News

Volume 8 Issue 1 - January 01, 2011

Awareness about Disability Law dismal

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act was passed in 1995 - almost fifteen years ago. It was enacted to create a barrier-free environment and to make special provisions for the integration of disabled people into the social mainstream. However, even after fifteen years, the various provisions in the Disability Act and awareness about rights, need and care of disabled persons remains dismal and the issue of accessibility remains a far cry.

To assess the level of awareness about different provisions of the Disability Act 1995 among disabled people, an audit of all six backward states in India was conducted by the Centre for Media Studies (C.M.S.). According to the C.M.S. Social Disability Audit, all the six backward states showed poor results as far as awareness of rights was concerned. The audit was conducted in four specific areas - awareness of the Disability Act 1995, awareness of at least one government scheme, beneficiary of any government scheme and owning disability certificate. In Bihar and Chhattisgarh, only 2% of the population surveyed was even aware of the Disability Act 1995. In Jharkhand (1.5%) and U.P. (0.5%), it was even worse.

For more details, please refer to the Monograph brought out by C.M.S. Social entitled, ‘Empowering People with Disabilities: Challenges and Opportunities’. To get a copy, you can write to info@cmsindia.org.