for those with disability and
those without disability. According to the social model of disability, this
segregation of services and limitation to access is not helpful for people with
disability. It is also not helpful in eradicating stereotypes and discrimination.

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3.4

ECONOMICAL IMPACT ON DISABILITY : -

Economy and Disability

The linkages between disability and poverty have been increasingly recognized in international
development literature (Yeo, 2005). Poor people are much more likely to live in unhealthy
conditions without access to clean water or adequate nutrition. In times of illness, poor people
are less likely to be able to afford treatment, often leading to chronic conditions or lifelong
impairments. Conversely, impairment can lead to poverty and social exclusion by fostering

financial dependency on handouts, the state and the extended family. Thus, disabled people are
more likely to be poor than their non-disabled counterparts, and people living in poverty are
more likely to become disabled than the non-poor. The relationship between poverty and
disability has been referred to as a vicious circle (Elwan, 1999; Yeo, 2005).
However, just as disability is not simply a matter of bodily variations but is caused by social
exclusion, poverty too is not merely a matter of inadequate incomes. According to the Poverty
Assessment Study Report (1995) (cited in Dube and Charowa, 2005, p. 9), poverty is a symptom
of structural inequities, social exclusion, powerlessness, and economic, political and sociocultural deprivation. Poverty results from having limited or no access to basic services and is
exacerbated by inadequate access to land, credit, technology and resources for sustainable
livelihoods. Thus, poverty is an inevitable consequence of the way socio-economic systems are
organized. However, hitherto most anti-poverty work has viewed poverty as a lack of individual
or household incomes. As Sen (2007) emphasizes, a limited conception of poverty as lowness of
personal income overlooks socio-political and economic processes that perpetuate poverty. Any
efforts to eliminate poverty would, therefore, be unsuccessful if structural processes and socioeconomic inequities are unaddressed. Sen cites the example of Europe where poverty was
reduced by state provision of public health care, educational facilities, shared legal protections
and other such common resources.
Yet, in the last two decades, under pressure from international financial institutions (IFIs) such as
the World Bank and IMF, many countries in the global South have introduced economic reforms
characterized by opening domestic markets to global competition, increasing transnational
capital flows, and weakening the role of governments. These economic policies aimed at
accelerated global economic integration ('globalization') (Razavi, 2008) believe in the ideology
of neo-liberalism that maintains state intervention is an obstacle to economic growth because it
creates inefficiency and market distortions. Therefore, government expenditures should be
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reduced, allowing provision of services through the private sector that is more efficient due to
profit incentives (Gershman & Irwin, 2000). These principles have lead to privatization of health
and social services, education, transport and, increasingly, water and food provision in many
parts of the world. Neo-liberalism that underpins the current era of globalization has major
implications for disabled persons; however, disability definitions and discourse have paid
insufficient attention to this phenomenon. Given the virtual absence of literature on the impact of
economic globalization for persons with disabilities in India, the next section explores this topic
in greater detail.

Economic Globalization, Privatization and Disability: A View from India

A mounting burden of debt and balance of payments crisis led India to adopt economic reforms
on the lines of IMF-World Bank structural adjustment programs. These reforms, known as the
New Economic Policy (NEP), were introduced in July 1991. The NEP included standard
measures including the devaluation of the rupee (India's currency); privatization of governmentowned entities; reduction in public expenditure; cutbacks to food, agricultural and fertilizer
subsidies; increase in imports and foreign investment in capital-intensive and high-tech
industries; liberalization of trade regulations; and structural changes in the economy aimed at
export-led growth (Upadhyay, 2000).
The NEP has resulted in far-reaching effects on the economy and society. While reforms have led
to record economic growth, they have also led to unprecedented economic inequalities,
environmental degradation, rise in food prices, and unrest in several states that has further hurt
historically disadvantaged groups (Bidwai, 1995, 2000; Kumar, 2008). Bidwai (2000) observes
as reform policies pry open India's markets to attract multinational telecommunications,
information technology and automobile corporations, there is little dispute that economic
globalization has benefited India's 40 million middle-class and elite; however, these policies have
been ruthless to its 500- million-plus miserably poor.
Amidst these diverse forces impacting the lives of ordinary people in the country, the situation of
people with disabilities is particularly concerning given that their exclusion from government
census and surveys translates into denial of their citizenship rights and entitlements to existing
state programs for the poor and disabled. In this section, we assess reform-induced changes in
the arenas of social programs, education, employment, accessibility, health, water, agriculture
and food security, and land acquisition from a disability perspective.

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3.5 Disabilities - Impact Of Disabilities On

Families
Disability places a set of extra demands or challenges on the family system; most of these
demands last for a long time. Many of these challenges cut across disability type, age of the
person with the disability, and type of family in which the person lives. There is the financial
burden associated with getting health, education, and social services; buying or renting
equipment and devices; making accommodations to the home; transportation; and medications
and special food. For many of these financial items, the person or family may be eligible for

payment or reimbursement from an insurance company and/or a publicly funded program such
as Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income. However, knowing what services and programs
one is eligible for and then working with a bureaucracy to certify that eligibility (often
repeatedly) is another major challenge faced by families. Coordination of services among
different providers (such as a physician, physical therapist, occupational therapist, dietician,
social worker, teacher, and counselor) who often are not aware of what the other is doing and
may provide discrepant information is another challenge faced by families. While care
coordination or case management is often the stated goal of service programs, there are many
flaws in implementation. Families experience the burden of this lack of coordination.
The day-to-day strain of providing care and assistance leads to exhaustion and fatigue, taxing the
physical and emotional energy of family members. There are a whole set of issues that create
emotional strain, including worry, guilt, anxiety, anger, and uncertainty about the cause of the
disability, about the future, about the needs of other family members, about whether one is
providing enough assistance, and so on. Grieving over the loss of function of the person with the
disability is experienced at the time of onset, and often repeatedly at other stages in the person's
life.
Family life is changed, often in major ways. Care-taking responsibilities may lead to changed or
abandoned career plans. Female family members are more likely to take on caregiving roles and
thus give up or change their work roles. This is also influenced by the fact that males are able to
earn more money for work in society. When the added financial burden of disability is
considered, this is the most efficient way for families to divide role responsibilities.
New alliances and loyalties between family members sometimes emerge, with some members
feeling excluded and others being overly drawn in. For example, the primary caregiver may
become overly involved with the person with disability. This has been noted particularly with
regard to mothers of children with disabilities. In these families, fathers often are underinvolved
with the child and instead immerse themselves in work or leisure activities. This pattern usually
is associated with more marital conflict. It is important to note, however, that there does not
appear to be a greater incidence of divorce among families who have a child with a disability,
although there may exist more marital tension (Hirst 1991; Sabbeth and Leventhal 1984).
The disability can consume a disproportionate share of a family's resources of time, energy, and
money, so that other individual and family needs go unmet. Families often talk about living "one
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day at a time." The family's lifestyle and leisure activities are altered. A family's dreams and
plans for the future may be given up. Social roles are disrupted because often there is not enough
time, money, or energy to devote to them.
Friends, neighbors, and people in the community may react negatively to the disability by
avoidance, disparaging remarks or looks, or overt efforts to exclude people with disabilities and
their families. Despite the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, many
communities still lack programs, facilities, and resources that allow for the full inclusion of

