Know Your Rights
The disabled and the constitution
‘The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995’ had come into enforcement on February 7, 1996. It is a significant step which ensures equal opportunities for the people with disabilities and their full participation in the nation building. The Act provides for both the preventive and promotional aspects of rehabilitation like education, employment and vocational training, reservation, research and manpower development, creation of barrier- free environment, rehabilitation of persons with disability, unemployment allowance for the disabled, special insurance scheme for the disabled employees and establishment of homes for persons with severe disability etc.
Simply put, hearing impairment is the inability of a child or person to listen to sounds. This could be congenital (i.e. by birth), pre-lingual, or post lingual (i.e. before of after gaining speech and language).
- The Constitution secures to the citizens including the disabled, a right of justice, liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, equality of status and of opportunity and for the promotion of fraternity.
- Article 15(1) enjoins on the Government not to discriminate against any citizen of India (including disabled) on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
- Article 15 (2) States that no citizen (including the disabled) shall be subjected to any disability, liability, restriction, or condition on any of the above grounds in the matter of their access to shops, public restaurants, hotels, and places of public entertainment or in the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of government funds or dedicated to the use of the general-public. Women and children and those belonging to any socially and educationally backward classes or the Scheduled Castes & Tribes can be given the benefit of special laws or special provisions made by the State.
- There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens (including the disabled) in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State.
- No person including the disabled irrespective of his belonging can be treated as an untouchable. It would be an offence punishable in accordance with law as provided by Article 17 of the Constitution.
- Every person including the disabled has his life and liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
- There can be no traffic in human beings (including the disabled), and beggar and other forms of forced labour is prohibited and the same is made punishable in accordance with law (Article 23).
- Article 24 prohibits employment of children (including the disabled) below the age of 14 years to work in any factory or mine or to be engaged in any other hazardous employment. Even a private contractor acting for the Government cannot engage children below 14 years of age in such employment.
- Article 25 guarantees to every citizen (including the disabled) the right to freedom of religion. Every disabled person (like the non-disabled) has the freedom of conscience to practice and propagate his religion subject to proper order, morality, and health.
- No disabled person can be compelled to pay any taxes for the promotion and maintenance of any religion or religious group.
- No disabled person will be deprived of the right to the language, script, or culture which he has or to which he belongs.
- Every disabled person can move the Supreme Court of India to enforce his fundamental rights and the rights to move the Supreme Court is itself guaranteed by Article 32.
- No disabled person owning property (like the non-disabled) can be deprived of his property except by authority of law though right to property is not a fundamental right. Any unauthorized deprivation of property can be challenged by suit and for relief by way of damages.
- Every disabled person (like the non-disabled) on attainment of 18 years of age becomes eligible for inclusion of his name in the general electoral roll for the territorial constituency to which he belongs.
- Education Law for the disabled
b.Article 45 of the Constitution directs the State to provide free and compulsory education for all children (including the disabled) until they attain the age of 14 years. No child can be denied admission into any education institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on the ground of religion, race, caste or language.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016
‘The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995’ had come into enforcement on February 7, 1996. It is a significant step which ensures equal opportunities for the people with disabilities and their full participation in the nation building. The Act provides for both the preventive and promotional aspects of rehabilitation like education, employment and vocational training, reservation, research and manpower development, creation of barrier- free environment, rehabilitation of persons with disability, unemployment allowance for the disabled, special insurance scheme for the disabled employees and establishment of homes for persons with severe disability etc.
Main Provisions of the Act are:
- Prevention and Early Detection of Disabilities
- Education
- Employment
- Non-Discrimination
- Research and Manpower Development
- Affirmative Action
- Social Security
- Grievance Redressal
Prevention and early detection of disabilities
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- Various measures shall be taken to prevent disabilities. Staff at the Primary Health Centre shall be trained to assist in this work.
- All the children shall be screened once in a year for identifying ‘at-risk’ cases.
- Awareness campaigns shall be launched and sponsored to disseminate information.
- Measures shall be taken for pre-natal, peri-natal, and post-natal care of the mother and child.
- Every child with disability shall have the rights to free education till the age of 18 years in integrated schools or special schools.
- Appropriate transportation, removal of architectural barriers and restructuring of modifications in the examination system shall be ensured for the benefit of children with disabilities.
- Children with disabilities shall have the right to free books, scholarships, uniform, and other learning material.
- Special Schools for children with disabilities shall be equipped with vocational training facilities.
- Non-formal education shall be promoted for children with disabilities.
- Teacher’s training Institutions shall be established to develop requisite manpower.
- Parents may move to an appropriate forum for the redressal of grievances regarding the placement of their children with disabilities.
- Government Educational Institutes and other Educational Institutes receiving grant from Government shall reserve at least 3% seats for people with disabilities with 1% each for the persons suffering from:
Income Tax Concessions: Relief for Handicapped
- Section 80 DD: Section 80 DD provides for a deduction in respect of the expenditure incurred by an individual or Hindu Undivided Family resident in India on the medical treatment (including nursing) training and rehabilitation etc. of handicapped dependants. For officiating the increased cost of such maintenance, the limit of the deduction has been raised from INR 12,000/- to INR 20,000/-.
- Section 80 We engage extensively with the full community around the child and counsel / train them to deliver active support – parents, siblings, extended family and neighbours, school teachers etc.
- Section 88B This section provides for an additional rebate from the net tax payable by a resident individual who has attained the age of 65 years. It has been amended to increase the rebate from 10% to 20% in the cases where the gross total income does not exceed INR 75,000/- (as against a limit of INR 50,000/- specified earlier).
Government shall reserve at least 3% seats for people with disabilities with 1% each for the persons suffering from:
- Blindness or Low Vision
- Hearing Impairment
- Locomotor Disabilities & Cerebral Palsy
- The training and welfare of persons with disabilities
- The relaxation of upper age limit
- Regulating the employment
- Health and Safety measures and creation of a non- handicapping, environment in places where persons with disabilities are employed
- No employee can be sacked or demoted if they become disabled during service, although they can be moved to another post with the same pay and condition. No promotion can be denied because of impairment.
- With respect to Affirmative Action, the law specifies:
- Aids and Appliances shall be made available to the people with disabilities.
- Allotment of land shall be made at concessional rates to the people with disabilities for:
- House
- Business
- Special Recreational Centres
- Special Schools
- Research Schools
- Factories by Entrepreneurs with Disability
- Public buildings, rail compartments, buses, ships and air-crafts will be designed to give easy access to the disabled people.
- In all public places and in waiting rooms, the toilets shall be wheel chair accessible. Braille and sound symbols are also to be provided in all elevators (lifts).
- All the places of public utility shall be made barrier- free by providing the ramps
- On the subject of Research and Manpower Development, the law encourages research in the following areas to be sponsored and promoted:
- Prevention of Disability
- Development of Assistive Devices.
- Job Identification
- On site Modifications of Offices and Factories
- Further, financial assistance shall be made available to the universities, other institutions of higher learning, professional bodies and non-government research- units or institutions, for undertaking research for special education, rehabilitation and manpower development.
- With respect to Social Security, the law mandates:
- Financial assistance to non-government organizations for the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.
- Insurance coverage for the benefit of the government employees with disabilities.
- Unemployment allowance to the people with disabilities who are registered with the special employment exchange for more than a year and could not find any gainful occupation
- The law also provides for Grievance Redressal as people with disabilities may move an application to the
- Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities in the Centre, or
- Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities in the State.
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