Career Development and Transition for

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Poverty, Disability, and Employment: Global Perspectives From the National Centre for Promotion of
Employment for Disabled People
Javed Abidi and Dorodi Sharma
Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals 2014 37: 60 originally published online 6 February 2014
DOI: 10.1177/2165143413520180
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research-article2014

CDEXXX10.1177/2165143413520180Career Development and Transition for Exceptional IndividualsAbidi and Sharma

Article

Poverty, Disability, and Employment:

Global Perspectives From the National
Centre for Promotion of Employment for
Disabled People

Career Development and Transition for

Exceptional Individuals
2014, Vol. 37(1) 6068
Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2014
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/2165143413520180
cdtei.sagepub.com

Javed Abidi, BA1 and Dorodi Sharma, MA1

Abstract
The worldwide problems of disability, poverty, and unemployment stem out of the interaction of multiple factors including
social stigma, stereotypes, lack of access to physical infrastructure, information, and enabling environments. Given this,
a singular approach toward tackling these interrelated issues falls short. This article attempts to highlight the correlation
of poverty, disability, and employment through the linkages with education, accessibility, legislative and policy changes,
and awareness. It draws on the experiences of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People
(NCPEDP), to propose a course of action which is built on a strong cross-disability rights-based movements driving a multipronged, multi-sectoral approach toward addressing inequalities to break the cycle of poverty and disability.
Keywords
disabilities, employment
The magnitude of the global problem of disability in the world
is truly gigantic and its huge dimensions are often not fully
realised.
Amartya Sen (2007)

These words rang true in 2011 when the World Report on

Disability published by the World Health Organization
(WHO) and the World Bank revealed that 15% of the
worlds population or 1 billion people are affected by disability. Of this, as many as 80% or 800 million live in the
Global South which includes the nations of Africa, Central
and Latin America, and most of Asia. People with disabilities also constitute 20% of the worlds poorest individuals
(Elwan, 1999).
Researchers in the United States have also documented
the connections between disability and poverty (Emerson,
2007; Hughes, 2013). Although U.S. special education and
transition professionals may be aware of the growing numbers of families living in poverty or the impact of poverty
on post-school outcomes; they may not have a full picture
of the intersection of disability and poverty worldwide. The
purpose of this article is to offer a global perspective, focusing primarily on public policy, awareness, and other issues
of inclusion and equity in India and neighboring countries.
The World Bank (2009) study People with Disabilities in
India: From Commitments to Outcomes clearly underlines
the close connection between poverty and disability. This
study reported a 52% illiteracy rate among people with

disabilities as opposed to 35% in Indias general population.

Households that include persons with disabilities are less
likely to have three meals a day. Even more disturbing is the
fact that the employment rate for people with disabilities in
India decreased from 42.7% in 1991 to 37.6% in 2002. Lack
of access to education, poor employment prospects, and
stigma compound the challenges faced by people with disabilities (OKeefe, 2009).
These dismal statistics are not limited to the developing
countries. The annual Disability Equality Indicators published by the Office of Disability Issues of United Kingdom
report that a substantially higher proportion of individuals
who live in families with disabled members live in poverty,
compared with individuals who live in families where no
one is disabled (Government of the United Kingdom,
Department for Work and Pensions, Office for Disability
Issues, 2012). According to these indicators, 20% of individuals with a family member with disability live in relative
income poverty as opposed to 15% of individuals from
families without disability. These indicators also state that
46.3% of people with disabilities in the working age
1

Disabled Peoples International (DPI), New Delhi, India

Corresponding Author:
Dorodi Sharma, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for
Disabled People (NCPEDP), A 77, South Extension Part 2, New Delhi
110049, India.
Email: dorodi.sharma@gmail.com