persons with disabilities. Families often report that the person with the disability is not a major
burden for them. The burden comes from dealing with people in the community whose attitudes
and behaviors are judgmental, stigmatizing, and rejecting of the disabled individual and his or
her family. Family members report that these negative attitudes and behaviors often are
characteristic of their friends, relatives, and service providers as well as strangers.
Overall, stress from these added demands of disability in family life can negatively affect the
health and functioning of family members. Numerous studies report that there is all increased
risk of psychological and behavioral symptoms in the family members of persons with
disabilities (Cadman et al. 1987; Singer and Powers 1993; Vance, Fazan, and Satterwhite 1980).
However, even though disability increases the risk for these problems, most adults and children
who have a member with a disability do not show psychological or behavioral problems. They
have found ways to cope with this added stress in their lives. Increasingly, the literature on
families and disabilities emphasizes this adaptive capacity of families. It has been called family
resilience (Patterson 1991b; Singer and Powers 1993; Turnbull et al. 1993). Many families
actually report that the presence of disability has strengthened them as a familythey become
closer, more accepting of others, have deeper faith, discover new friends, develop greater respect
for life, improve their sense of mastery, and so on.
While there are many commonalities regarding the impact of disabilities on families, other
factors lead to variability in the impact of disability on the family. Included in these factors are
the type of disability, which member of the family gets the disability, and the age of onset of the
disability.
Disabilities vary along several dimensions, including the degree and type of incapacitation
(sensory, motor, or cognitive); the degree of visibility of the disability; whether the course of the
condition is constant, relapsing, or progressive; the prognosis or life expectancy of the person;
the amount of pain or other symptoms experienced; and the amount of care or treatment required.
John Rolland (1994) has outlined a typology of chronic conditions based on some of these
factors and has described the psychosocial impact on families based on these factors. His
argument, and that of several others (Perrin et al. 1993; Stein et al. 1993), is that the variability in
the psychosocial impact of chronic conditions is related more to characteristics of the condition
than to the diagnosis per se.
Consider the course of the condition. When it is progressive (such as degenerative arthritis or
dementia), the symptomatic person may become increasingly less functional. The family is faced
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with increasing caretaking demands, uncertainty about the degree of dependency and what living
arrangement is best, as well as grieving continuous loss. These families need to readjust
continuously to the increasing strain and must be willing to find and utilize outside resources. If
a condition has a relapsing course (such as epilepsy or cancer in remission), the ongoing care
may be less, but a family needs to be able to reorganize itself quickly and mobilize resources
when the condition flares up. They must be able to move from normalcy to crisis alert rapidly.
An accumulation of these dramatic transitions can exhaust a family. Disabilities with a constant

course (such as a spinal cord injury) require major reorganization of the family at the outset and
then perseverance and stamina for a long time. While these families can plan, knowing what is
ahead, limited community resources to help them may lead to exhaustion.
Disabilities where mental ability is limited seem to be more difficult for families to cope with
(Breslau 1993; Cole and Reiss 1993; Holroyd and Guthrie 1986). This may be due to greater
dependency requiring more vigilance by family members, or because it limits the person's ability
to take on responsible roles, and perhaps limits the possibilities for independent living. If the
mental impairment is severe, it may create an extra kind of strain for families because the person
is physically present in the family but mentally absent. This kind of incongruence between
physical presence and psychological presence has been called boundary ambiguity (Boss 1993).
Boundary ambiguity means that it is not entirely clear to family members whether the person
(with the disability in this case) is part of the family or not because the person is there in some
ways but not in others. Generally, families experience more distress when situations are
ambiguous or unclear because they do not know what to expect and may have a harder time
planning the roles of other family members to accommodate this uncertainty.
In addition to cognitive impairment, other characteristics of disabilities can create ambiguity and
uncertainty for families. For example, an uncertain life expectancy makes it difficult to plan
future life roles, to anticipate costs of care, or to make decisions about the best living
arrangements for adults requiring assistance in the activities of daily living. For example, from
1970 to 1991, survival for children with cystic fibrosis increased 700 percent, to a life
expectancy of twenty-six years in the United States (Fitzsimmons 1991). These young adults
now face difficult family decisions, such as whether to marry and whether to have children. In
more extreme cases related to severe medical conditions, persons may have their lives extended
by using advances in biomedical science and technology. When this happens, families can be
faced with very difficult decisions about what techniques and equipment should be used, for how
long, with what expected gains, at what cost, and so on. Society is facing new issues in
biomedical ethics, but there is no social consensus about how aggressively to intervene and
under what circumstances. Family members who bear the emotional burden of these decisions do
not always agree on a course of action and, furthermore, may be blocked by hospitals and courts
from carrying out a particular course of action. While these kinds of cases may not yet be
widespread, they have sparked intense debate and raised the consciousness of many families
about issues they may face.
In addition to type of impairment, there is variability in the severity of impairment. The degree to
which a person with disability is limited in doing activities or functions of daily living
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(e.g., walking, feeding oneself, and toileting) can be assessed and is called functional status. The
lower the person's functional status, the more assistance he or she will need from other people
and/or from equipment and devices. Family members are a primary source of this needed
assistance (Biegel, Sales, and Schulz 1991; Stone and Kemper 1989). Providing this assistance
can create a burden for family caregivers, which may result in physical or psychological
symptoms of poor health. For example, parents, especially mothers, experience more depression

