THE LEGAL RIGHTS OF DISABLED PERSONS IN INDIA

What do we understand when we talk about term disabled? Someone who can’t move or someone who is helpless, well that’s a very common thinking and understanding between people who are healthy and never get to experience that lifestyle but there is way much more in the term disabled. Disabled term is used for those people who face problem in using particular body part of theirs. That part could be anything from physical, mental, intellectual to sensory impairment, but that doesn’t give us right to view them as someone different from us as people who are healthy or without any disability always either pity them or view them as a superhero who are fighting bravely rather than recognizing them as someone who are a leading equal equal life with social bariers. We Indians always proudly claim ourself as world’s largest democracy, we celebrate different diversity, cultures and equality among people yet for millions of disabled people navigating normal life is difficult, for them everyday life is still inaccessible like going to school, workplaces that silently reject them or the society who often mistake pity for a equality. In India Around 45% of disabled are illiterate and only 62.9% of disabled people between the ages of 3 and 35 have ever attended regular schools. Less than 40% of school buildings have ramps and around 17% of schools have accessible toilets. Although technology is a key focus of the NEP, only 59% of schools across the country have access to electricity.