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Abidi and Sharma

category are employed as opposed to 76.4% in the non-disabled population.
Given this reality, it is imperative that the world moves
beyond the rhetoric on the linkages between disability and
poverty. At the turn of the century, the world united to set
eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on critical
issues like eradicating poverty; achieving universal primary
education; promoting gender equality and empowering
women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health;
combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; ensuring
environmental sustainability; and global co-operation for
development (United Nations, http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/). The timeline to achieve these targets is 2015.
Despite the correlation of disability and development,
and the fact that disability is a cross-cutting issue, the needs
of individuals with disabilities were not specifically mentioned in the MDGs. A huge percent of the worlds population (at that point estimated to be more than 600 million)
which faced multiple levels of deprivation, was left out of
the worlds unified efforts to tackle these future development challenges. This exclusion has led to more barriers
being created for people with disabilities. The majority of
the schemes and programs arising out of the MDGs were
not accessible to people with disabilitiesbe it infrastructure in terms of buildings or access to information. Toward
the second half of the last decade, attempts have been made
to rectify this oversight. Resolutions have been adopted by
the United Nations to mainstream disability within the goals
as well as the indicators for MDGs. Current discussions on
the MDGs are progressing along two parallel tracks: one on
accelerating the MDG process and the other to develop a
new agenda for post-2015. It is imperative that disability is
seen as a truly cross-cutting issue for both of these international efforts.
This article will provide a global perspective on the relationship between poverty, employment, and disability based
on the experiences of the National Centre for Promotion of
Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) in India, and
cite some examples of successful advocacy campaigns that
have led to a significant inclusion of disability in the policy
realm. Given our experiences in India, we will underline
how building a cross-disability advocacy movement is
essential to bring about any substantial change in the lives
of people with disabilities.

Unemployment and Poverty

According to WHOs World Health Survey of 51 countries,
the employment rate for people with disabilities is 52% for
men with disabilities and 19.6% for women with disabilities
(WHO & World Bank, 2011). However, these figures may
not be completely accurate given the dearth of reliable data
on disability across the world, especially in the countries of
the Global South. Moreover, while considering employment

rates, it is important to keep in mind that most people with

disabilities in countries of the Global South do not participate in the open labor market. Experiences from the disability movement show that people with disabilities are mostly
employed in non-formal sectors such as sheltered workshops where the concept of salary is reduced to a small stipend. This does not truly emancipate individuals nor make
them self-reliant. This same situation may also be true for
many other developed countries. For example, according to
the Office of Disability Employment Policy, under the
Department of Labor of the United States (2010), labor force
participation for people with disabilities in the country is only
20.7% as opposed to 68.7% for the general population.

Employment of People With

Disabilities in India
The story of economic empowerment of persons with disabilities in India started in the year 1977 when the then
Prime Minister of India passed a Government Order mandating a 3% reservation for persons with disabilities in government jobs. Although a good beginning, it had many
downsides, including the following:
It was only a Government Order and not a law.
Implementation was dismal.
This reservation was only for C & D category jobs.
Government jobs in India are graded as A, B, C, and
D, where A and B are officer-level positions and C
and D are lower level jobs. The Government Order
of 1977 thus assumed that persons with disabilities
were unfit to become executives or officers.
This reservation was for only three dominant disabilities1% each for individuals with orthopedic,
visual and hearing impairments.
In the year 1995, India passed its first disability legislation: Persons with Disabilities Equal Opportunities,
Protection of Rights and Full Participation Act, 1995. With
this act, the 3% reservation for persons with disabilities in
government jobs became legally binding. Moreover, reservations were extended to A and B category (officers). Even
then, much was left to be done. The major drawbacks that
still remained were as follows:
The 3% reservation was still restricted to the three dominant disabilities (orthopedic, visual, and hearing).
Indias economy had opened up and there were more
jobs in the private sector. But the private sector was
not tapped at all. The law only said that incentives
were to be provided to those private sector companies who ensured that at least 5% of their workforce
comprised persons with disabilities. These incentives were not defined.