when their children with disabilities have lower functional status (Patterson, Leonard, and Titus
1992; Singer et al. 1993). For elderly caregivers, physical strain may be a limiting factor in how
much and for how long assistance can be provided for the disabled individual (Blackburn 1988).
The age of the person when the disability emerges is associated with different impacts on the
family and on the family's life course, as well as on the course of development for the person
with disability (Eisenberg, Sutkin, and Jansen 1984). When conditions emerge in late adulthood,
in some ways this is normative and more expectable. Psychologically it is usually less disruptive
to the family. When disability occurs earlier in a person's life, this is out of phase with what is
considered normative, and the impact on the course of development for the person and the family
is greater. More adjustments have to be made and for longer periods of time.
When the condition is present from birth, the child's life and identity are shaped around the
disability. In some ways it may be easier for a child and his or her family to adjust to never
having certain functional abilities than to a sudden loss of abilities later. For example, a child
with spina bifida from birth will adapt differently than a child who suddenly becomes a
paraplegic in adolescence due to an injury.
The age of the parents when a child's disability is diagnosed is also an important consideration in
how the family responds. For example, teenage parents are at greater risk for experiencing poor
adaptation because their own developmental needs are still prominent, and they are less likely to
have the maturity and resources to cope with the added demands of the child. For older parents
there is greater risk of having a child with certain disabilities, such as Down syndrome. Older
parents may lack the stamina for the extra burden of care required, and they may fear their own
mortality and be concerned about who will care for their child when they die.
The course of the child's physical, psychological, and social development will forever be altered
by the chronic condition. Since development proceeds sequentially, and since relative success at
mastering the tasks of one stage is a prerequisite for facing the challenges of the next stage, one
could anticipate that the earlier the onset, the greater the adverse impact on development
(Eisenberg, Sutkin, and Jansen 1984).
There are many ways in which the accomplishment of development tasks is complicated for
persons with disabilities. This, in turn, has an effect on their families as well as on which family
roles can be assumed by the person with disability (Perrin and Gerrity 1984). For example, in
infancy, disability may frighten parents, or the infant may be unresponsive to their nurturing
efforts such that attachment and bonding necessary for the development of trust are
compromised. The parent may feel inadequate as a caregiver, and parenting competence is
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undermined. For a toddler, active exploration of the social environment, needed to develop a
sense of autonomy and self-control, may be restricted because of the child's motor, sensory, or
cognitive deficits. Parents, fearing injury or more damage to their young child, may restrict their
child's efforts to explore and learn, or they may overindulge the child out of sympathy or guilt. If
other people react negatively to the child's disability, parents may try to compensate by being

overly protective or overly solicitous. These parent behaviors further compromise the child's
development of autonomy and self-control.
As children with disabilities move into school environments where they interact with teachers
and peers, they may experience difficulties mastering tasks and developing social skills and
competencies. Although schools are mandated to provide special education programs for children
in the least restrictive environment and to maximize integration, there is still considerable
variability in how effectively schools do this. Barriers include inadequate financing for special
education; inadequately trained school personnel; and, very often, attitudinal barriers of other
children and staff that compromise full inclusion for students with disabilities. Parents of
children with disabilities may experience a whole set of added challenges in assuring their
children's educational rights. In some instances, conflict with schools and other service providers
can become a major source of strain for families (Walker and Singer 1993). In other cases,
school programs are a major resource for families.
Developmental tasks of adolescence developing an identity and developing greater autonomy
are particularly difficult when the adolescent has a disability. Part of this process for most
adolescents generally involves some risk-taking behaviors, such as smoking and drinking.
Adolescents with disabilities take risks too, sometimes defying treatment and procedures related
to their condition, such as skipping medications or changing a prescribed diet. Issues related to
sexuality may be particularly difficult because the person with disability has fears about his or
her desirability to a partner, sexual performance, and worries about ever getting married or
having children (Coupey and Cohen 1984). There is some evidence that girls may be at greater
risk for pregnancy because of their desire to disavow their disability and prove their normalcy
(Holmes 1986). Teens with mental impairment may be subjected to sexual exploitation by others.
When disability has its onset in young adulthood, the person's personal, family, and vocational
plans for the future may be altered significantly. If the young adult has a partner where there is a
long-term commitment, this relationship may be in jeopardy, particularly if the ability to enact
adult roles as a sexual partner, parent, financial provider, or leisure partner are affected (Ireys and
Burr 1984). When a couple has just begun to plan a future based on the assumption that both
partners would be fully functional, they may find the adjustment to the disability too great to
handle. The development of a relationship with a significant other after the disability is already
present is more likely to lead to positive adjustment. Young adulthood is that critical transition
from one's family of origin to creating a new family unit with a partner and possibly children.
When disability occurs at this stage, the young adult's parents may become the primary
caregivers, encouraging or bringing the young person home again. The risk is that the
developmental course for the young adult and his or her parents may never get back on track.
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This is influenced in part by the extent to which there are independent living options for persons
with disabilities to make use of in the community.
When the onset of disability occurs to adults in their middle years, it is often associated with
major disruption to career and family roles. Those roles are affected for the person with the

disability as well as for other family members who have come to depend on him or her to fulfill
those roles. Some kind of family reorganization of roles, rules, and routines is usually required. If
the person has been employed, he or she may have to give up work and career entirely or perhaps
make dramatic changes in amount and type of work. The family may face a major loss of income
as well as a loss in health and other employee benefits. If the person is a parent, childrearing
responsibilities may be altered significantly. The adult may have to switch from being the
nurturer to being the nurtured. This may leave a major void in the family for someone to fill the
nurturing role. If the person is a spouse, the dynamics of this relationship will change as one
person is unable to perform as independently as before. The partner with the disability may be
treated like another child. The sexual relationship may change, plans for having more children
may be abandoned, lifestyle and leisure may be altered. Some spouses feel that their marital
contract has been violated, and they are unwilling to make the necessary adjustments. Children
of a middle-aged adult with a disability also experience role shifts. Their own dependency and
nurturing needs may be neglected. They may be expected to take on some adult roles, such as
caring for younger children, doing household chores, or maybe even providing some income.
How well the family's efforts at reorganization work depends ultimately on the family's ability to
accommodate age-appropriate developmental needs. In families where there is more flexibility
among the adults in assuming the different family roles, adjustment is likely to be better.
The onset of disability in old age is more expectable as bodily functions deteriorate. This decline
in physical function is often associated with more depression. An older person may live for many
years needing assistance in daily living, and the choices of where to get that assistance are not
always easily made. Spouses may be unable to meet the extra caretaking needs indefinitely as
their own health and stamina decline (Blackburn 1988). Adult children are often in a position of
deciding where their elderly parent or parents should live when they can no longer care for
themselves. Having their parents move in with them or having them move to a nursing home or
seniors' residence are the most common options. However, each of these choices carries with it
emotional, financial, and social costs to the elderly person as well as to his or her adult children.
This responsibility for elderly parents is not always shared among adult children. Adult daughters
are more likely than adult sons to be involved in providing direct care for their elderly parents
(Brody 1985). The many decisions and responsibilities can be sources of tension, conflict, and
resentment among extended family members. This period of disability in old age can go on for a
very long time, given the medical capability to sustain life. While the practice is still not
widespread, more elderly people are preparing a living will, which is a legal document
preventing extraordinary means from being used to prolong their lives.

