include dwarfism as one of the conditions covered in the long-delayed legislation on disabilities that mandates the right to school education and government job reservations. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/government-planning-new-inclusions-under-disabilities-bill-mulls-including-dwarfism/articleshow/50724498.cms Under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014, which is being considered by a group of ministers, children with disabilities will have the right to school admission and there will be employment quotas for persons with learning and locomotor disabilities, according to a Cabinet note that ET has seen.
The legislation is in line with India's ratification of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that was adopted by the General Assembly in 2006. After discussion by ministers, the Bill will be sent by the Cabinet to Parliament for approval. The ministry's note said it intends to include additional clauses "on re-examination" of the Bill. The legislation will make "admission of children with disabilities not only in government educational institutions but also in all educational institutions recognised by the government as mandatory". This follows recommendations made by the parliamentary standing committee. "While specific learning disability will be included along with autism, intellectual disability and mental illness, dwarfism will be included along with locomotor disability," it said with regard to job reservations. The legislation entails a survey to ensure that the right to school education is being upheld. The "initial survey of schoolgoing children to identify children with disabilities will be conducted within two years of the proposed Act coming into force", the Cabinet note said. "It will be made mandatory to conduct survey of school-going children to identify children with disabilities every five years." The Bill was discussed by the group of ministers on Monday. "It is imperative to protect the short statured from the discrimination which they have to shoulder because of their appearance," one of the ministers told ET. "The endeavour is to treat them fairly and provide them redressal for their grievances under the Act." Another minister said "the motive is to have a progressive legislation in sync with the provisions of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), to which India is a signatory, to achieve inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities". The Bill also aims to ease the process of legal guardianship. In addition to district courts, which arguably take a long time to adjudicate, an additional authority will be empowered to decide cases of legal guardianship. The authority will be designated by the state government "and will be extended to all persons with disabilities instead of only mentally ill persons". A right to appeal against the order of the authority has been provided in the Bill. Skill development activities have been listed in the bill. A separate clause seeks to protect the rights of women and children with disabilities. Some of the other recommendations by the parliamentary standing committee to be included in the Bill pertain to accessibility. The "definition of 'barrier' will include attitudinal factor; definition of 'communication' will include visual display, video and sign language". All private health centres should make barrier-free access available. Quotas for persons with disabilities will be computed against total vacancies. The government will be able to relax the upper age limit for persons with disabilities by notification. Disability certificates issued by state authorities will be valid across the country. The National Commission for Persons with Disabilities will be augmented to five members from three, with one of them being a woman with disability. Provision for a state fund has been added. The "exemption of posts will be done by the appropriate government in consultation with national commission or the state commission, as the case may be; national commission will also be responsible for enforcement of regulation of acc -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
