Persons with Disabilities Act
Dr. Meenu Bhambhani

The year 1995 was a historic year for the Indian disability sector. It was in this year that the disability sector got its due recognition in the form of Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. The Indian Parliament accorded persons with disabilities a legal entity and equal status on par with the citizens of this country. Its passage was the realization of the dream of several disabled persons and their parents who had struggled for counyless number of years.

The process of streamlining things for the disability sector started with the passage of this Act, It begins with the definition of disability and recognizes eight disabilities viz - lowvision, blindness, locomotor impairment, hearing impairment, mental illness, mental retardation, speech impairment and leprosy cured. Earlier only three disabilities were officially and legally recognized, namely orthopaedic ally handicapped, visually handicapped and hearing handicapped. There is a clear cut shift in the definition of disability and shift in approach of dealing with disabled: from charity to change, from welfare to self –development and full and equal participation to rights. It acknowledged that disabled people cannot be denied the rights to eduction and employment. Chapter VI, VII, and VIII are the most significant as they are devoted to education employment. And non-discrimination. Mandatory 3% reservation has been made for all educational institutions owned by government or aided by it. Section 33 of the Act talks about 3% reservation in jobs for people with disabilities in all government establishments. And its golden section, Section 41, for the first time involves the private sector too. Chapter VIII on Non-discrimination has the mandatory provision of ensuring barrier-free access on road, public transport and built environment. This Act has given a platform to the disabled to air their grievances in the form of Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities at the Centre and Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities at the State level. They have been endowed with quasi-judicial powers and can take up matters pertaining to disabled people the suo moto or on a complaint lodged by affected person.

The Act has been hailed as Magna Carta of disability sector in India for it lent a voice to the estimated 60 million Indians with disabilities. However the struggle for disabled people did not end with the passage of the Act. It was notified by the gazette on February 7, 1996 and its implementation could not start for two years till a disability activist filed a writ in the Supreme Court of India against the Union and State governments, Neither the Chief Commissioner nor the Commissioners in the state had been appointed. After Supreme Court's intervention the process of implementation started. But once the process began, the weaknesses also began to manifest themselves,

Many of the Commissioners felt that it was a toothless Act which hardly gave any powers to the Commissioners or CCPD to take action against people who violated the Act. It was also felt that the use of terms like ‘within the economic capacity’ in every clause gave a handy escape route to the government and helped in preventing it from talking appropriate action and thus performing the legal obligatory duties prescribed under the Act.

On February 7, 2002, we celebrated the 6th anniversary of the notification of the PWD Act. Looking at it in retrospect, one is bound to ask if anything has been achieved in these past six years or has this too become like any other Act of the Government of India. Has the Act been effective in lending a voice to this invisible minority? Has the Indian disability sector achieved visibility? Has it brought any change and ensured full participation and equal opportunities by mainstreaming the persons with disabilities in educational, social and economic field?

The answer to all these questions is YES! Despite the lacunae and the escape routes, the Act has been successful in airing the concerns of disabled people. It has paved the way for a more equitable society. If I see it in terms of Rajasthan there may not have been a sea change in the condition of an average disabled person but the door to opportunity have been opened. The provision of 3% reservation for people with disabilities in all educational institutions including technical and professional courses, in jobs, in poverty alleviation schemes has been implemented. Offices of Commissioners as well as the law courts of India have also ensured that the provisions of the Act are implemented in its true spirit, The rising number of cases registered with the Commissioner's office as well as the courts indicate that disabled people are more aware of their rights today and can go to any extent to seek equality of opportunity and treatment. Another indicator of the impact of the PWD Act is the beginning of a realization of the need for a barrier free environment. Ramps are being constructed in existing buildings and building laws have been suitably amended to incorporate disabled friendly features in the construction of public buildings.

A growing number of cases in the law courts have also sensitised the judiciary and simultaneously the provisions of the Act are being interpreted in the light of its objectives. Hence the PWD Act cannot be dismissed as any other Act but a living than is being reshaped and reinterpreted everyday to ensure a dignified life for disabled people in India.

Source: Success & Ability, Volume 7 No. 1
Issue: Dated Jan-Mar 2002