Abstract

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016 was enacted in
December 2016. It Protects and promotes the rights and dignity of people with
disability in various aspects of life Social, legal educational, economic cultural
and political. It applies to government, non-government and private
organizations. It has implementing mechanism like Disability Commissioner’s
offices at the centre and State level District Committees, Boards and
Committees for planning and monitoring the implementation of the Act,
special courts at District level and so on. It has mandates and timelines for
establishment to ensure accessibility of infrastructure to and services. It has
penalties in case of Violation of any provisions of the Act. Like this AD and DDA
(America and Britain) are very important for disabled persons of America and
Britain. Due to these Acts disabled persons have the rights to live with dignity
in their life. Life of these people have easy and they can get success in many
field. Such as jobs, education, sports etc. In Paralympics sports disabled players
are well playing in many games and earn name and frame in the world.
Everyone should respect and do any type of help of these people. We should
proud of on these disabled persons. Disability is not the curse of life it is a only
weakness. In India the other name of the disabled person is Divyang Jan. The
Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, in his Mann ki Bat program till
December 2015, named the handicapped as Divyang. The word has been in
use since his suggestion.
THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITY ACT, 2016
The Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016 is the disability legislation
passed by the Indian Parliament to fulfil its obligation to the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities which India ratified in
2007. The Act replaced the existing Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 (i)
It was originally published on 27 Dec 2016 Date passed by conference
committee: 7 May 2015 Bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha. The Rights of
persons with Disability Bill, 2014.
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THE SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ACT
(i) Disability has been defined based on an evolving and dynamic
concept.
(i) Responsibility has been cast upon the appropriate governments to
take effective measures to ensure that the persons with disabilities
enjoy their rights equally with others.
(ii) The RPWD Act 2016 covers the following specified disabilities: -
1. Physical Disability-
(a) Locomotor Disability
(i) Cerebral palsy
(ii) Leprosy cured person
(iii) Dwarfism
(iv) Muscular Dystrophy
(v) Acid Attack victims - unfortunately in India, acid attacks have been on
the rise in last few years . Girls and women are often left severely
disfigured/disabled due to such attacks.
(b) Visual Impairment
(i) Blindness
(ii) Low vision
(c) Hearing Impairment
(i) Deaf

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Fisafounda on.org
(ii) Hard of Hearing
(d) Speech and Language Disability
2. Mental Behaviour (mental illness)
3. Intellectual Disability
(a) Specific learning Disabilities
(b) Autism spectrum Disorder
4. Disability caused due to –
(a) Chronic Neurological Conditions such as-
(i) Parkinson’s Disease
(ii) Multiple sclerosis
(b) Blood Disorder-
(i) Haemophilia
(ii) Thalassemia
(iii) Sickle cell Disease
5. Multiple Disabilities
(iv) One child who has benchmark disability between the age group of
6 and 18 years shall have the right to free education.
(v) Addition benefits have been provided for persons with benchmark
disability and these with high support needs.
(vi) There is provision of 4% reservation in Gov jobs for certain
persons or class of persons with benchmark disability
(vii) 5% reservation in seats in Government and Government aided
higher educational institutions for persons with benchmark
disabilities.
(viii) Stress has been given to ensure accessibility in public buildings
(both Gov and private) in a prescribed time.
(ix) The Act provides for grant of guardianship by District court or any
authority designated by the state Government under which there
will be joint decision – making between the guardian and the
persons with disabilities
(x) Broad based central state Advisory boards on Disability to be set
up as policy making bodies.
(xi) Creation of National and State fund to provide financial support to
the persons with disabilities.
(xii) The Act provides for strengthening of the office of chief
commissioner of persons with Disabilities and state
commissioners of disabilities which will act as regulatory bodies
and Grievance Redressal agencies and also monitor
implementation of the Act. These offices will be assisted by an
Advisory Committee comprising of experts in various disabilities.
(xiii) Designated special courts to handle cases concerning violation of
rights of PWDs.
(xiv) The Act provides for penalties for offences committed against
persons with disabilities.

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Any person who violates provisions of the Act, or any rule or regulation made
under it, shall be punishable with imprisonment up to six months and/or a fine
of Rs 50,000 to Rs five Lakh can be awarded. (iii) (section 92)
Status on Implementation of the Rights of persons with Disability Act, 2016.
A study conducted by the Disability Rights India Foundation ((DRIF) on the
implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, across
24 states, has revealed that more than half have not notified the state rules.
 Only ten states including Manipur, Meghalaya, Odissa, Bihar,
Chandigarh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have notified the
rules.
 Rajasthan was appreciated as the best state in implementation of
Accessible India Campaign on the Occasion of International day of
persons with Disabilities (December 3rd)

