Article of the Week

A Manual of Rights

India happens to have the largest number of persons with disability in the world, with the 2001 census estimating their number to be about 22 million. The actual number should have been enumerated to be more than twice as much.

The challenges of having a severe physical disability are serious enough. Ironically, the community hardly plays a constructive role to ameliorate their lot. On the country, the problems of a physically challenged person become all the more insurmountable because all the prejudice of society and the mindset of the system. At best, what a person gets is pity and charity. At worst, it is open discrimination, leading to exclusion and isolation.

On paper, there are numerous civil, political, economic and social rights. But in practice, these constitutional guarantees are only a wishful dream. The Constitution of India prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth but does not explicitly mention persons with disability as a group to be protected against discrimination. Not as a mandatory fundamental right, that is.

To create a culture in which the human rights of all, particularly of the marginalised sections, can be promoted and protected, the National Human Rights Commission has come out with a Disability Manual to sensitise and educate lawyers, NGOs, academics, human rights activists and the general public in the work as well as their daily interactions to remove the group from the periphery of academic discourse and integrate them solidly with the community.

It not only enumerates disability laws like the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, but also highlights the unfortunate fact that within a period of 10 years of enforcement of this Act, its weaknesses have also surfaced in the absence of a careful review of the Act, no concrete proposal has been moved in Parliament so far to plug the many, repeat, many, loopholes.

Instead of considering disability only as a condition grounded in the physiological, biological and intellectual impairment of an individual, the manual also incorporates the social and human rights definitions of disability.

Article 14 of the Constitution says the state shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. But the Disability manual poses a searing question: can persons with disability exercise their full legal capacity in the absence of explicit protection? The answer, apparently, is a resounding no.

Interestingly, disability is defined here from a perspective that emphasises social conditions, which disables a group of individuals by ignoring their needs of accessing opportunities in a manner conducive to their circumstances.

The manual notes an inherent limitation of the welfare model. It treats only the manifested symptoms of a problem rather that treating the problem itself. So, while it is necessary to eradicate diseases like measles, leprosy, polio, goiter and rubella, etc, it is also imperative to take into consideration factors like wars, civil conflicts, poverty, overcrowding and unhygienic living conditions; constraints of resources, geographical distance and physical and social barriers, industrial, agricultural and transportation-related accidents, natural disasters, stress and psycho-social problem.

Poverty and disability influence each other and their combination creates new forms of barriers. In India, the direct cost of treatment and equipment in the case of people with disability varies from three days to two years' income, with a mean of two months.

Malnutrition is a cause of disability as well as contributory factor in other ailments that increase susceptibility to disabling conditions. Due to the lack of food and nutrition security for the poor, about 30 per cent of all infants born in who India weigh less than 2,500 grams, which is the WHO cut-off level to determine low birth weight with a lower chance of survival and high risk of disability. So, it is extremely important to address such deficiencies.

Around 90 per cent of the workforce in India is in the unorganized sector, which is characterised by low levels of technology, low standards of safety and hazardous working conditions. Occupational casualties and disabilities can be brought down to a great extent by creation of just and fair conditions of work.

The manual notes that unplanned cities with narrow roads, rapid growth in number of vehicles and disregard of traffic regulations have been responsible for increasing the number of road accidents in India. If current trends continue, road accidents may become the leading cause of death and disability in the country. Improvements in vehicle design and medical facilities, as well as stronger enforcement of traffic regulations concerning compulsory use of seat belts (in cars) and helmets (motor cycle use), and restriction on alcohol and other intoxicants need to be treated more seriously than they have been.

Wars and violent crimes too have added to the ranks of the disabled. This is happening - law enforcement agencies themselves commit acts of torture and inhuman treatment, particularly to persons in detention. But where is the evidence? There are hardly any studies that have analysed the nexus between disability and crime or documented the nature and extent of these crimes.

Thus there is a need to study disability as an overall change instead of stand-alone problem. This manual on "Human Rights, Disability and Law" can prove to be an effective advocacy tool for organisations of disabled persons and NGOs working in the area of disability and human rights.

It can also serve as a reference material for universities and law schools to design curricular for undergraduate and graduate studies programmes on disability law and to incorporate disability issues into courses on the family, criminal, corporate and labour laws.

Source: Amar Chandel. Challenges of disability, The Tribune, Chandigarh, 30 August 2005.