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Paper I
Submitted to:
PGD in Counseling Psychology Program
Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus
Faculty of Humanities and Social sciences
Tribhuvan University
Submitted by:
Jyoti Bohara
Roll no: 13
Exam roll no:
2013
Paper I
Submitted by:
Jyoti Bohara
Approved:
.
Supervisor
.
Date of Approval
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Program Coordinator
Date of Approval
ABSTRACT
This term paper entitled An Overview of Disability Situation in Nepal includes information
on disability situation of Nepal obtained from various secondary data sources. These days, the
term differently able as an alternative to disabled, handicapped etc has gained much
concern on the ground that it gave a more positive message. Disability means the restriction
or inability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a
human being. In Nepal, the definition of disability includes physical disability, visual
disability, hearing disability, speech disability, deaf blind, intellectual disability and multiple
disabilities. According to World Health Organization 10% of the people in any community
have disabilities. The main causes of disabilities are pointed out as war injuries, infectious
diseases, malnutrition, chronic diseases, substance abuse, accidents, violence etc. Various
literature reviews in Nepal showed that Nepal is still having issues on disabled people such as
stereotyped attitudes, stigma and discrimination, ignorance, teasing and bullying,
unemployment, lack of access to general and specialised services of education, treatment,
transportation etc. It ha been realised that promoting disabled peoples quality of life and
enhancing their equal participation in various developmental activities has become the urge
of todays world. This term paper also includes topics on various responses being taken by
government and stakeholders in the nation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Concept
Impairment
Disability
Handicapped
Objective of Study
Methodology
10
10
12
Literature Reviews
13
15
Causes
15
15
17
17
17
18
18
18
Conclusion
19
REFERENCES
20
Concept
Disability is associated with impairment, handicap, and well-being of a person. A common
vision is that having a disability makes an individual less competent of performing a variety
of activities. Most people seem to know what a disabled person is and are certain that they
would be able to identify an individual as disabled, either because the disability is noticeable
or because they are aware of a specific medical condition that lends itself to be called
disability. Disabled people are capable to carry out various activities ranging from simple to
highly skilled, so, it is now more costmary to refer to such people as differently abled
rather than disabled.
Differently able was first proposed (in the 1980s) as an alternative to disabled, handicapped
etc on the ground that it gave a more positive message and so avoided discrimination towards
people with disabilities. The term has gained little currency, however, and has been criticized
as both over-euphemistic and condescending. The accepted term in general use is still
disabled.
Objective of Study
The objective of study is to understand about disability situation in Nepal.
Methodology
For the completion of this term paper entitled, An Overview of Disability Situation in
Nepal various secondary data sources were reviewed from time and again. The secondary
data sources were made available through web archiving (journals, articles, research papers,
Wikipedias etc based on disability situation in Nepal).
Disability is present not only in Nepal but throughout the world, in all nations. It is either
congenital (from birth) or acquired due to accidents or as a result of disease. Irrespective of
any age group and races, it is found not only in human beings but also in animals. In fact,
disability is a human reality. Disability is even mentioned in mythology and religious books.
According to Hindu Mythology, The God Ganesh, son of Lord Shiva, is an ideal example of
disability and of corrective surgery.
In the past, disability was taken as the punishment by god for some sin committed in the past
life. There are many families still that hide people with disabilities from society for the sake
of social prestige. Persons with disabilities are among the most deprived groups in Nepal,
historically excluded from the mainstream socio-politics and economic development. In
those days medical science was not sufficiently developed. So people accepted disability as
part of their fate and reconciled to live with it. Now, with advancement in science and
technology, many disabilities can either be minimized or cured. It has been observed that
approximately fifty percent of disabilities are preventable (Steward, 2001).
