The Government has finally notified guidelines for the assessment of all the disabilities including those which were added for the first time in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. This has paved way for the people suffering from disabilities like blood disorders like thalassemia and hemophilia, leprosy-cured persons, muscular dystrophy and acid attack victims to apply for disability certificates from designated hospitals.
These disability certificates will entitle them to avail various government benefits like reservation in education, jobs and medical facilities among others. Till now, in the absence of the guidelines, the government hospitals across the States were turning away the persons with disabilities, depriving them of their legitimate rights.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Bill-2016 was passed in December 2016 that has expanded the types of disabilities from seven to 21, But was only on January 4, 2018, the Government notified the guidelines for assessment of the new categories of disabilities in the legislation. The guidelines follows intense deliberations with various experts in the health and disability sector.
“We have made changes in almost all the disability categories except autism which continues with the existing assessment tools. The changes are in keeping with the scientific advancements.
“The notification will be soon made available to the public as well as the States who will have to issue certificates to the disabled based on these guidelines. State Governments will have to train the district medical officials to implement these guidelines as the measurement for assessing disability has to be correct,” a senior official from the Ministrys aid.
The 21 disabilities covered under the Act are blindness, low-vision, leprosy cured persons, hearing impairment (deaf and hard of hearing), locomotor disability, dwarfism, intellectual disability, mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, chronic neurological conditions, specific learning disabilities, multiple sclerosis, speech and language disability, thalassemia, hemophilia, sickle cell disease, multiple disabilities including deaf and blindness, acid attack victim and parkinson’s disease.