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Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals 37(1)

Identification of jobs for persons with disabilities

reaffirmed stereotypes that persons with disabilities
were fit only for certain type of employment.
Poor implementation of the 3% reservation occurred
even in government jobs.
A year after the Persons with Disabilities (Equal
Opportunities, Protection of Rights, and Full Participation)
Act was passed, in 1996, there was a need for focused attention on promoting employment opportunities for persons
with disabilities. It was during this time that NCPEDP was
set up to work as an interface between Government,
Industry, International Agencies, and the Voluntary Sector
toward promotion of better employment opportunities for
persons with disabilities. This created a paradigm shift as
for the first time India was thinking beyond basket weaving
and candle making for individuals with disabilities to mainstream employment. In addition, there was new emphasis
on development of jobs in the private sector. In 1999,
NCPEDP conducted a study of the top 100 companies in
India: 23 public sector companies, 63 private sector companies and 14 multi-national companies (MNCs). Of this, 70
companies responded to this survey: 20 public sector companies, 40 private sector companies, and 10 MNCs. Survey
results documented the following:
Percentage of employees with disabilities in the
respondent companies = 0.40%
Percentage of employees with disabilities in the public sector = 0.54%
Percentage of employees with disabilities in the private sector = 0.28%
Percentage of employees with disabilities in the
multi-nationals = 0.05%
In 2009, NCPEDP conducted a similar follow-up
study. The percentage of employment had improved but
very negligibly. The percentage of employees with disabilities in the surveyed companies in the public sector,
on an average, was between 1% and 2% and in the private sector, (which included the MNCs) was between
0.5% and 1%. Even in the Government sector jobs, where
there is a 3% reservation, which has resulted in people
with certain disabilities getting jobs, implementation was
dismal. As a result of advocacy and various court orders,
backlogs are getting filled up. Despite this, the 3% mark
was not met until 2012 (Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment, 2012).
Does the overall picture look promising in India? On
an average, about 3,500 people with disabilities are
placed through employment exchanges every year and
some are being placed through other sources, including
competitive exams, advertisements, and so on (Ministry
of Labour & Employment, 2010). In the private sector,

particularly in the information technology (IT) and hospitality industry, several companies are proactively hiring persons with disabilities. Figure 1 provides a profile
of one company that has focused on inclusion for individuals with disabilities.
There are no other reliable data available on private sector employment of persons with disabilities except the
NCPEDP study. According to Rama Chari, Founder and
Director of Bangalore-based Diversity and Equal
Opportunity Centre (DEOC), the situation is slightly better
than what it was about 8 to 10 years ago since there has
been an increase in job opportunities in these sectors in the
last decade or so. R. Chari (personal communication, April
24, 2013) says that even in the private sector, most people
with disabilities are facing continued barriers to full inclusion in the workforce. Figure 2 provides an overview of
these barriers.

Barriers to Employment
During the initial years of NCPEDP, our staff reached out
to apex bodies such as chambers of commerce, industry,
and so on and organized a series of workshops to sensitize employers. However, we soon realized that to be
meaningfully employed education is an absolute must. A
person with disability can only gain an education if the
schools, colleges, and universities are accessible; the
roads and transport are accessible; and information is
accessible. Thus, neither education nor employment is
possible without accessibility. Employment, education,
and accessibility are not possible without appropriate
laws and policies. To bring in appropriate policies, one
needs to build public opinion through awareness and
communication. Hence, employment cannot be looked at
in isolation, and therefore, NCPEDP started working on
five areas simultaneously: Employment, Education,
Accessibility, Legislations/Policies, and Communication.
The relationship of these five key areas is depicted in
Figure 3.

Education and the Inverted Pyramid

In 2003, NCPEDP conducted a study on the status of students with disabilities in the schools, colleges, and universities across India. The Persons with Disabilities (Equal
Opportunities, Protection of Rights, and Full Participation)
Act of 1995 mandated 3% reservation for students with
orthopedic, visual and hearing impairment in educational
institutions. For this study, 322 universities, 294 colleges,
(10 colleges in each State and 1 from each union territory)
and 318 schools (10 schools from each State and 5 for each
Union Territory) were sent the questionnaires. Of this sample, 119 universities, 96 colleges, and 89 schools responded,
which is a 46% response rate.

