Persons with disabilities face significant discrimination and barriers that limit their societal participation, which has been compounded by societal stereotypes and traditional models of disability that emphasize medical or charity-based perspectives. Recent global changes advocate for a human rights-based approach, recognizing the importance of equal rights and social inclusion for people with disabilities. An overview of disability in India highlights the need for better definitions and representation in census data, with an emphasis on empowering individuals and acknowledging their diverse capabilities.

1. Disability
Introduction:
Persons with disabilities face discrimination and
barriers that restrict them from participating in
society on an equal basis with others every day.
They are denied their rights to be included in the
general school system, to be employed, to live
independently in the community, to move freely, to
vote, to participate in sport and cultural activities,
to enjoy social protection, to access justice, to
choose medical treatment and to enter freely into
legal commitments such as buying and selling
property.
Upmesh Talwar

2. • In recent years, there has been a revolutionary change
in approach, globally, to close the protection gap and
ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy the same
standards of equality, rights and dignity as everyone
else.
• The Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities, which was adopted in 2006 and entered
into force in 2008, signalled a ‘paradigm shift’ from
traditional charity-oriented, medical-based approaches
to disability to one based on human rights.

3. Assumptions about the disabled: Society’s Perception
• Some stereotyped presumptions prevailed about the
disabled in our country like:
• Disabled people are the most vulnerable section of society
and have been ignored by state and society alike since long.
• Disabled people have always been dependent and,
therefore, need helping hands and gracious charity.
• Disabled people are victims of their own bad luck.
• Disability is the punishment for sins he has never
committed in this life.
• Such assumptions about the disabled do nothing to help
them. This approach perpetuates the stereotype of the
disabled as victims and objects of pity and charity.

4. Definition:
Medical Definition: A number of definitions in use consider disability as
individual pathology: - a condition grounded in the physiological,
biological and intellectual impairment of an individual.
WHO: The World Health Organization (WHO) in 1976, provided a three-
fold definition of impairment, disability and handicap explaining that
‘an impairment is any loss or abnormality of psychological,
physiological or anatomical structure or function; a disability is any
restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to
perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered
normal for a human being; a handicap is a disadvantage for a given
individual, resulting from an impairment or a disability, that prevents
the fulfillment of a role that is considered normal (depending on age,
sex, social and cultural factors) for that individual.’

5. • Human Rights Definition of Disability: ‘disability
is the disadvantage or restriction of activity
caused by a society which takes little or no
account of people who have impairments and
thus excludes them from mainstream activities’.
• Causes of Disability: Heredity, Communal
Violence, Crime, War, Environment, Occupational
Hazards, Malnutrition, Poverty, Traffic Hazards,
Personal Conflict / Revenge. Cultural Diversities,
Accident and People Migration.

6. Models of Disability
• Medical Model
• Rehabilitation Model
• Social Model
• Interface Model
• Bio-Psychosocial Model
• Charity Model
• Human Right Model
• Function Model

7. What is Model
• A set of guiding assumptions
• Human made tool for understanding
• Human made tool for guidelines for action
• A representation of reality

8. Medical Model :
Under the medical model, disabled people are defined
by their illness or medical condition.
They are disempowered on the basis of medical
diagnosis used to regulate and control their access to
social benefits, housing, education, leisure and
employment.
This model emphasised that the disabled people have
been systematically excluded from society due to their
disability.
This model is also known as the ‘individual model’
because it promotes the notion/ mentality that it is
the individual disabled person who must adapt to the
way in which society is constructed and organised.

9. Rehabilitation Model:
The traditional rehabilitation model was based on
the medical model.
It belief that with adequate effort on the part of
the person, the disability can be overcome.
Like the medical model, the rehabilitation model
suggests that care and support are determined by
professionals.
Community Rehabilitation programme, Community
Services and resources were use for the treating
the disability

10. Social Model:
In 1983, a disabled academician Mike Oliver coined the
phrase of “social model of disability. A fundamental
aspect of the social model was concerns on equality.
The social model of disability was based on a distinction
between the terms “impairment” and “disability.”
It addresses issues such as under-estimation of potential
of disabled people to contribute to the society by
enhancing economic values if given equal rights, suitable
facilities and opportunities.
The social model of disability views disability as socially
constructed and a consequence of society’s lack of
awareness.

