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Demographic Status of Disabled Persons in India
Demographic Status of Disabled Persons in India
Key words: Disabled people, Blindness, Low Vision, Leprosy-cured, Hearing impairment, Loco
motor disability, Mental retardation, Mental illness
Introduction disabled, with noticeable differences between
The term differently abled was coined by high countries (12 %) and low income
the US Democratic National Committee in the countries (18 %) (World Health Organisation/
early 1980s as a more acceptable term than World Bank 2011).
handicapped. The motivation seems to have As per the provisions of the Persons with
been both a genuine attempt to view the people Disabilities Act, 1995, seven categories of
previously called handicapped, in a more disabilities have been identified namely
positive light and also as a need to be seen blindness, low vision, leprosy cured, hearing
politically correct. impairment, loco motor disability, mental
Definition of Disability retardation and mental illness. Persons falling
under the above categories with a minimum
Persons with disabilities comprise between
of 40 per cent disability are eligible for
one fifth and one sixth of the world population.
entitlement of all benefits provided by the
Approximately 16 per cent of the adult
Government.
population aged 18 and older worldwide is
SELP Journal of Social Science 59 July - September 2017
Vol. VIII, Issue . 33 ISSN : 0975-9999 (P), 2349-1655 (O)
A disability is a result of the interaction v. Loco motor disability
between a person with a health condition and vi. Mental retardation
a particular environmental context. Individuals
vii. Mental illness
with similar health conditions may not be
similarly disabled or share the same perception Each of the above disabilities has been
of their disability, depending on their further defined under separate sub section of
section 2 of the said Act i.e blindness (2(o)),
environmental adaptations.
Mental illness (2(q)), Mental retardation (2(r))
UN CRPD and low vision (2(u)).
Disability results from the interaction As per section 2(t) of the aforesaid Act,
between persons with impairments and 1995, a person with disability means a person
attitudinal and environmental barriers that suffering from not less than 40% of any
hinder their full and effective participation in disability as certified by medical authorities.
society on an equal basis with other persons. Further, Section 2(j) of The National Trust for
Disabled persons include those who have long- Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral
Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple
term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory
Disabilities Act, 1999, describes that “person
impairments which in interaction with various with disability” means a person suffering from
barriers may hinder their full and effective any of the conditions relating to autism,
participation in society on an equal basis with cerebral palsy, mental retardation or a
others. combination of any two or more of such
At the core of ICF’s concept of disability conditions and includes a person suffering
are the facts that disability is multidimensional from severe multiple disability.
and the product of an interaction between an Table – 1 Population in India as per Census
individual’s certain conditions and his or her 2011 (No. in crore)
physical, social, and attitudinal barriers.
World Health Organisation
‘Disability is an umbrella term, covering
many kinds of impairments, like activity
limitations and participation restrictions. An Table - 1 indicates that population in India
impairment is a problem in body function or as per the Census of 2011, out of a total
structure. An activity limitation is a difficulty population of 121.08 crore, 2.68 crore (2.21%)
encountered by an individual in executing a were disabled. 1.5 crore males were disabled
task or action, while a participation restriction out of 62.32 crore of male population. 1.18
is a problem experienced by an individual in female population were disabled as against the
involvement in life situations. total female population of 58.76 crore.
Majority of disabled population belongs to
1. Medical Certification of Disability male (55.97%) category.
Section 2(i) of the Persons with Disabilities Table – 2 Disabled Persons by Type of
(Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Disability
Full Participation) Act, 1995 defines disability
as:-
i. Blindness
ii. Low Vision
iii. Leprosy-cured
iv. Hearing impairment
SELP Journal of Social Science 60 July - September 2017
Vol. VIII, Issue . 33 ISSN : 0975-9999 (P), 2349-1655 (O)
Table - 2 shows disabled persons by type and 2.18 percent belonged to other than SC/
of disability. Total disabled population ST category of social groups as per the Census
amounted to 2,68,14,994 of which under of 2011.
seeing disability, it was 50,33,431 (18.78%), Table – 5 Educational Level of Disabled
under hearing disability 50,72,914 (18.92%), Persons
speech impairment 19,98,692 (7.45%),
movement disability 54,36,826 (20.27%),
mental retardation 15,05,964 (5.62%), mental
illness 7,22,880 (2.69%), other types of
disabilities 49,27,589 (18.38%), and multiple
disability persons were 2116698 (7.89%).
Table - 5 indicates the educational level of
Table – 3 Disabled Persons by age group- disabled persons. 54.51 percent of the total
Census, 2011 disabled population was literate. 19.42 percent
were literate but below primary, 24.31 percent
were primary but below middle, 16.74 percent
were middle but below matric/secondary,
23.59 percent were matric/secondary but
below graduate and 8.53 percent were graduate
and above. It is observed that, maximum of
literate disabled persons belonged to primary
but below middle (24.31%) and a minimum
of literate disabled persons were graduates and
above (8.53%).
Table - 3 explains the disabled persons by Table – 6 Disabled Population by Marital
age group. Majority of disabled population Status
belonged to the age group of 10-19 years
(17.23%), followed by 20-29 years (15.63%),
30-39 years (13.58%) and 40-49 years
(11.64%). Only 0.85 percent of the disabled
population were under the age group of 90 and
above category and under the age group of 0-
4 years disabled population was found only at
4.83 percent. In other words disabled Table - 6 shows the disabled population by
population will come down in the future. marital status. Out of the total population of
disabled persons, 11187605 were did not marry
Table – 4 Proportion of Disabled Population (41.72%), 12568247 were currently married
by Social Groups in India (46.87%) and 2758300 were widowed
(10.29%).
Table – 7 Distribution of Disabled Workers
in India