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Abidi and Sharma

MphasiS: A Model Employer

MphasiS is a USD 1 billion global service provider, delivering technology based solutions to clients across the world and
across industries, including Banking and Capital Markets, Insurance, Manufacturing and Communications. It is one of the
model companies in India when it comes to equal opportunities for people with disabilities.
Beginning: The process of hiring persons with disabilities at MphasiS started in 20052006. It was a conscious decision
led by senior leadership driven by the premise that talent/competencies exist across the population and that persons
with disabilities would add to the diversity of the workforce and also have a positive impact on their bottom line.
Process: MphasiS worked and is working on a twin-track approach toward inclusivity. On one hand, as part of the
mainstream strategy, it is a policy to actively source candidates with disabilities. All recruitment drives internal as well as
external- reiterate the commitment to diversity. All employees with a disability undergo regular induction with reasonable
accommodation provided whenever and wherever requested. For example, providing screen magnifiers and JAWS
software to employees with visual disability; dedicated transport facility; pick and drop from home;
sign language interpretation; flexible working hours where needed, etc. MphasiS has earmarked a certain budget for workplace
solutions/accommodations to enable employees with disabilities to fulfill their job requirements.
MphasiS also has a loan advance policy to support employees with disabilities to lead a quality life with the help of assistive devices.
Simultaneously, MphasiS has also linked its commitment toward disability in its philanthropic work. Through its Corporate
Social Responsibility, it was decided to support HR in proactively recruiting people with disabilities into the workforce
by investing in trainable candidates, and absorbing them into the workforce. It works with NGOs focusing on increasing
employability through an intensive and structured pre-employment training, especially in tier-2 cities, which would enable them
to compete on an equal footing with other candidates. More than 500 candidates with disabilities who have been
trained so far have secured jobs not only in MphasiS but also in other companies.
As of today, MphasiS has over 1% of employees with disabilities.

Figure 1. Employer case study.

Results of the survey indicated the following:

Percentage of students with disabilities in the surveyed universities = 0.10%
Percentage of students with disabilities in the surveyed colleges = 0.52%
Percentage of students with disabilities in the surveyed schools = 0.51%
This study clearly showed that very few students with
disabilities reached schools and colleges, and even fewer to
the universities. NCPEDP conducted a similar survey in
2010 to 2011 of more than 300 top universities/colleges
across India. This included the top 20 each of medical sciences, engineering, law, journalism, management, and so
on. More than 150 institutions responded. However, the
average rate of students with disabilities in the surveyed
colleges/universities was still less than 1%.

The Invisible Minority: Disability and

Public Policy
The poor visibility of persons with disabilities in the public
space can, to a great extent, be attributed to the complete
absence of disability in the policy space. India attained
independence in 1947. During the crucial period of nation

building, disability was not a part of the planning. It was

only in 1995, half a century after independence that India
got its first legislation that guaranteed the rights of persons
with disabilities. The extent to which disability was absent
from the radar of policy makers and decision makers can be
understood from the fact that India did not find it pertinent
to enumerate the population of people with disabilities in its
Population Census until 2001.
Likewise, disability did not find any mention in the
Five Year Plans that sets the priority for development and
resource allocation till as long as the Tenth Plan (2002
2007). The Planning Commission was set up by a Resolution
of the Government of India in March 1950 in pursuance of
declared objectives of the Government to promote a rapid
rise in the standard of living of the people by efficient
exploitation of the resources of the country, increasing production, and offering opportunities to all for employment in
the service of the community (http://planningcommission.
nic.in). Since the Government did not have numbers for
people with disabilities, and did not include disability in its
policy-making mechanisms, people with disabilities were
not seen in the mainstream of society.
In a scenario where people with disabilities are not able
to access education and avenues of employment, it becomes
essential that they be featured as a priority in all development policies and programs. This is a need to correct the

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Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals 37(1)

