Persons With Disabilities: A Critical Analysis of India's Right-Based Approach

Abstract

Disability is a challenging issue across the globe, as almost 16% of the global population has some kind of disability. India, the most populous country in the world, also faces the severity of disability issues as 2.2% of its population belongs to that group. For a good period, Indian society considered disability as a curse in the context of karma theory. Accordingly, the disabled faced discrimination, marginalization, and social exclusion. Though the Constitution guaranteed equal rights, India's approach towards disabled was mostly based on charitable contributions for their rehabilitation rather than a rights-based approach. But in line with the paradigm shift in the global approach, the Indian perspective also changed, underlining the rights of the disabled. Many policies were designed to give them access to the mainstream of the society, but India lacks adequate strategies for implementing these policies.