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h ps://vikaspedia.in>socialwelfare
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The theme of this year for International Day of Persons with Disabilities was Empowering
persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality
declared by the United Nations.
It focuses on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and pledges to
leave no one behind.
This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 1990.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADV) became law in 11990. It is a civil
rights law which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in
all sphere of public life, including schools, jobs, transportation and all public
and private places that are open to the general peoples. The object of the law
is to make sure that disabled peoples have the same opportunities and rights
as everyone else. The ADA gives protection to civil rights to individuals with
disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, sex,
color, age, national origin and religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for
individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment,
transportation, state and local government’s services and telecommunications.
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The ADA is divided into five titles that relate to many areas of public life.
The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act was signed in 2008 into
law and became effective on January 1, 2009. The ADAAA made a number of
significant changes to the definition of disability. The changes apply to all title (employment
practices of private employers with 15 or more employees, state
and local government agencies, agents of employer and joint management
labour committees), Title II (programs and activities of state and local
government entities and Title II private entities that are considered places of
public accommodation).
EMPLOYMENT
This title is designed to help disable people to access the same employment

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NHS delays leave thousands facing long wait for wheel chairs . Guardian
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Hearing aids cut for North Staffordshire backed at Stafford meeting”
Staffordshire newsletter
opportunities and benefits available to normal people. Employers must provide
reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants or employees. A
reasonable accommodation is any modification or adjustment to a job or the
work place that will enable an applicant or employee with a disability to
participate in the application process or to perform essential job functions.
Employers with 15 or more employees must comply with this law. This portion
of the law is regulated and enforced by the U.S. 5equal Employment
opportunity commission. The for Title I define disability establish guidelines for
the reasonable accommodation process, address medical examinations and
inquiries and define a direct threat when there are significant risk of substantial
harm to the health or safety of the individual’s employee with a disability or
others.
State Local Governments Transportation / Public Services
Title two prevents government and other public agencies from denying
services to persons with disabilities. This means that government facilities,
services, and communication must be accessible and that on one can be
prevented from using a program, service or activity because of their disability.
The ADA developed rules for new transportation systems, specifying that all
new bus and rail, cars must be accessible and may new bus or train station
must be designed to be accessible for persons who have disabilities. In places
where public transportation is not accessible other types of transportation
must be provided. Modes of transportation that are covered include computer
transit, bus, subway and interior rail systems.
Public Accommodation
Public places like hospitals, restaurants, theatres, doctor’s, offices, retail
stores, libraries, museums, grocery stores, entertainment venues, social
service establishments, schools, parks, shopping malls, day care facilities, may
not discriminate on the basis of disability and must be made accessible. New

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Independent Living Guide to Equality Act 2010 and How to Deal with
Discrimina on independent living co.uk.
construction and modifying to existing public facilities must be approachable.
Any barriers in existing facilities must try to remove if current barriers are not
fixable other ways of providing the service must be found. People with
disabilities must have an equal chance to take part in an organization goods or
services.
Telecommunications
Telephone companies must provide systems for people who use
telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) or similar devices. They can’t
charge extra for such type of service. Organizations must have other ways of
providing information that is easily usable and consumers who are disabled
(physically and mentally) (iv)
Miscellaneous Provisions Miscellaneous provisions contains a variety of provisions relating
of to the ADA
as a whole including its relationship to other laws, state immunity its impacts
on insurance providers and profits, prohibition against retaliation and coercion
illegal use of drugs, and attorney’s charge. (v)
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Disability in the United Kingdom
Disability is the curse of human being. Disability is an issue that directly affects
a significant proportion of the population of the United Kingdom. Section 6(1)
of the equality Act 2010 defines disability as:
“A person has a disability for the purposes of the Act if he or she has a physical
or mental impairment and the impairment has a substantial and long term
adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day to day activities. (vi)
Legislation and government policy
Under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) (1995, extended in 2005), it is
unlawful for organization to discriminate (treat a disabled person less favourably
for reasons related to the person’s disability without justification) in access to goods facilities
employment managing services buying or renting land or
property education. Businesses must make reasonable adjustment to their
policies or practices or physical aspects of their premises to avoid indirect
discrimination. (vii)Since 2010, the Disability Discrimination Act has been
replaced with the equality Act 2010. Yet this Act protects disabled person
against discrimination but also encompasses a number of other characteristics
including age, gender reassignment pregnancy, marriage, sex race, religion and
sexual orientation. (ix)Medical treatment in the United Kingdom is generally free
under the NHS. Social care is subject to a means test. Some services required
by disabled people do not fall clearly into either category, and are subject to
local rationing decisions. It has been suggested that the safeguards in respect
of waiting times provided b the6 NHS constitution for England are often not
met. (x)Provision of NHS wigs and fabric support, i.e. spinal or abdominal
supports or surgical brassieres supplied through a hospital are covered by the
NHS low-income scheme.
Wheel chairs both electric and manual are supplied and maintained free of
charge for disabled people whose need for such a chair is permanent.
[160 Disability Rights Hand book] The specific criteria of eligibility are decided
locally by clinical commissioning groups in England and health boards in waves.
Applicants must be referred by a provision is in the hands of NHS wheelchair
services. Some of which offer a voucher scheme which permit a disabled
person to add their own funds to the value of the chair which they are
assessed as needing. “Choosing mobility equipment in 2017 there were about
1.2-million-wheel chair users in the UK, of whom about two thirds were regular
users. According to NHS England there were wide spread delays in getting
chairs and about half the users develop a pressure user at some point caused
in part by ill-fitting or ill-equipped chairs proposals to improve the
commissioning and provision of wheel chair services were formulated in 2015
with the help of the National Wheelchair Leadership Alliance, set up by Tamil
Grey Thompson. (xi)Annual meeting in 2017 unanimously passed a motion
calling for wheelchair users to have timely access to chairs suitable for their