Barriers to employment for persons with disabilities in the private sector

Rama Chari, Founder & Director,
Diversity & Equal Opportunity Centre (DEOC), Bangalore, India
1. No legislative mandate for non-discrimination/equal opportunity for persons with disabilities.
2. Choice to employ/not employ remains with the employer. Thus, some companies just do not employ people with
disabilities; some employ persons with certain disabilities and do not even want to consider hiring persons with
some other disabilities notwithstanding their qualification for the job; some identify jobs for which they can hire
persons with disabilities.
3. Not willing to invest in creating accessible infrastructure or providing accommodations.
4. Very ad hoc and piecemeal approach toward hiring, which may not be sustainable in the long run.
5. Lack of awareness and rigid mindsets amongst the decision makers, managers and other employees.
6. Rigid hiring criteria, which may not be based on skills needed for a particular job requiring generic skills.
7. A charity outlook toward employing people with disabilities compounded by unfounded fears and apprehensions
on disability due to stereotypes. For instance, questions such as Will she/he be able to travel?; What would
clients say? etc.
8. Lack of redress mechanism where persons with disabilities can approach when faced with
discrimination/harassment.
Myth of the employable pool: Employable pool, as viewed by some companies, may not be the same as the actual
employable pool. For example, people who need accommodation may be considered unemployable; people with certain
disabilities may be considered unemployable; people without certain qualifications despite having the necessary skill set
may get excluded from the employable pool; and so on. Thus a lot of people with disabilities who are employable may not
be included in the employable pool.

Figure 2. Barriers to employment in the private sector.

mistakes of the past as much as laying the foundation for the

future. However, a look at the policy space of India would
reveal that this is not the case.

LEGISLATIONS

Census and Disability

In the early 1990s, when the Disabled Rights Group (DRG)
was established, the first priorities were to address the absence
of a law to protect the rights of people with disabilities and to
gather credible statistics. DRG is a cross-disability alliance of
people with disabilities and their organizations, friends, families, and supporters. It was formed in 1993 primarily to advocate for disability rights legislation. Over the years, it has led
several advocacy campaigns bordering on activism. Advocacy
led to the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities,
Protection of Rights, and Full Participation) Act, 1995. In
terms of enumeration of people with disabilities the next
opportunity was in the Census of 2001.
Indias Census (http://censusindia.gov.in/) operation dates
back to the British era (1872) and has been conducted uninterruptedly every 10 years. What is surprising is that until
before independence, a question on disability, though very
crude, was always included. This question was dropped in
the Census after Independence and then included again in
1981, which was the International Year for Disabled People.
However, it was again dropped in the Census of 1991. The
Census figures are the statistics that the Government relies on
to develop policies and programs and most importantly to

AWARENESS

EMPLOYMENT

EDUCATION

ACCESSIBILITY

Figure 3. Key priorities for NCPEDP.

Note. NCPEDP = National Centre for Promotion of Employment for

Disabled People.

determine resource allocations. In 1999, the DRG made a

request to the Government to include disability in the 2001
Census. To our utter dismay, this request was refused. A vigorous campaign followed that went on for several months,
where people with disabilities came out on the streets to protest. Eventually, and at the very last moment, a question on
disability was hurriedly included in the census. It was not a
well-framed question and did not include several disability

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Abidi and Sharma

categories. This was compounded by the fact that the enumerators (the people who go house to house filling the Census
questionnaire), were not sensitized about disability and the
importance of asking this question. We got feedback from
across the country where enumerators did not even ask the
question. Nevertheless, the Census data revealed that India
was home to 21 million people with disabilities, or 2.1% of
its population.
The next challenge was to get a more accurate enumeration of disability in the 2011 Census. NCPEDP and the
National Disability Network (NDN) led a campaign in 2010
for improving the question on disability, prioritizing the
question on disability, and making disability an integral part
of the training and sensitization program of the enumerators
in the Census of 2011. This time, the Census Commission
was also more sensitized and aware: It is now hoped that
when the disability data under Census 2011 is revealed, it
will paint a more accurate picture.

