How do you understand disability? Substantiate the need for inclusive policy framework in India in this…

Question

How do you understand disability? Substantiate the need for inclusive policy framework in India in this regard.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Disability is best understood as an impairment meeting social and environmental barriers, not a defect to be cured, which is why India needs inclusive, rights-based policy. In Rajive Raturi v Union of India (2024), the Supreme Court found accessibility rules merely advisory and ordered mandatory standards.

**Introduction**

Census 2011 counted 2.68 crore persons with disabilities, 2.21% of the population, against a global share near 16% in the WHO's 2022 report, suggesting deep undercounting. How disability is understood decides whether policy offers charity or inclusion.

**Understanding Disability: From Impairment to Barrier**

SKETCH: comparison | Two Ways of Seeing Disability
a: Medical model
b: Social model
- Defect in body :: Barrier in society
- Cure and care :: Access and rights
- Charity recipient :: Rights holder
- Doctor decides :: Person decides

1. **Rights-based shift**: The UNCRPD (2006), ratified by India in 2007, sees disability as impairment meeting attitudinal and environmental barriers.
2. **Statutory meaning**: The RPwD Act, 2016 widens recognised conditions from 7 to 21, including autism and acid attack, with 40% as benchmark disability and a 4% job quota.
3. **Intersectionality**: Gender, caste and poverty stack exclusion on a rural woman with a disability, shutting her out of school, work and marriage.

**Why India Needs an Inclusive Policy Framework**

1. **Accessibility deficit**: Rajive Raturi v Union of India (2024) held that the 2017 accessibility rules were merely advisory and ordered mandatory standards, nine years after the Accessible India Campaign (2015).
2. **Work and education**: The 4% job and 5% higher-education quotas often go unfilled, and ableist hiring pushes many into informal work.
3. **Accommodation and dignity**: Vikash Kumar v UPSC (2021) extended scribes beyond benchmark disability, Jeeja Ghosh (2016) exposed indignity in air travel, and India's 29 medals at the Paris 2024 Paralympics show what support achieves.

**Conclusion**

Disability lies less in the body than in society's barriers. Mandatory access, reliable data through the Unique Disability ID and routine accommodation would turn Articles 14, 21 and 41 into lived equality and leave no one behind.

How do you understand disability? Substantiate the need for inclusive policy framework in India in this regard.

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