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NHS delays leave thousands facing long wait for wheel chairs .
Guardian 21 March 2017. Retrieved
individual conditions. There are particular problems with the supply of electric
wheel chairs. In 2017 more than 5,100 children about 18% had to wait more
than four months from the time of their referral to their chair being delivered.
Alarming figures show thousands still waiting too long for wheel chairs Health
service journal 14 August 2018. Dame Tanni Grey – Thompson said, If a child
doesn’t have the right chair it means they cannot go to school it cannot go to
school, it means children are harder to handle for parents. It means potentially
more respite cares. The Guardian Hearing aids have been targeted for cutbacks
in the 7NHS as pressure grows on budgets. In June 2017 Milton Keynes clinical
commissioning groups was reported to be considering rationing the supply of
hearing aids to one person. And none for people with mild hearing loss or
moderate hearing loss unless they could show they were a suffering a
significant negative impact. North Staffordshire clinical commissioning groups
decided that October 2015 they would no longer pay for hearing aids for
people with mild hearing loss or some people with moderate hearing loss. This
will save around 200,000 a year. The decision was accepted by Staffordshire
county council’s health scrutiny committee in June 2015. (xiii) It is expected
that the other CCGS in the country will adopt a similar policy. (xiv)
Central and North west London NHS Foundation Trust, which runs community
services in the area, complained that these proposals were incredibly damaging
contrary to national policy robust evidence and professional opinion. (xv)
According to the family Resources survey 2018/19, 14.1 million people in the
UK reported having a disability (xvi)
Consisting of 8% of the child population 19% of the working age population,
and 45% of the pension age population. (xvii) Disability of children that impacts
on their education are entitled to support from their schools. Children with
more complex disabilities may be given an education and Health Care Plan.
Children with special education needs and disabilities.
Disabilities people in higher education are entitled to apply for Disabled

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NHS to begins denying people hearing aids for first me. Guardian
students’ allowance, which provides funding for equipment and support a
student may need for their studies.
Help if you’re a student with a learning difficulty health problem or disability.
Statistics, policies and legislation The rate of employment for disabled person of working
age in the UK is 45%
whereas normal people it is 77%. (xviii)
This is in spite of the equality Act 2010 requiring employers to make
reasonable adjustments for a disabled person so they are not at a substantial
disadvantage. however, this act and previous act has had a positive impact for
example Sainsbury’s has recruited over 2000 disabled people within four years.
Marks Spenser’s have taken over 1,000 disabled people, and BT has provided
sustainable opportunities for over 300 disabled people since 2003.
In regard to disabled people in particular, The Disability Discrimination Act. A
Guide for Managers and Employers, suggest
M. Crick Manager: British journal of Administrative Management, 2007, Issue
57, Database, Business source Premier.
 CONCLUSION
Disability laws and Acts are instruments through which countries abolish
discrimination against persons with disabilities and eliminate barriers towards
the full enjoyment of their rights and their inclusion in society. These laws and
acts contribute to progress towards the implementation of the Convention on
the Rights of Persons with disabilities (CRPD) in national legislation. Such
legislation contributes also towards the achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), and the pledge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development to leave no one behind.
We, however feel that there is need to do more on government part. One of
the main concern is the vague language of the Acts specially in the sections
pertaining to discrimination and guardianship. Although in India the number of
types of disabilities have been increased to 7 to 21 but still there are many
people who will be left out. The list of the disease should be further expanded
to include more people who are struggling in their life with lesser-known types
of disabilities.
Rights of persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, The American with Disabilities Act
(ADA) 11990, and Act 1995 (extended in 2005) are a good beginning. But the
rights of P.W.D. Shall be protected only if this Act will be implemented in its
true spirit. Both Government or appropriate government machinery and the
society at large will have to be sensitized towards the needs and equality of
P.W.D. Equal opportunity for all cannot be achieved only by passing a law. The
whole society has to participated in creating such opportunities. (xix)
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V. An overview of the Americans with disabilities.org
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VII. [ “DDA and related statues” Disability Rights Commission]
VIII. NHS to begins denying people hearing aids for first time. Guardian 1
October 2015.
IX. Trust warns CCG over incredibly damaging rationing proposals Health
Service Journal. 1 June 2017
X. Family Resources Survey 2018/19 (PDF) Department for work
Pensions Retrieved 19 October 2020.
XI. Ab Disability facts and figures I Disability charity scope UK Scope
Retrieved 2020-5-21.
XII. Trust warms CCG over’s incredibly damaging rationing proposals
Health Service Journal 1 June 2017.
Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016: Important Points and PDF. We
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