Five Year Plan

India set up the Planning Commission in 1950 to promote
development by setting the development agenda and
resource allocation through formulating what are called the
Five Year Plans (http://planningcommission.nic.in). The
First Five Year Plan was launched in 1951. This was the
time that India was setting the foundation of the nation: Its
education system, infrastructure, and so on, as well as disability were not in the paradigm. In fact, disability was not
in the Five Year Plan until the Tenth Plan (20022007).
Even then, it was just a very cursory mention.
In 2006 to 2007, when the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007
2012) was being formulated, NDN and DRG led a sustained
campaign for proper inclusion of disability in the legislation.
It was a difficult and prolonged campaign that involved people with disabilities coming out on the streets. Finally, the
chapter on Social Justice had a substantial mention of disability (Planning Commission, Government of India, 2008).
Among many other mandates, the most significant achievement for the disability movement was that for the first time,
the Five Year Plan recognized that disability has been a
neglected subject and that it is a cross-cutting issue.
However, now that the Eleventh Plan has ended, an
appraisal of the implementation will show that it has been
extremely cheerless.
8.87 Recognizing the special problems and needs of persons
with disabilities, specific aspirational and actionable
pronouncements were made in the Eleventh Plan. An
assessment of the progress made with regard to the actionable
points concerning the welfare and development of persons
with disabilities indicates a disappointing performance; most
of them have remained unattended till date. (Mid-Term
Appraisal for Eleventh Five Year Plan, Planning Commission,
Government of India, 2011, p. 187)

ReservationsDo They Work?

India has 3% reservation or quota for people with orthopedic, visual, and hearing disabilities in government sector
jobs. There have been sporadic demands for similar reservations or quotas in the private sector as well. There are
both pros and cons to reservations. If we analyze the status
of employment of people with disabilities in the public sector companies over the past decade, it will be clear that
many people have benefitted from this policy (Abidi, 2010).
Some of them would not have been able to get any job,
otherwise. Raja Mohan Pratap a person with quadriplegia,
despite doing well in his engineering course could not find
a job during the campus placement. It was only because of
the quota that he joined a leading energy sector company
(PSU). He vouches for the effectiveness of quota (Abidi,
2010).
However, despite the quota, Government companies
have not been able to fulfill the mandated 3%. There is a
huge backlog of reserved vacancies for persons with disabilities. Based on the information received from 65
Ministries/Departments 6,611 vacancies remain unfilled:
The total number of backlog vacancies identified was
7,628 and the number of backlog vacancies filled was
only 1,017. Similar is the situation with respect to backlog in all the States and Union Territories (Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment, 2012). The reason
being quoted for the vacancies is the lack of qualified
candidates.
Although quotas seem to have worked in the Government
sector, we do not advocate for adopting quotas in the private
sector. Rather, NCPEDP strongly feels that an effective
anti-discrimination law would help persons with disabilities
have a level playing field when it comes to employment in
the private sector. However, the core issue still remains the
fact that young people with disabilities are not reaching the
schools, colleges, and universities and are not integrated
into the skill development programs.

Skill Development
India is now in the midst of the National Skill Development
Mission where the aim is to train 500 million people by
2022. Disability does not seem to have featured extensively
in this program. NCPEDPs contention is that the 1995 Act
mandates a 3% reservation in all areas of activity, and in
Chapter VI on Employment (Section 40), it clearly states,
The appropriate Governments and local authorities shall
reserve not less than 3% in all poverty alleviation schemes
for the benefit of persons with disabilities. Given this, 3%
of 500 million or 15 million people with disabilities should
be skilled under this legislation. Also, all venues, courses,
information, curriculum, and so on should be accessible to
all persons with disabilities.

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Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals 37(1)

Disability in the Flagship ProgramMahatma

Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (MNREGA)
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act of 2005 is the first ever law internationally
that guarantees wage employment at an unprecedented
scale. It is a flagship program of the Government of India
that guaranteed 100 days of employment at Rupees 100 per
day to people from rural areas.
Some of the salient features are as follows:

countries within the Global South. Here, we present a brief

overview of the key issues in both Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Perspective From Islamic Republic of Pakistan

According to 1998 census, approximately 2.49% of the
population of Pakistan has some form of disability. It is estimated that 66% of them live in rural areas. Only 28% of
people with disabilities are literate; only 14% of them work
and 70% are reliant on family members for financial support (A. Akram, personal communication, April, 24, 2013).

Work is provided within 5 km radius of the village.

In case work is provided beyond 5 km, extra wages
of 10% are payable to meet additional transportation
and living expenses.
Priority is awarded to women, such that at least one
third of the beneficiaries under the scheme are
women.
At least 50% of works, in terms of cost, are to be
executed by the Gram Panchayats, which is the local
government at the village level.
Contractors and use of labor displacing machinery
are prohibited.
Work site facilities such as crche, drinking water,
shade have to be provided.