11. Interface Model:
The interface model was based on the premise that disability
exists at the meeting point or interface between the
person’s medical diagnosis and the environmental factors
that affect disability.
Disability was seen as neither the medical diagnosis nor the
environment alone. In this model those individuals with
disability define their own problems and seek solutions,
which may include intervention by health care
professionals including others allied health professionals .
However, these interventions are designed collaboratively
by those with disabilities and health care professionals.
Disability is viewed as a life experience in which the person
with the disability is in control and empowered.

12. Bio-Psychosocial Model:
The bio-Psychosocial approach or model of
disability views disability as arising from a
combination of factors at the physical, emotional
and environmental levels.
This approach or model takes the focus beyond the individual and
addresses issues that interact to affect the ability of the individual to
maintain as high a level of health and well-being as possible and to
function within society. This approach is consistent with the WHO’s
revised definitions of disability. It recognizes that disabilities are often
due to illness or injury and does not dismiss the importance of the
impact of biological, emotional and environmental issues on health,
well-being, and function in society. Critiques of this model have
suggested that the disabling condition, rather than the person and the
experience of the person with a disability, is the defining construct of
the biopsychosocial model.

13. The Charity Model
Driven largely by emotive appeals of charity, this model
treats PwDs as helpless victims needing ‘care’ and
‘protection’.
This model relies largely on the goodwill of benevolent
humanitarians for ‘custodial care’ of the PwDs rather than
justice and equality. The State sponsored charities
organisation for social support like special schools and
protection homes for PwDs were established.
In the core of this model, disability was perceived as a
disqualification for claiming the right of social resources
which ensured the exclusion of PwDs from social
arrangements or setup, public services and justified their
exclusion from mainstream education and employment.

14. Human Rights Model:
The human rights model considered the disability as an
important dimension of human culture, and it affirms that
all human beings irrespective of their disabilities have
certain rights which are inalienable. This model builds
upon the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, 1948, according to which, ‘all human beings are
born free and equal in rights and dignity.’
The principle of diversity provides the foundation to accept
disability as part of human variation. However, it is a sad
reality that in practice our treatment of difference has
been rather poor, especially in the context of disability.
The doctrine of differentiation is of particular importance to
PwDs, some of whom may require specialised services or
support in order to be materially equal to others.

15. Function Model: Economic Model
• Disability is defined as the interaction between the
individual and his or her functions.
• The functional model defines disability as the inability to
perform socially valued roles (work). This is also called “role
failure
• The desired condition is the ability to work.
• Deviance is the inability to work.
• Individuals are judged on their (perceived) cost
effectiveness.
• Most eugenics movements began with economic
judgments.
• The concepts of “burden” and “drains.”

16. Other Model

17. The Expert or Professional Model of Disability
This model has provided a traditional
response to disability issues and can be seen
as an offshoot of the medical model. Within
its framework, professionals follow a process
of identifying the impairment and its
limitations (using the medical model), and
taking the necessary action to improve the
position of the disabled person. This has
tended to produce a system in which an
authoritarian, over-active service provider
prescribes and acts for a passive client.

18. The Moral Model of Disability
Refers to the attitude that people are morally
responsible for their own disability. For
example, the disability may be seen as a result
of bad actions of parents if congenital (by
birth), or as a result of practicing witchcraft
(Jadu tona).
Echoes of this model can be seen in the
doctrine of karma in Indian religions.

19. The Economic Model of Disability
Defines disability by a person's inability to
participate in work.
The Spectrum Model of Disability
The spectrum model refers to the range of
visibility, audibility and sensibility under which
mankind functions. The model asserts that
disability does not necessarily mean reduced
spectrum of operations.

20. DISABILITY In INDIA : An
Overview

21. Questions Canvassed in Census
2011
Codes

22. Special Efforts Made to Improve
Coverage (Contd.)
Cycle rickshaw rally at New Delhi by the disabled

23. Special Efforts Made to Improve
Coverage (Contd.)
Posters and Banners
Leaflet on disability for Media Kit

24. Definitional Changes 2001-11
Type of disability Change in definition
In Seeing 1. One eyed persons were treated as disabled at Census 2001. At the
Census 2011 such persons have not been treated as disabled in seeing.
2. At the Census 2011 enumerators were asked to apply a simple test to
ascertain blurred vision. At Census 2001 no such instructions were
given.
In Hearing 1. Persons using hearing aid have been treated as disabled at Census
2011. They were not treated as disabled at the Census 2001.
2. Persons having problem in hearing through one ear although the
other ear is functioning normally was considered having hearing
disability in Census 2001. But in Census 2011, such persons were not
considered as disabled.
In Speech Definition was made clearer in Census 2011 to record persons with speech
disability. For instance, “persons who speak in single words and are not
able to speak in sentences” was specifically mentioned to be treated as
disabled.