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4.Challenges Faced by People

with Disabilities
Disability is a socially constructed problem.
It is the way that our physical environment is organised, for example, [that] makes all sorts of
difficulties for people who use a wheelchair or who have hearing impairment.
The sorts of challenges which persist for people with disabilities, their Carers and families are
those that make the navigating day-to-day life difficult. Like access to services, buildings,
technology, education and training, telecommunications and any other ordinary everyday
activities or issues that most able persons would take for granted. Other issues which are faced
include limited access to services, lack of service options, issues of funding and resourcing, and
jurisdictional challenges between state and federal government servicing and responsibility.
In Australia, groups such as national ethnic disability Alliance (NEDA), Women with Disabilities
Australia (WWDA) and the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO), and
others have played an integral role in empowering people with disabilities by: ensuring that
government policy and disability service design is responsive to the needs of persons with
disability and their families; by highlighting human rights issues; and by seeking to redefine
social inclusion to embrace broader cultural and social contexts.

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FEW MAJOR CHALLENGES FACE BY DISABILTY PEOPELS :-

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5.National Policy for Persons with Disabilities

Introduction
The Constitution of India ensures equality, freedom, justice and dignity of all individuals and
implicitly mandates an inclusive society for all including persons with disabilities. In the recent
years, there have been vast and positive changes in the perception of the society towards persons
with disabilities. It has been realized that a majority of persons with disabilities can lead a better
quality of life if they have equal opportunities and effective access to rehabilitation measures.
2. According to the Census 2001, there are 2.19 crore persons with disabilities in India who
constitute 2.13 percent of the total population. This includes persons with visual, hearing, speech,
locomotor and mental disabilities. Seventy five per cent of persons with disabilities live in rural
areas, 49 per cent of disabled population is literate and only 34 per cent are employed. The
earlier emphasis on medical rehabilitation has now been replaced by an emphasis on social
rehabilitation. There has been an increasing recognition of abilities of persons with disabilities
and emphasis on mainstreaming them in the society based on their capabilities. The Government
of India has enacted three legislations for persons with disabilities viz.
i.

Persons with Disability (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation)
Act, 1995, which provides for education, employment, creation of barrier free
environment, social security, etc.

ii.

National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation
and Multiple Disability Act, 1999 has provisions for legal guardianship of the four
categories and creation of enabling environment for as much independent living as
possible.

iii.

Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992 deals with the development of manpower for
providing rehabilitation services.

3. In addition to the legal framework, extensive infrastructure has been developed. The following
seven national Institutes are working for development of manpower in different areas, namely,

Institute for the Physically Handicapped, New Delhi.

National Institute of Visually Handicapped, Dehradun

National Institute for Orthopaedically Handicapped, Kolkata

National Institute for Mentally Handicapped, Secunderabad.

National Institute for Hearing Handicapped, Mumbai

National Institute of Rehabilitation Training & Research, Cuttack.

National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities, Chennai.

4. There are five Composite Rehabilitation Centres, four Regional Rehabilitation Centres and
120 District Disability Rehabilitation Centres (DDRCs) providing various kinds of rehabilitation
services to persons
with disabilities. There are also several national institutions under the Ministry of Health &
Family Welfare working in the field of rehabilitation, like National Institute of Mental Health
and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore; All India Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation,
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Mumbai; All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore; Central Institute of Psychiatry,
Ranchi, etc. In addition, certain State Government institutions also provide rehabilitation
services. Besides, 250 private institutions conduct training courses for rehabilitation
professionals.
5. National Handicapped and Finance Development Corporation (NHFDC) has been providing
loans on concessional terms for undertaking self-employment ventures by the persons with
disabilities through State Channelizing Agencies.
6. Panchayati Raj Institutions at Village level, Intermediary level and District level have been
entrusted with the welfare of persons with disabilities.
7. India is a signatory to the Declaration on the Full Participation and Equality of People with
Disabilities in the Asia Pacific Region. India is also a signatory to the Biwako Millennium
Framework for action towards an inclusive, barrier free and rights based society. India is
currently participating in the negotiations on the UN Convention on Protection and Promotion of
the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities.
National Policy Statement
8. The National Policy recognizes that Persons with Disabilities are valuable human resource for
the country and seeks to create an environment that provides them equal opportunities, protection
of their rights and full participation in society. The focus of the policy shall be on the following:
I. Prevention of Disabilities
9. Since disability, in a large number of cases, is preventable, there will be strong emphasis on
prevention of disabilities. Programme for prevention of diseases, which result in disability and
the creation of awareness regarding measures to be taken for prevention of disabilities during the
period of pregnancy and thereafter will be intensified and their coverage expanded.
II. Rehabilitation Measures
10. Rehabilitation measures can be classified into three distinct groups:
i.

physical rehabilitation, which includes early detection and intervention, counseling &
medical interventions and provision of aids & appliances. It will also include the
development of rehabilitation professionals.

ii.

educational rehabilitation including vocational education and

iii.

economic rehabilitation for a dignified life in society.