After the United Nations made a universal declaration on human rights in 1948, it is found to
have made similar declarations in Nepal to guarantee human rights for people with mental
disability in 1971 and for people with disability in 1975. In Nepal, education for the people
with blindness started from 2021 BS, for the hard of hearing from 2023 BS, and for people
with physical disability from 2026 BS. After the formation of the Special Education Council
in 2030, formed with the objective of development and expansion of special education,
activities for the education of people with disability started. At the time, activities like
formation of the then Social Council National Coordination Committee as well as various
activities in the area of development and upliftment of people with disability and helpless
people were initiated.
In 1981, a sample survey for disability was carried out first in Nepal in the course of
celebrating the international disability year. From this, statistics came to light that three
percent of people among the total population had disability. The directive principles of the
Constitution of Nepal, 2047 BS guarantee rights, benefits and protection of people with
disability, even as the Disabled Protection and Welfare Act, 2039 BS and Regulation, 2051
have made various provisions for the development and interest protection of people with
disability.
The National definition and classification on disability has been elaborated by Nepal
Government in September 2006 on the basis of International Classification of Functioning,
Disability and Health (ICF) and national context. The new definition comprises seven types
of disability: Physical disability, Visual Disability, Hearing Disability, Speech Disability, Deaf
blind, Intellectual Disability and Multiple Disabilities. The new definition has covered the
persons with muscular Dystrophy, little people, Autistic, deaf blind, stutters etc.
6. Mental Disability: The inability to behave in accordance with age and situation and delay
in intellectual learning due to problems arising in relation to implementation of intellectual
activities like problems arising in the brain and mental parts and awareness, orientation,
alertness, memory, language, calculation is mental disability.
Intellectual disability/Mental retardation: An individual having difficulty in carrying out
activities relative to age or environment due to absence of intellectual development before
age of 18 years is intellectual disability/mental retardation.
Mental illness: Mental disability is an inability where there is difficulty in living daily life
due to mental illness or weakness or deviation.
Autism: Absence by birth of normal behaviour in accordance with a person's age, to show
abnormal reaction, to keep on repeating one activity, to not socialize with others or to show
extreme reaction is autism.
7. Multiple disabilities: Multiple disabilities are problem of two or more than two types of
disability mentioned above.
There is distribution of card system in Nepal in accordance to the degree of disability. The
Red card is given to complete disabled person. The Blue card is given to severely affect
disabled person. The Yellow card is given to moderately disabled person. The White card is
given to mild/ ordinary disabled person.
Literature Reviews
Different studies have reported different prevalence rate and the situation of disabilities in
Nepal. The WHO (1976) has estimated 7-10 % of prevalence rate in developing countries
such as Nepal. The study of Disability Situation Analysis (2001) conducted by NPC-UNICEF
has reported 1.63 % of prevalence rate of disability which comes to be the total of 371442
people with disability and various local district level studies indicated 3-5 % of prevalence
rate.
The condition of PWDs in Nepal is critical as reported in the study on The Disability
Situation Analysis (2001). Approximately 68.2 percentage PWDs have no access to
education at all; the lowest education status among all marginalised groups in Nepal.
Furthermore 85 percentage PWDs do not have access to health facilities in regards to their
impairment and disabilities while 77.8 percentages do not have any form of employment and
earning of their own. Participation of PWDs in community and organisation activities is
nominal. The lack of information reach has created misunderstanding of disability situation,
as well no proper references for planning and resources allocation and prioritisation of
various disability issues.
From 1971 various surveys have been conducted in Nepal to find out the prevalence
disability. The 1971 Census of Nepal estimated 1.5 percent of the total population over 10
years of age having disabilities. The Disability Sample Survey of 1980 reported a prevalence
of about 3% disability among the total population while the national population census of
1981 stated only about 0.5% disability among the total population.
In an article titled The Disability Situation in Nepal by Meen Raj Panthi (2004), he has
explained about the existing problems faced by disabled people in Nepal. Nepali society still
views disability as a penance to the sins committed in previous births. The people with
disabilities pare treated worst as an object of pity. People with disabilities are hided as the
matter of social prestigious by families is still practiced largely. People with disabilities do
not have an equal rights and duty as any other individual. More over, still a large number of
the disabled persons have not got any kind of treatment. This could be due to lack of
knowledge and awareness that impairment can be treated. It could also be because the family
does not have the resources, or because the health facilities do not function properly and staff
does not know about disability.
