Except for looking at them with eyes full of sympathy, how many of us actually know about the lives of The Disabled in India? So here is an insight about the struggles and provisions that are spun around them.
In order to ensure some benefits for them, the government of India has instilled various provisions in the law. In the year 2014, Rajya Sabha amended The Disabled Bill to further more intensify the perks for the 2.68 crore people in the country. The amended Bill now confirms a person disabled with 19 categories unlike the previous Bill which had only 7 heads. Also, the reservations for education and employment have been hiked up to 40%. Reservations in high school for all institutions have been increased to 5% from 3%. In order to ensure the comfort of the disabled, the government has called for barrier free access in all the public buildings, transport and monuments.
Not only have the officials added on to the technical benefits of the disabled but have also amended the social terminology used for them. According to the amended Bill, the disabled can no more be called by this tag. They will have to be addressed as ‘specially abled’. Only by calling them specially abled, will the society also change its perspective towards the disabled? When will that era come to an end where while encountering a disabled person we no more sigh out of mercy? When will an employer, without any hesitation, choose a capable disabled person over an average physically fit person for a job?