II A. Physical Rehabilitation Strategies

(a) Early Detection and Intervention

11. Early detection of disability and intervention through drug or non-drug therapies helps in
minimization of impact of disability. Therefore, there will be emphasis on early detection and
early intervention, and necessary facilities will be created towards this end. Government will
take measures to disseminate information regarding availability of such facilities to the people
especially in rural areas.
(b) Counseling & Medical Rehabilitation
12. Physical rehabilitation measures including counseling, strengthening capacities of persons
with disabilities and their families, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychotherapy, surgical
correction and intervention, vision assessment, vision stimulation, speech therapy, audiological
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rehabilitation and special education shall be extended to cover all the districts in the country by
active involvement and participation of State Governments, local level institutions, NGOs
including associations of parents and persons with disabilities.
13. Currently, rehabilitation services are largely available in and around urban areas. Since
seventy five percent persons with disabilities live in rural areas, the services run by professionals
will be extended to cover uncovered and un-served areas. Privately owned rehabilitation service
centres shall be regulated for maintenance of minimum standards which shall be laid down.
14. To expand coverage in rural and unserved areas, new District Disability Rehabilitation
Centres (DDRCs) will be set up with support from the State Government.
15. The National Rural Health Mission through Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA)
addresses the health needs of rural population, especially the vulnerable sections of society. The
ASHA inter-alia will take care of the comprehensive services to the persons with disabilities at
the grass root level.
(c) Assistive Devices
16. The Government of India has been assisting persons with disabilities in procuring durable
and scientifically manufactured, modern aids and appliances of ISI standard that can promote
their physical, social and psychological independence by reducing the effect of disabilities.
17. Every year through National Institutes, State Governments, DDRCs and NGOs, persons with
disabilities are provided with devices such as prostheses and orthoses, tricycles, wheel chair,
surgical footwear and devices for activities of daily living, learning equipments (Braille writing
equipments, Dictaphone, CD player/ tape recorder), low vision aids, special mobility aids like
canes for blind, hearing aids, educational kits, communication aids, assistive & alerting devices
and devices suitable for the persons with mental disabilities. The availability of devices will be
expanded to cover uncovered and under-serviced areas.
18. Private, public and joint sector enterprises involved in the manufacture of high tech assistive
devices for persons with disabilities will be provided financial support by the public sector
banks.
(d) Development of Rehabilitation Professionals
19. Human resource requirements for rehabilitation of persons with disabilities will be assessed
and development plan will be prepared so that the rehabilitation strategies do not suffer from lack
of manpower.

II B. Education for Persons with Disabilities

20. Education is the most effective vehicle of social and economic empowerment. In keeping
with the spirit of the Article 21A of the Constitution guaranteeing education as a fundamental
right and Section 26 of the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, free and compulsory education
has to be provided to all children with disabilities up to the minimum age of 18 years. According
to the Census, 2001, fifty-one percent persons with disabilities are illiterate. This is a very large
percentage. There is a need for mainstreaming of the persons with disabilities in the general
education system through Inclusive education.
21. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) launched by the Government has the goal of eight years of
elementary schooling for all children including children with disabilities in the age group of 6-14
years by 2010. Children with disabilities in the age group of 15-18 years are provided free
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education under Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) Scheme.
22. Under SSA, a continuum of educational options, learning aids and tools, mobility assistance,
support services etc. are being made available to students with disabilities. This includes
education through an open learning system and open schools, alternative schooling, distance
education, special schools, wherever necessary home based education, itinerant teacher model,
remedial teaching, part time classes, Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) and vocational
education.
23. IEDC Scheme implemented through the State Governments, Autonomous Bodies and
Voluntary Organizations provides hundred percent financial assistance for various facilities like
special teachers, books and stationery, uniform, transport, readers allowance for the visually
handicapped, hostel allowance, equipment cost, removal/ modification of architectural barriers,
financial assistance for purchase/ production of instructional material, training of general
teachers and equipment for resource rooms.
24. There will be concerted effort on the part of the Government to improve identification of
children with disabilities through regular surveys, their enrollment in appropriate schools and
their continuation till they successfully complete their education. The Government will endeavor
to provide right kind of learning material and books to the children with disabilities, suitably
trained and sensitized teachers and schools which are accessible and disabled friendly.
25. Government of India is providing scholarships to students with disabilities for pursuing
studies at post school level. Government will continue to support the scholarships and expand its
coverage.
26. Facilities for technical and vocational education designed to inculcate and bolster skill
development suited to various types of productive activities by adaptation of the existing
institutes or accelerated setting up of institutes in un-served / underserved areas will be
encouraged. NGOs will also be encouraged to provide vocational training.
27. Persons with disabilities will be provided access to the Universities, technical institutions and
other institutions of higher learning to pursue higher and professional courses.
II C. Economic Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities
28. Economic rehabilitation of Persons with disabilities comprise of both wage employment in
organized sector and self-employment. Supporting structure of services by way of vocational
rehabilitation centres and vocational training centres will be developed to ensure that disabled

persons in both urban and rural areas have increased opportunities for productive and gainful
employment. Strategies for economic empowerment of persons with disabilities would be the
following.
(i) Employment in Government Establishments
The PWD Act, 1995 provides for 3% reservation in employment in the establishments of
Government of India and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) against identified posts. The status
of reservation for Government in various Ministries / Departments against identified posts in
Group A, B, C & D is 3.07%, 4.41%, 3.76% and 3.18% respectively. In PSUs, the reservation
status in Group A, B, C & D is 2.78%, 8.54%, 5.04% and 6.75%, respectively. Government will
ensure reservation in identified posts in the Government sector including public sector
undertakings in accordance with the provisions of the PWD Act, 1995. The list of identified
posts, which was notified in 2001, will be reviewed and updated.
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(ii) Wage employment in Private sector
Development of appropriate skills in persons with disabilities will be encouraged for their
employability in private sector. Vocational rehabilitation and training Centres engaged in
developing appropriate skills amongst persons with disabilities keeping in view their potential
and abilities will be encouraged to expand their services. Considering rapid growth of
employment opportunities in service sector, persons with disabilities will be encouraged to
undertake skill training suitable to the market requirement. Pro-active measures like incentives,
awards, tax exemptions etc. will be taken to encourage the employment of persons with
disabilities in the private sector.
(iii) Self-employment
Considering slow pace of growth in employment opportunities in the organized sector, selfemployment of persons with disabilities will be promoted. This will be done through vocational
education and management training. Further, the existing system of providing loans at softer
terms from the NHFDC will be improved to make it easily accessible with transparent and
efficient procedures of processing. The Government will also encourage self-employment by
providing incentives, tax concessions, exemptions from duties, preferential treatment for
procurement of goods and services by the Government from the enterprises of persons with
disabilities, etc. Priority in financial support will be given to Self Help Groups formed by the
persons with disabilities.
III. Women with disabilities
29. According to Census-2001, there are 93.01 lakh women with disabilities, which constitute
42.46 percent of total disabled population. Women with disabilities require protection against
exploitation and abuse. Special programmes will be developed for education, employment and
providing of other rehabilitation services to women with disabilities keeping in view their special
needs. Special educational and vocation training facilities will be setup. Programmes will be
undertaken to rehabilitate abandoned disabled women/ girls by encouraging their adoption in
families, support to house them and impart them training for gainful employment skills. The
Government will encourage the projects where representation of women with disabilities is
ensured at least to the extent of twenty five percent of total beneficiaries.
30. Steps shall be taken to provide short duration stay homes for women with disabilities, hostels
for working disabled women, and homes for aged disabled women.