Affirmative action for people with disabilities.According to

Section 10 of the Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Ordinance1981 (DPO-1981), 1% of all jobs in
public and private sector establishments are reserved for
people with disabilities. This quota was later enhanced to
2% in 1998 through an administrative order, issued by
Establishment Division. To avail this quota, a person has to
be assessed by a medical board and given an ID card with a
special logo on it. The assessment board also indicates, in
its report to the provincial government, the nature of work
in which a specific person with disability can be employed
or training requirement in a vocation or trade.

While the Act mandated that one third of the beneficiaries should be women, it did not have any provision for
people with disabilities. The basic premise was that all work
under MNREGA is physical and labor intensive and thus
unsuitable for people with disabilities. The overarching
goal of eradicating poverty by providing guaranteed minimum wage cannot be achieved if a huge bulk of the population is not included. Eventually, after some advocacy the
Government has incorporated a statement under Chapter 4
on Registration & Employment (Section 4.6; Sub-section
4.6.10) in its Operational Guidelines for the implementation
of the MNREGA stating that

Persons with disabilities are mostly unseen, unheard,

and uncounted in Pakistan. They face overwhelming
barriers in education, skills development, and daily
life.
There is a dearth of information on issues pertaining
to disability as family influence or other pressures
keep persons with disabilities, particularly women
with disabilities reluctant to identify themselves and
participate in surveys.
Unemployed people with disabilities are more
inclined toward receiving/expecting financial support or provision of employment instead of work
opportunities,

If a rural disabled person applies for work, work suitable to his/

her ability and qualifications will have to be given. This may
also be in the form of services that are identified as integral to
the program. Provisions of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal
Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act,
1995, will be kept in view and implemented.

Despite these recommendations, participation of people

with disabilities in NREGA is still not ideal, and in many
cases negligible.

Neighboring Countries
Barriers to employment and independence for individuals
with disabilities are also prevalent in other neighboring

Barriers to Employment

People with disabilities and their families seem to focus

more on information related to charity instead of livelihood
and employment issues (A. Akram, personal communication, April 24, 2013).

Perspective From Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has a total population of 20,860,000, of which
274,711 are persons with disabilities, roughly 1.6% of the
total population. Section 23 of the Protection of the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities Act (1996) underlines nondiscrimination in employment and education for persons
with disabilities and also measures that may be taken in

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Abidi and Sharma

such cases (S. Attanyanke, personal communication, April
24, 2013).
The National Policy on Disability (2003) also includes
information about equal employment opportunities as well
as vocational training and skills development, poverty alleviation, school education, non-formal education, social
security, access to built environments, communication and
information, assistive devices, and IT.
Public Administration Circular No. 27/88, 1988, reserves
3% of vacancies in public service and public companies to
be filled by persons with disabilities provided their disability would not be a hindrance to the performance of
duties (Government of Sri Lanka, Ministry of Public
Administration, 1988, Article 1). The Draft National
Employment Policy also mentions employment opportunities for people with disabilities. However, there are no official statistics on the status of employment for persons with
disabilities in Sri Lanka.

The Way Forward: Recommendations

It is evident that an isolated intervention is not sufficient to
break the cycle of poverty and disability worldwide. The
root causes of inequalities stem out of the intersections of
disability and several other factors. Meaningful employment leading to financial independence is one of the key
remedies to alleviating poverty. However, as we have seen,
the barriers to employment for persons with disabilities also
cannot be considered in isolation.
Policy and program development without social justice
is meaningless. For people with disabilities with high support needs, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and those with psychosocial disabilities who do
not even have legal capacity, it means nothing. These
individuals are often not even recognized as persons.
Without acknowledging these inequalities, any development agenda cannot meet the primary objective of leaving
no one behind. Thus, a multi-pronged, multi-sectoral
approach toward addressing the inequalities arising out of
disability will have to be created to truly break the cycle of
poverty and disability. We summarize our recommendations for change below.

