Data and Facts:

Disabled population as per general estimates is 5-6%. Planning commission recognizes it as 5%.
According to the World Bank estimate there are 40-80 million disabled people which constitute about 48% of Indias population. Census 2001 puts the figure at 2.2% that is 21.9 million people. Of this visual
impairment makes up 48.5%, mobility impairment 27.9%, mental disability 10.3%, speech impairment
7.5%, hearing impairment 5.8%.

Number of disabled Male and females in

2001 (millions)

Females, 9.3
Male, 12.6

There are 2130 disabled people per 100,000 of the population.

Percentage Distribution of disablities

Visual

Movement

Mental

Speech

Hearing

5.80%
7.50%

10.30%
48.50%

27.90%

Across the country, the highest numbers of PWDs have been reported from the state of Uttar Pradesh
(3.6 million). Significant numbers of PWDs have also been reported from Bihar (1.9 million), West Bengal
(1.8million), Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra (1.6 million each). Tamil Nadu is the only state, which has a
higher number of disabled females than males. Among the states, Arunachal Pradesh has the highest
proportion of disabled males (66.6%) and lowest proportion of disabled females
According to National Disability Council, 86% of PWDs do not get good quality education.
10.4% of people with hearing disabilities were not employed in Canada in the year 2004.
Disabled people make up 15-20% of the poor in developing countries.
Taking the lowest estimates of PWDs in India which is 21.9 million people, we still have more disabled
people in India than the combined population of Sweden, Norway and Switzerland
An estimated 10% of the worlds population experiences some form of disability or impairment (WHO
Action Plan 2006-2011).The term disability has many different meanings; the Global Burden of Disease
(GBD) however, uses the term disability to refer to loss of health, where health is conceptualized in
terms of functioning capacity in a set of health domains such as mobility, cognition, hearing and vision
(WHO 2004). The number of people with disabilities is increasing due to population growth, ageing,
emergence of chronic diseases and medical advances that preserve and prolong life, creating
overwhelming demands for health and rehabilitation services (Srivastava and Khan 2008). In South-east
Asia, the prevalence of disability ranges from 1.5 21.3% of the total population, depending on

definition and severity of disability (Mont 2007). Despite the increase in prevalence of disability
worldwide, due to various reasons, not much attention has been paid to its evaluation, management
and prevention (WHO 2002).
A recent study conducted by Contact a Family showed that 70% of families with disabled children
were not satisfied with the understanding and acceptance shown by society.

A study conducted by the National Association for the Blind and National Centre for Promotion of
Employment of disabled people in India found that women form a mere 29.50% of the Executive Bodies
and 22.15% of the General Bodies in the participating organizations (119 NGOs) in decision making
roles.

Percentage of Women working

35
30

Percentage

25
20
15
10
5
0

Total Women

Disabled Women

Executive Bodies

29.5

3.25

General Bodies

22.15

10.46

The employment percentages for disabled women show a dismal figure with 3.25% of disabled women
in Executive bodies and 10.46% in general bodies in decision making roles.
Out of the total people employed with these NGO's 52.08% are females and 47.92% are males.
Of the total professional staff only 12.8% are disabled out of which 8.78% are males and 4.02% are
females.
Among staff members 15.48% are PWDs.
The same study also found that just 38.76% of girls receive education, mostly in the field of art and
handicraft which reduces their career options.
Percentage of PWDs
50.05
36.64
9.35
3.81
0.15

Earnings per month (INR)

Less than 1000
Between 1000 and 2000
Between 2000 and 4000
Between 4000 and 6000
Above 6000

If we compare the above table to minimum wage fixed at the time by the govt. of India, we realize the
grim picture.
Minimum wages at that time was Rs 1937 per month for employees working more than 8 hours a day,
Rs 2103 per month for semi skilled laborers, Rs 2361 per month for skilled laborers and Rs 2697 per
month for graduates.
Putting this in a broader perspective, 700000 PWDs had applied to employment exchanges in India out
of which only 100000 were placed at the time of the study.
90% of PWDs who got a job had locomotor impairments, 5% had visual impairment (partial to total
blindness) and the remaining had hearing impairments. From this study we can conclude that out of the
jobs available in these NGO's 14% are occupied by disabled people and companies prefer to hire people
with locomotor impairments rather than visual or hearing. The most disturbing fact was that none of
these NGO's had the policy for preferential appointment of disabled persons which raises a question
whether these NGO's trust the quality of the disabled persons they are training.
Illiteracy rates among people with disabilities stands at 52% as compared to 35% of Indias general
population.
Even in high-income countries, the figures still illustrate the barriers disabled persons face.
In Australia, for example, only 53 per cent of PWDs are employed.
Similarly, in the United States, about 50 per cent of disabled persons have jobs; but only 26 per cent of
those considered severely disabled are employed.
In the European Union, 42 per cent of PWDs are employed.
In South Africa, 19 percent of disabled persons were employed as on 2001