31. It has been noted that women with disabilities have serious difficulty in looking after their
children. The Government will take up a programme to provide financial support to women with
disabilities so that they may hire services to look after their children. Such support will be
limited to two children for a period not exceeding two years.
IV. Children with Disabilities
32. Children with disabilities are the most vulnerable group and need special attention. The
Government would strive to: a. Ensure right to care, protection and security for children with disabilities;
b. Ensure the right to development with dignity and equality creating an enabling
environment where children can exercise their rights, enjoy equal opportunities and full
participation in accordance with various statutes.
c. Ensure inclusion and effective access to education, health, vocational training along with
specialized rehabilitation services to children with disabilities.
.
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d. Ensure the right to development as well as recognition of special needs and of care, and
protection of children with severe disabilities.
V. Barrier-free environment
33. Barrier-free environment enables people with disabilities to move about safely and freely,
and use the facilities within the built environment. The goal of barrier free design is to provide an
environment that supports the independent functioning of individuals so that they can participate
without assistance, in every day activities. Therefore, to the maximum extent possible,
buildings / places / transportation systems for public use will be made barrier free.
VI. Issue of Disability Certificates
34. The Government of India has notified guidelines for evaluation of the disabilities and
procedure for certification. The Government will ensure that the persons with disabilities obtain
the disability certificates without any difficulty in the shortest possible time by adoption of
simple, transparent and client-friendly procedures.
VII. Social Security
35. Disabled persons, their families and care givers incur substantial additional expenditure for
facilitating activities of daily living, medical care, transportation, assistive devices, etc.
Therefore, there is a need to provide them social security by various means. Central Government
has been providing tax relief to persons with disabilities and their guardians. The State
Governments / U.T. Administrations have been providing unemployment allowance or disability
pension. The State Governments will be encouraged to develop a comprehensive social security
policy for persons with disabilities.
36. Parents of severely disabled persons with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and
multiple disabilities feel a sense of insecurity regarding the welfare of their wards after their
death. National Trust for persons with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple
disabilities has been providing legal guardians through Local Level Committee. They are also
implementing the Supported Guardianship Scheme to provide financial security to persons with
the above-mentioned severe disabilities who are destitute and abandoned by supporting the cost

of guardianship. This scheme, which is presently implemented in a few districts, shall be

expanded to cover other areas in a phased manner.
VIII. Promotion of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
37. The National Policy recognizes the NGO sector as a very important institutional mechanism
to provide affordable services to complement the endeavors of the Government. The NGO sector
is a
vibrant and growing one. It has played a significant role in the provisions of services for persons
with disabilities. Some of the NGOs are also undertaking human resource development and
research activities. Government has also been actively involving them in policy formulation,
planning, implementation, monitoring and has been seeking their advice on various issues
relating to persons with disabilities. Interaction with NGOs will be enhanced on various
disability issues regarding planning, policy formulation and implementation. Networking,
exchange of information and sharing of good practices amongst NGOs will be encouraged and
facilitated. The following programmes will be undertaken:-

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i.

A Directory of NGOs working in the field of disability will be prepared properly mapping
them by geographic regions along with their major activities. For NGOs supported by the
Central / State Governments, their resource position, both financial and manpower will
also be reported. Disabled persons organizations, family associations and advocacy
groups of parents of disabled persons shall also be covered in the directory identifying
them separately.

ii.

There are regional / State imbalances in the development of the NGO movement. Steps
will be taken to encourage and accord preference to NGOs working in the underserved
and inaccessible areas. Reputed NGOs shall also be encouraged to take up projects in
such areas.

iii.

NGOs will be encouraged to develop and adopt minimum standards, codes of conduct
and ethics.

iv.

NGOs will be provided opportunities for orientation and training of their human resource.
Training in management skill which is already being provided, will be strengthened.
Transparency, accountability, procedural simplification etc. will be guiding factors for
improvement in the NGO-Government partnership.

v.

The NGOs shall be encouraged to mobilize their own resources to reduce the dependence
on grants-in-aid from the Government and also to improve the availability of funds in the
sector. Tapering of assistance in a schematic manner will also be considered so that the
number of NGOs to be helped within the available resources could be maximized.
Towards this end, NGOs will be trained in resource mobilization.

IX. Collection of regular information on Persons with Disabilities

38. There is a need for regular collection, compilation and analysis of data relating to socioeconomic conditions of persons with disabilities. The National Sample Survey Organization has
been collecting information on Socio-economic conditions of persons with disabilities on regular
basis once in ten years since 1981. The Census has also started collection of information on
persons with disabilities from the Census-2001. The National Sample Survey Organization will
have to collect the information on persons with disabilities at least once in five years. The
differences in the definitions adopted by the two agencies will be reconciled.
39. A comprehensive web site for persons with disability will be created under the Ministry of
Social Justice & Empowerment. Organizations both in public and private sector will be
encouraged to make their web sites accessible to the visually impaired using Screen Reading
Technologies.
X. Research
40. For improving the quality of life of persons with disabilities, research will be supported on
their socio-economic and cultural context, cause of disabilities, early childhood education
methodologies, development of user-friendly aids and appliances and all matters connected with
disabilities which will significantly alter the quality of their life and civil society's ability to
respond to their concerns. Wherever persons with disabilities are subjected to research
interventions, their or their family member or caregiver's consent is mandatory.