25. Definitional Changes (Contd.)
Type of
disability
Change in definition
In Movement Specific mention of the following was made in the definition for
Census 2011:
1. Paralytic persons
2. Those who crawl
3. Those who are able to walk with the help of aid
4. Have acute and permanent problems of joints/muscles
5. Have stiffness or tightness in movement or have loose, involuntary
movements or tremors of the body or have fragile bones
6. Have difficulty balancing and coordinating body movement
7. Have loss of sensation in body due to paralysis, Leprosy etc.
8. Have deformity of body like hunch back or are dwarf.

26. Definitional Changes (Contd.)
Type of disability Change in definition
Mental
Retardation
New category introduced at Census 2011. Mental Retardation
was covered under the category of Mental disability at Census
2001.
Mental Illness New category introduced at Census 2011. Mental Illness was
covered under the category of Mental disability at Census 2001.
Any Other New category introduced at Census 2011 to ensure complete
coverage. This option enabled respondents to report those
disabilities which are not listed in the question. In such cases,
where informant was not sure about the type of disability this
option of reporting disability as ‘Any Other’ was available to
her/him.
Multiple Disability New category introduced at Census 2011. The question has been
designed to record as many as three types of disabilities from
which the individual was reported to be suffering.

27. Data Highlights

28. Disabled Population by Sex and Residence
India : 2001-11
Source: C-Series, Table C-20, Census of India 2001 and 2011
Disabled Population by Sex and Residence
India, 2011
Residence Persons Males Females
Total 26,810,557 14,986,202 11,824,355
Rural 18,631,921 10,408,168 8,223,753
Urban 8,178,636 4,578,034 3,600,602
Decadal Change in Disabled Population
by Sex and Residence, India, 2001-11
Absolute Increase Percentage Decadal Growth
Residence Persons Males Females Persons Males Females
Total 4,903,788 2,380,567 2,523,221 22.4 18.9 27.1
Rural 2,243,539 997,983 1,245,556 13.7 10.6 17.8
Urban 2,660,249 1,382,584 1,277,665 48.2 43.3 55.0

29. Disabled Population by Sex and Residence
India : 2011
Percentage of Disabled to total population India, 2011
Residence Persons Males Females
Total 2.21 2.41 2.01
Rural 2.24 2.43 2.03
Urban 2.17 2.34 1.98
Percentage of Disabled to total population India, 2001
Residence Persons Males Females
Total 2.13 2.37 1.87
Rural 2.21 2.47 1.93
Urban 1.93 2.12 1.71

30. Proportion of Disabled Population
India and States/UTs : 2011
Source: C-Series, Table C-20, Census of India 2001 and 2011

31. Disabled Population by Type of Disability
India : 2011
Disabled Population by Type of Disability
India : 2011
Type of Disability Persons Males Females
Total 26,810,557 14,986,202 11,824,355
In Seeing 5,032,463 2,638,516 2,393,947
In Hearing 5,071,007 2,677,544 2,393,463
In Speech 1,998,535 1,122,896 875,639
In Movement 5,436,604 3,370,374 2,066,230
Mental Retardation 1,505,624 870,708 634,916
Mental Illness 722,826 415,732 307,094
Any Other 4,927,011 2,727,828 2,199,183
Multiple Disability 2,116,487 1,162,604 953,883

32. Attitude of Disabled People
TEACH ME SKILLS
DON’T
TREAT MY ILLS

33. They even have their own Olympics!

34. Conclusion
As you have seen, people with disabilities are unseen and unaccounted
in our country. There is a huge underestimation of number of people
with disabilities. As a result, people with disabilities do not have the
necessary facilities.
We can make a big difference in the lives of people with disability by
counting them in the upcoming Census and by providing authentic data
on disability. And feel that they are not disabled , they are differently
abled.

36. Thankyou