Addressing Barriers at the Family/Community

Level
The barriers for persons with disabilities start at home. In
many countries, disability is still considered a charity issue.
Thus, families with children with disabilities may not
expect that these young people could grow up to become
productive members of society. Early intervention services
and systems need to be in place at the community level.
Parents and families will have to be counseled about disability and how it is not an impediment to anyone living a

complete life. Children with disabilities need to be trained

to understand their disabilities and to be able to lead an
independent life. Without these early intervention services,
children with disabilities will not be able to attend mainstream schools or have a regular childhood. Such services
will also help create awareness within the community on
disability.

Addressing Barriers to Education

Unless barriers to education are adequately addressed,
employment for persons with disabilities will remain a distant dream. No child should be driven away from neighborhood schools on account of disability. All schools need to be
accessible for students with all kinds of disabilities
including physical accessibility, as well as accessibility of
books and curriculum. Disability should be an integral
aspect of teacher training programs. The funnel flow or
the inverted pyramid aspect of education and disability
has to be addressed to ensure that students with disabilities
have smoother transition from primary to secondary to tertiary education and that the dropout rates are reduced
significantly.

Addressing Barriers to Accessibility

The concept of Universal Design must be intrinsic to
infrastructure, technology, and information. Accessibility
needs to be considered a human right; the violation of which
should amount to punitive measures. When buildings are
built for public consumption, websites are created for the
public, or television programming is developed, the needs
of individuals with disabilities must be considered. If a sizeable section of the population does not have equal access, it
amounts to discrimination. The lack of access is one of the
fundamental reasons for inequalities.

Inclusion of Disability in the Policy Realm

It has long been established that disability is a cross-cutting
human rights issue. Yet, it still eludes the focus of policy
makers and decision makers. Advocacy is required to reiterate that disability is not just a human rights issue, but also a
development issue. Thus, for any development agenda to
truly achieve its goal, we must proactively reach out to people with disabilities. This also means that disability has to
be an integral part of national and local budgets.

Strong Anti-discrimination Legislation

Discrimination against any minority group amounts to
severe punitive measures in most countries: for example,
the very strong laws on Dalits in India, which has zero tolerance to discrimination against persons from lower castes.

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Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals 37(1)

Yet, when it comes to people with disabilities, discrimination is somehow accepted by the society. Therefore, strong
legal and judicial systems need to be in place to ensure that
violation of the human rights of persons with disabilities
lead to adequate liabilities.

Realizing the True Demographic Dividend

People with disabilities constitute 15% of the worlds population (WHO & World Bank, 2011). In countries of the
Global South, especially the populous countries such as
India, Bangladesh, and even China, the population of persons with disabilities can be higher than the entire population of some small countries. This is a huge percentage of
the population to be kept away from the mainstreamto
survive on dole outs and charity.
The emerging economies (such as India) today are waking up to realizing the growing demographic dividend,
especially in terms of youth. For instance, India has the
largest youth population in the world; around 66% of the
total population (more than 808 million) is below the age of
35 (International Labour Organization, 2012). The Indian
labor force is set to grow by over 8 million per annum over
the coming decade, most of which will be driven by youth
entering the labor market. The true potential of Indias
human resource can only be realized if all its citizens,
including persons with disabilities are recognized.

Creating Political Will

One of the crucial factors in bringing about change is creating the political will among lawmakers and policy makers.
Unfortunately, disability is still not seen as a human rights
and development issue. The disability movement also
largely has not invested in creating this political will. In
countries of the Global South, where several rights and
development issues are vying for the limited attention span
of the political class, it becomes more important for people
with disabilities and their organizations to be vigilant and
proactive. The hard truth is that most of these organizations
are steeped in service delivery and do not focus on advocacy. In countries of the Global South where social security
nets are virtually non-existent, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) fill up a critical vacuum through service
delivery. But at the same time, unless the State is made
accountable toward its citizens with disabilities, it is virtually impossible to fill this gap between services and people
by NGOs alone.
Sustainable and far-reaching change can therefore only
be brought about by creating effective laws and policies and
by ensuring that disability truly is a cross-cutting issue. For
this to happen, one needs a strong, vibrant, and aware

disability rights movement from grassroots upward to the

national level.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect
to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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