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XI. Sports, Recreation and Cultural life
41. The contribution of sports for its therapeutic and community spirit is undeniable. Persons
with disabilities have right to access sports, recreation and cultural facilities. The Government
will take necessary steps to provide them opportunity for participation in various sports,
recreation and cultural activities.
XII. Amendments to existing Acts dealing with the Persons with Disabilities
42. Ten years have passed since the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of
Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 came into operation. With the experience gained in the
implementation of the Act and developments in the disability sector, certain amendments to the
Act have become necessary. These amendments will be carried out in consultation with the
stakeholders. RCI and National Trust Acts will also be reviewed and if necessary, required
amendments would be made.

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ASMITA

About Asmita
Asmita is an organization registered under Public Trust Act 1950 vide Reg. No.482/77 dated
5/11/77.
It imparts services in the field of Social, Cultural, and Educational since May 1976.
Today we are 11 members on board, as a board of trustees with Mr.P.L.Wankhede, CA by
profession, as the president and Mr.Jagdish Samant as the Executive president on board. Trust
has 250 members including life members.

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History
In 1976, Asmita implied You take one step and well take ten and arose as a trust in Jogeshwari
with various social initiatives. In the journey of last 34 years established land marks are Asmita
Bhavan on western express highway, Chhatrapati Shivaji Shishu Vikas Mandir in
Bandrekarwadi, Manohar Hariram Chogle Centre for Physically Challenged.
Asmita started in 1976 with 400 members. Asmitas logo has symbols like theatrical door
resembling cultural activities, writing hand resembling education and Mashal (batton) to instigate

socialist feelings. With the magical wand A Few Drops of Your Blood Can save Several Lives
people have been donating blood in the camps organized by Asmita. Get the ball roll in this
aspect we started with mobile Blood Donation Projects since the very beginning of 1976 .
In the same year a Book Bank was started to support educational needs of students. The
volunteers collected used newspaper to raise money for this book bank. Then in 1978 1st classes
were started with 51 students of Shishu Bal Vikas Mandir. Asmita had 1st school building
Chhatrapati Shivaji Shishu Vikas Mandir in Bandrekarwadi in 1980 and Asmita Bhavan on
western express highway in 1997. Today more than thousand students are learning. School
activities like Diwali Shibhir, Prabhat Phari ,Students Counsel, External Examinations, Sports,
Hastalikhit are conducted for all round development of students. Initiatives like Palak Mandal,
Maji Vidhyarti Sangh has ensured family feeling between Teachers, Students and Parents.
Asmitas activities for women started with Haldi kunku function of thousand ladies. This
followed by stitching classes, stitching machines, Makar Sankraman utasav , Balsanskar Kendra,
training centre for the Balwadi Teachers. For around 15 years Asmita held Natyamotsava in
Jogeshwari where professional Shows of Marathi theater were held on the ground of Ismail
Yusuf College. Also held Hemant Vyakhyanmala wherein many well known speakers came to
jogeshwari.
Asmita has been working for the physically challenged as well. It started with survey of
physically challenged. Then held checkup camps for them. Now it has Manohar Hariram Chogle
Centre for supporting physically challenged with Artificial organs ,operations exercise,
ambulance, educational rehabilitation , cultural activities ,sports , financial rehabilitation. Since
1978, Asmita distributes Rakhees prepared by physical challenged on the occasion of Raksha
Bandhan.
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Mission and Vision
Asmita came into existence on 1st May 1976 in the slum areas of Jogeshwari, Mumbai. In those
days there was a critical situation and even the basic amenities like electricity, water and road
were absent. The area, then, was also a center of anti-social elements.
Mission: The mission of serving the poor and deprived people of the area, Asmita decided to
take up activities in social, cultural and educational fields. Soon, Asmita became familiar and
grew popular amongst the residents of the locality for its small but selfless services.

Vision: To grow from a small sapling to a big tree, from small services to multiple and large
scale service projects touching, todays lives of few thousand families living in the area.

Development programs initiated by Asmitha Foundation

Asmita is a NGO based in Mumbai. It runs many projects, amongst which, runs a small
vocational training centre for physically challenged people in Ashokvan, Borivali (West),
Mumbai. Their motto Hum bhi kisi se kam nahi is not just on paper, but we could see that
motto being carved out into the hearts of many students undergoing various kind of trainings at
the institute.
The centre mainly targets handicapped people who are confined to their homes due to their
disabilities and lack of self confidence. Asmita volunteers go to the society (which targets mainly
slums) looking for such students and persuading their parents to send them to the centre.
Recently they have started involving college social project teams to reach out to physically
challenged people in the society. Each batch consists of about 15-20 students who are trained for
about 2 years. The main aim is to build self confidence within these students so that they have
the confidence to face the society and the required skills to earn a livelihood for themselves. Up
till now the trust has helped more than 1000 handicapped people (called as 'AmrutPutra' and
'AmrutKanya' ) in the center.
The activities in the centre include sewing, wood/board panel cutting and painting, making
greeting cards, making paper plates, stitching (bags, aprons, mats, etc), agarbattis, other
handicrafts used by KG schools, teaching computer basics, etc. At the end of their training
period, the students are provided with machinery and equipment to enable them to earn a
sustainable living.

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Challenges and opportunities which are been faced by ASMITHA
Challenges:
1) Lack of Funds: ASMITHA is expressing difficulty in finding sufficient, appropriate and
continuous funding for their work. They find accessing donors as challenging as dealing with
their funding conditions. They perceive there to be certain cartels of individuals and NGOs that
control access to donor funds. They have limited resource mobilization skills and are often not
looking for funds that are available locally, preferring to wait for international donors to

approach them. There is a high dependency of donors and a tendency to shift interventions to
match donor priorities. There is a lack of financial, project and organizational sustainability.
2) Poor Governance: It was recognized within the sector as a whole, within the NGO Council
and within individual NGOs. Knowledge of good governance varied widely, with some regions
indicating very little understanding of why NGOs are required to have Boards or what their
roles and functions should be. Many other participants explained that it is difficult to achieve
good governance with founders who wished to own their NGOs for their own purposes.
Participants with better understanding of good governance appreciated that this is
fundamental to ASMITHAs accountability and transparency.
3) Absence of Strategic Planning: Lack of strategic plan for the further expansion and the
growth are missing out with ASMITHA as it lacks the professionalism and skills of management.
4) Poor Networking: was identified as a major challenge. It is the cause of duplication of
efforts,
conflicting strategies at community level, a lack of learning from experience and an inability of
ASMITHA to address local structural causes of poverty, deprivation and under-development.
5) Parents and PWDs: People with disabilities often have low awareness of rights &
entitlements. Physically disable have barrier and restriction from family as they are not allowed
to work as they are given the corner in the house. Suppose if the NGO want to help the
physically disable person the challenge is to convey the family member to send them to work or
to entitle any kind of home based business to them.
The other minor challenges which are been faced by are:
1) Poor communication
2) Limited capacity
3) Development approach

Opportunities:
1) Local Resource Mobilization provides potential for ASMITHA to raise funds from local
businesses, individuals, government and locally generated income. To do this ASMITHA
must have strong governance and accountability mechanisms, clear strategies and local
credibility.

