Rajya Sabha may take up bill on disability today

New Delhi: After years of dilly dallying, the much-awaited Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) Bill, 2014 is likely to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, on the eve of World Disability Day. The new draft bill proposes to expand the list of disabilities from seven to 21 and an increase in job reservation for persons with disabilities from 3 per cent to 5 per cent, among others.

According to sources, the government, for the first time, has also added disabilities/disabled persons like speech and language disability and specific learning disability, acid attack victims, thalassemia, haemophilia and sickle cell disease.

The types of disabilities that have been increased from existing seven to 21 — with further powers to the Central government to add more types of disabilities — include 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, haemophilia, sickle, cell disease, multiple disabilities, acid attack victim, parkinson’s disease.

Even as sources revealed that the proposed bill was cleared by the Cabinet on Wednesday with the Press Information Bureau (PIB) putting it on their website. However, confusion started after the release was withdrawn from the website Thursday morning.

Calling it a positive development, Javed Abidi, chairperson at the Disabled People’s International (DPI), said that he was happy that the “bill which was put in a cold storage is brought out. Over all it is a good deal. “We should welcome it and should make sure that it becomes the law of the land,” he said.