80
70
60
50
40

Disabled

30

Non-disabled

20
10
Non-disabled

0
Australia

USA

Disabled
European
union

south Africa

According to the WHO mental illness makes up 38% of all illness in high income countries
90% of those who commit suicide suffer from mental illness.
Number of people who commit suicide each year is equal to people dying of homicide and warfare
combined. In 2000, 815,000 people killed themselves.
15 % of world's population is affected by disability.

NUMBER OF DISABLED POPULATION AND TYPE OF DISABILITY IN

INDIA
Percentage
Population (%)
Total population
Total disabled population
Disability rate ( per lakh population)

1,028,610,328

100

21,906,769

2.1

2,130 --

Type of Disability
(a) In seeing

10,634,881

(b) In speech

1,640,868

0.2

(c) In hearing

1,261,722

0.1

(d) In movement

6,105,477

0.6

(e) Mental

2,263,821

0.2

Source : Census of India 2001.

Prevalence of different types of disability in

India
Census(2001)

51

NSSO(2002)

49

28
15

14
6

Locomotor

Visual

Hearing

10

Speech

10

10

Mental

Success Stories of PWDs:

ROSHAN RAJAN, VOICE AND ACCENT TRAINER, 24/7
Roshan is a visually impaired individual. This did not stop him from excelling and being top of his class at
NIIT. His efforts paid off with the help of an organization called EnAble who placed him for a job at 24/7.
Initially he was very apprehensive, but after joining the organization realized that his co-workers are
very accommodating and kind.
In his words: one of the important things that visually impaired persons should consider when they
come to a work environment is to have the urge to out-perform and to look at the positive side of
anything that they do.
PARIMALA, HR CO-ORDINATOR, IBM
Parimala suffers from visual impairment. Inspite of this, she made every effort to become employable,
right from her graduation to taking up extracurricular activities such as Computer training and FM radio
training. Shanti, owner of EnAble , found her a job with IBM. This allowed her to become financially
independent, brought about positive changes in her behavior and made her integrate better into
society.
In her words
Believe in your abilities; learn to understand your strengths and areas of improvement and work
towards making yourself employable on the basis of your strengths
DEEPA NARASIMHAN, WEB DESIGNER, EMC2
Deepa is 75% disabled due to Spinal Muscular Atrophy. It is a neuromuscular disease characterized by
degeneration of motor neurons resulting in progressive wasting away and extreme weakness of
muscles. She has been using a wheelchair since the age of 10. She is a self trained graphic and web
designer and works as a web designer for EMC2.
She has organized her life by improving mobility, personal hygiene, access, PC usage and her note taking
ability by using the right technology to assist her in her needs.Deepa wishes to contribute towards
building a disabled-friendly society in India she has been studying the policies for greater inclusion of
the disabled that exist in developed countries like the US and she wishes to help in building a similar
society in India.

References
[1]Census of India 2001
[2] Deaf restaurant Signs offers edible lessons in sign language by Jonathan Forani, July 4, 2014
[3] Poverty & Disability: A survey of the Literature by Ann Elwan, Dec 1999
[4] Gagandeep Kaur Walia, South Asia Network for Chronic Disease
http://sancd.org/uploads/pdf/disability.pdf
[5 Special Education Needs Policy
http://www.123helpme.com/special-education-needs-policy-view.asp?id=217566ai
[6] Employment of Disabled Persons by NGO's in India By Anuradhua Mohit
[7] The World Bank (2009) study People with Disabilities in India: From Commitments to Outcomes
[8]ILO
[9]EnAble India success stories http://enableindia.org/new/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72&Itemid=26