2) Local Networking provides opportunities for mutual learning, identifying appropriate

development initiatives, generating learning resources, improving coordination and
cooperation with local government, harmonizing approaches to development, and pursuing
effective local advocacy. Form consortia to source funding from the donor community (larger
projects to access larger donors)

3) Government devolved funds and new funding mechanisms: The CDF, Constituency Aids
Funds, Youth, Women, Water, LATF and other locally available development funding is available
to local NGOs and CBOs, which should also be more involved in the management of these funds
New basket funding from central government, through the NGO Board, is also a possibility.
They can take help of these governmental bodies which are available for raising the funds for the
development of NGOs.

As this volume illustrates, civil society generally, and NGOs in particular, have played and
continue to play an important role in ensuring the optimal effectiveness and success of the human
rights system and its aim to prohibit and prevent torture and other ill-treatment. Academic
engagement has been insufficient, however. Where possible, NGOs must include torture and
other ill-treatment of detainees and prisoners in their domestic programmes. It is ultimately
through the work of NGOs that the provisions of the Charter are converted into concrete and
effective guarantees. Regarding engagement at the regional level, NGOs are advised to pursue
more actively the following strategies: Standard-setting: NGOs play a crucial promotional and
lobbying role in ensuring that the normative framework evolves to address human rights needs as
they arise. NGOs have already contributed to the normative expansion of the Charter.
Consideration should be given to the possibility of drafting a set of binding norms on torture to
supplement the substantive content of the Charter and the non-binding Guidelines adopted by the
Commission. Observer status: NGOs that have not yet done so should consider applying for
observer status with the African Commission. Keeping informed of developments and being
present at Commission sessions provide NGOs with an opportunity to impact the work of the
Commission, to engage with States and to raise awareness about these issues in public sessions.
State reporting: NGOs should monitor State compliance with reporting obligations under Article
62 of the Charter, and should spearhead debate on the potential of these reports. When a report is
prepared, NGOs should attempt to become involved in its drafting. If excluded from the drafting
process, or if crucial issues are silenced in the report, NGOs should collaborate to produce
shadow or parallel reports and 111 submit them to the Commission. Commissioners should be
lobbied before the examination of reports to ensure that pertinent questions are raised. When
concluding observations are issued, NGOs should obtain copies and integrate them into their
programmes of action. When a State submits a later report, these concluding observations
should serve as starting points to measure progress. When a State does not report at all, this fact,
together with the importance of the state reporting procedure, should become a matter of public
debate. Individual complaints (communications): NGOs should provide legal assistance to
victims of torture and other ill-treatment at the domestic level. If domestic remedies fail or are
inaccessible, NGOs should submit individual communications to the African Commission. The
complaints procedure provides a means to focus international attention on human rights
violations in a State by allowing for a finding of an independent body, the African Commission.
Such a finding serves both as an impartial assessment and as a potential source of remedy. With
the advent of the African Human Rights Court, the possibility of approaching the Court should
also be explored. The African Charter allows for wide standing before the African Commission:
both individuals and NGOs may submit cases on their own behalf, but also on behalf of another
person, even without that persons express authorisation. When a complaint has been submitted,
it first proceeds through the admissibility phase. The main requirement is that the complainant
must have exhausted local remedies at the national level. However, adopting a progressive
approach, the Commission has quite often exempted complainants from attempting to obtain
remedies before national courts, such as in a situation of massive or serious violations of human
rights in the respondent State. Nevertheless, when NGOs are involved in the submission of

complaints, they must provide as much information as possible about what remedies have been
exhausted domestically, or explain fully why these remedies have not been used. If a
communication has been declared admissible, it proceeds to the second phase, during which the
merits are considered. The Commission then decides whether a violation has occurred. As of this
writing, most of the communications alleging torture and ill-treatment have revealed 112 THE
PROHIBITION OF TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT IN THE AFRICAN HUMAN
RIGHTS SYSTEM: A HANDBOOK FOR VICTIMS AND THEIR ADVOCATES serious
human rights violations, particularly during detention. Article 5 of the Charter forms the clearest
substantive basis for a complaint regarding torture or other ill-treatment. Other findings of
violations have related to forms of punishment or non-compliance with fair trial guarantees. If a
violation is found, the Commission may proceed to a third phase, during which it considers an
appropriate remedy. NGO involvement with communications does not end after a favou - rable
finding has been made. Because the Commissions recommendations are not formally legally
binding on States, some efforts are often required to ensure that States give effect to the
recommended remedies. This process, sometimes referred to as follow-up (or
implementation), frequently plays itself out in the political, rather than the legal, arena. Social
mobilisation and mass participation may strengthen the hand of an NGO trying to convince a
State to comply with a recommendation that entails some economic or political cost to the
government. It is anticipated that the decisions of the African Human Rights Court will be more
effectively implemented, given that the Courts findings will be unequivocally binding on States
that have accepted the Court Protocol. Special mechanisms: The Commission has set up two
special mechanisms that are of particular relevance: the Special Rapporteur on Prisons and
Conditions of Detention in Africa, and the Follow-up Committee to ensure the effective
implementation of the Robben Island Guidelines. NGOs should engage with these mechanisms
by providing them with information when they undertake visits or studies. Promotional
activities: The Commission has always emphasised that its eleven members cannot alone
shoulder the responsibility of promoting the Charter and the importance of the issues highlighted
here. NGOs should supplement their domestic promotional activities (such as translation of
regional norms into indigenous languages, for instance) by supporting the Commissions efforts,
when possibilities arise. The magnitude of the task should not invite despair, but should
encourage NGOs to forge collaboration with each other and with other important role players
such as media institutions, academic and research centres and national human rights institutions.

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