India today stands at a crucial turning point of rapid economic growth, technological innovation, and social transformation. The country is not only succeeding in enhancing its economic strength but is also making several new efforts in social welfare. Yet, the harsh reality remains that the true measure of a nation’s progress is not determined by its GDP, manufacturing capacity, or digital infrastructure alone, but by how effectively it ensures security, dignity, and equal opportunities for its most vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens.
In this context, persons with disabilities (PwDs) emerge as one of the most important yet neglected segments of the nation’s collective human capital. India is home to between 80 and 100 million persons with disabilities — a figure larger than the total population of many countries — yet this vast group still struggles to achieve full social, economic, and developmental participation. Persons with disabilities are not merely beneficiaries of assistance; they are active citizens, skilled human resources, and integral participants in the nation-building process. Therefore, the welfare and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities must occupy a central position in India’s public policy framework.
Current Challenges
However, the present scenario is quite the opposite. Persons with disabilities continue to face numerous barriers in basic areas such as education, health, employment, accessibility, and social security. These barriers are not merely policy gaps but indicators of deep structural challenges, underscoring the need for a clear vision, a long-term strategy, and rigorous implementation in this sector.
Education: The Foundation of Empowerment
Education is the most crucial foundation of disability welfare. It shapes the future of every child and serves as the key instrument that opens the door to opportunity, self-confidence, and social acceptance. Yet inclusion in India’s education system remains an incomplete promise. A large number of schools still lack basic facilities such as wheelchair-friendly ramps, tactile paths, Braille signage, accessible toilets, and lifts. For millions of children with disabilities, simply attending school becomes a daily struggle.
Pedagogically, the system is also fraught with challenges — a shortage of special educators, a lack of sign-language instructors, and only nominal implementation of individualised education plans. These factors reflect that the creation of an enabling environment in schools for children with disabilities is still far from complete, even at the foundational level.
In rural and tribal regions, the situation is even more complex. There is no systematic mechanism for the early identification of developmental delays or disabilities. Conditions such as autism, intellectual disability, and visual or hearing impairments are often detected late, restricting the scope for effective therapy, support, and learning. Though there have been some initiatives, such as digital education, model inclusive schools, and teacher training, India now needs to adopt inclusion in education as a nationwide movement — a broad-based “Inclusive India Campaign” that brings revolutionary improvements across infrastructure, curriculum, teacher training, and technology.
Health and Rehabilitation
Health and rehabilitation constitute indispensable pillars of a dignified life for persons with disabilities. The goal of any public health system should not merely be to provide treatment but to preserve the quality of life, independence, and functional ability of every citizen. Yet the availability of rehabilitation services in India remains extremely uneven and limited.
In many districts, regular facilities for physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychological counselling, and behavioural interventions are either missing or severely inadequate. Children affected by autism or intellectual disabilities lack access to specialised training and therapies, forcing families to depend on expensive private services, unaffordable for many. Another major challenge lies in the early identification of disabilities in children aged 0-6 years. Most parents tend to overlook developmental delays as normal, and the health system itself lacks adequately trained personnel for early screening. Consequently, the potential for early intervention diminishes. Moreover, assistive devices such as wheelchairs, orthotic supports, hearing aids, and Braille kits are often delayed or of poor quality.
If India truly seeks a robust rehabilitation system, it must ensure the establishment of multidisciplinary rehabilitation centres in every district, mobile therapy units, and digital tracking of assistive devices — as part of a comprehensive structural reform.
Employment and Economic Empowerment
The lack of employment opportunities for persons with disabilities severely affects their self-reliance and dignity. Despite reservations in government jobs, many positions remain vacant — either due to procedural lapses in recruitment or the absence of workplace accommodations. In the private sector, the employment of persons with disabilities remains the exception rather than the norm, even though the modern digital economy offers countless roles in which they can excel.
Unfortunately, most skill-development centres still lack inclusive curricula, trained instructors, and adaptive technologies, preventing many talented young people with disabilities from becoming job-ready. It is therefore essential that India launch a “National Disability Employment Mission” — with clear provisions for vocational training, workplace adaptations, private-sector incentives, and financial support for disabled entrepreneurs.
Accessibility: The Core of Inclusion
Accessibility — whether physical, transport-related, or digital — is the most fundamental yet often the most neglected aspect of life for persons with disabilities. If roads, footpaths, buses, railway stations, hospitals, offices, and government platforms are not barrier-free, persons with disabilities can never participate equally in mainstream society. This is not a matter of convenience; it is a matter of equal citizenship rights.
Although accessibility audits have been initiated in most cities, their pace and quality remain limited. Digital accessibility is also inconsistent — many government websites are incompatible with screen readers, rendering them almost unusable for visually impaired users. Hence, India urgently needs a comprehensive National Accessibility Mission, mandating strict accessibility standards for every public and private building, digital platform, and transport system.
Social Security and Entitlements
Social security schemes form the backbone of a life of dignity for persons with disabilities — covering pensions, scholarships, health insurance, travel concessions, assistive-device subsidies, and housing schemes. However, the complexity of certification processes, delays in benefit disbursal, and weak grievance-redressal mechanisms undermine their effectiveness. Social security must be implemented not as charity but as a right. This requires an integrated national digital portal, time-bound direct benefit transfers, and a strong, responsive grievance-redressal system to ensure that entitlements reach every eligible beneficiary efficiently and transparently.
Women, Children, and Tribal Areas
Among the disabled community, women, children, and those living in tribal areas face the most compounded challenges. Women with disabilities experience dual discrimination — both on account of gender and disability. They encounter additional barriers in education, healthcare, safety, and employment.
Children with disabilities often lack appropriate learning support and safety measures in schools, limiting their potential. Those living in tribal areas are frequently deprived of basic health and rehabilitation services. For them, region-specific programmes, mobile health units, safe hostels, and community-based rehabilitation services are essential.
Institutional Coordination and Governance
Perhaps the most crucial fact is that disability welfare is not the responsibility of a single department — it spans education, health, social security, skill development, transport, IT, urban development, and finance. India needs to establish an administrative system that is fully coordinated, data-driven, accountable, and outcome-oriented. District-level coordination committees, digital dashboards, clear performance indicators, and independent evaluations can be vital steps in this direction.
From Sympathy to Empowerment
Ultimately, the true measure of India’s aspiration to become a “developed nation” lies in whether its persons with disabilities can live with dignity and equality, free of barriers and discrimination. Achieving this goal requires not just policies on paper but a fundamental change in social and administrative mindset. Persons with disabilities do not seek special treatment — they seek equal treatment; they do not ask for charity, but for opportunity; and they do not need sympathy, but empowerment. It is this principle of empowerment that will lay the foundation of an inclusive, just, and modern India — an India where no citizen is left behind because of disability, and where persons with disabilities are not mere beneficiaries but true partners in development and nation-building.
The writer is Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Government of Chhattisgarh; views are personal
