Issue 10/Debating Disability Law in India

Aug 15

The UNCRPD is common sense

By V.S.Sunder
As for casting your vote like a conscientious citizen, I can speak first-hand only on what a person in a wheel-chair has to undergo. Imagine having to first negotiate a narrow road with two-and four-wheelers parked so densely that you can forget any idea of going anywhere on your wheel-chair. You try to get dropped as close as you can to the polling booth, and then hobble on a crutch or on somebody else’s arm up the inevitable flight of four or five steps and a further number of steps into the room where you have to show your voter’s ID, and do what you came to do.

Aug 15

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Thalassemia and the RPD Bill in India

By Namitha A Kumar
Hopefully, the draft RPD Bill (2011) based on the UNCRPD would guarantee basic human rights outlined in Article 3 such as non-discrimination, full and effective participation and inclusion in society, equality of opportunity and accessibility for persons with Thalassemia as this could mean access to education and employment. Thalassemics India, a patient advocacy association, was extensively involved during the drafting of the bill.

Aug 15

Legal Capacity and RPD Bill: A Parent’s Perspective

By Sumanta Sen Roy
One issue that has been widely debated and over which there still exists a lack of consensus is the issue of Guardianship. A lot of debate has taken place all over the country on Guardianship ever since the drafting process started and consultations at the national and state level were held. The Draft Bill mentions terms like plenary guardianship and limited/restricted guardianship.

Aug 15

Disability Definition to Certification: The Hard Reality

By Praveen Kumar
In my experience of working in rural parts of the country, I have noted that large sections of disabled people and their families are not aware of the definition of persons with disabilities according to the PWD Act, leave alone about the current progress on the debate for the new bill, with which few fortunate people with disabilities are associated.

Aug 15

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What changed for persons with psychosocial disabilities in the making of the RPD Bill?

By Bhargavi Davar
What are the reasons and the consequences of the changes made in different versions, to persons with disabilities? Who was the most affected by those changes, particularly how did those changes affect the most marginalized groups among them, viz. persons with mental, intellectual, developmental, and psychosocial disabilities? The changes from Version 1 in 2011 with nearly full participation of people with disabilities to Version 4 in 2014 with nil participation, needs our studious awareness.