Substantial change in the perception of Nepali society towards disabled persons took place in
1977 after the formation of the Social Service National Coordination Council that was headed
by Her Majesty Queen Aishwarya Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah. It was followed by several
important changes like establishment of the Ministry for Social Welfare, the enactment of
legislation for the Rights and Welfare of the Disabled, establishment of Social Welfare
Council etc. In Nepal, since 1992, every year December 3rd is celebrated as International
Day of the Disabled persons with various programmes like procession of disabled persons,
talk programmes, workshops, seminars etc. (Joshi, SK. 2004)
There are different causes for an individual to go through the pain of disability. The main
causes of disability in Nepal are War injuries, Accidents (including auto accidents, falls, near
drowning, burns, child abuse), Drug and toxic substance poisoning (including the use of
alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes etc), Genetic disorders (for example: down syndrome), High risk
conditions in women and infants (example: maternal epilepsy requiring certain drug therapy,
maternal diabetes, foetal deaths, maternal history of repeated abortion, infectious diseases
during pregnancy etc), Metabolic disorder (example: hypothyroidism), Malnutrition,
Intrauterine and other infectious diseases (Rubella, cytomegalovirus infection etc), Lack of
access to health care system and Low socio-economic conditions (this is because the poor
are more exposed to dangerous working and living conditions, including lack of access to
healthcare facilities, and poor nutrition in comparison to others.)
Issues of Disabled People in Nepal
People living with disabilities are facing different problems in each and every steps of their
life like: stereotyped attitudes about PWDs, stigma and discrimination, ignorance, teasing and
bullying, unemployment, lack of access to general and specialised services of education,
treatment, transportation etc.
When persons with a disability are kept from attending school or finding work, they tend to
be the poorest among the poor because they don't acquire any skills. Many people in
developing countries like Nepal think that children with disabilities can't learn or develop
skills, so not much is expected from them. In turn, they don't contribute to their communities
but are considered to be a burden. The attitude of the parents, family members and the
community is that, there is no use of a disabled child being educated and it is a wastage of
time, money and other resources, as they think that a disabled child / adult is not productive
in any way.
There is the financial burden associated with getting health, education, and social services;
buying or renting equipment and devices; making accommodations to the home;
transportation; and medications and special food. There is still a condition where large
numbers of disabled are not getting medical treatments. This may be because of lack of
awareness on treatment process, family socio- economic conditions, and weakness of health
facility in not identifying disability.
Poverty is one of the causes of disability. On the other hand, disability can also be a cause of
poverty. When any one is socio-economically poor he/ she are exposed to dangerous working
and living conditions including lack of access to healthcare facilities, and poor nutrition in
comparison to others. When any one disabled in family and their caretakers do not have any
income generating sources then there is higher chance of becoming poverty. .They also has
fewer chances to overcome their disabilities. This increases the odds that they and their
families will remain poor.
The women with disabilities have been facing double discriminations first as a disabled
person and second as a woman. Though there is a provision of five years additional prison
sentence for the rapist of women with disabilities, the clause that grossly discriminates
between man with disability (MWD) and women with disabilities (WWD) is still active in
Muluki Ain, (2020 B.S.). The Marriage chapter, clause 9 of Muluki Ain permits husband to
remarry another woman if his wife get visual or locomotive impairment. The same is not
given to women. This is the case of double discrimination for being a woman and disabled
person.
Programmes and services to address the disability are very limited and they have been
focused specially in urban areas mainly. These initiatives are charity based and not from the
rights perspective. A study done by New Eras says, majority of people with disabilities are
out of education opportunity, health facility, accessibility, social security, aid and appliances,
vocational skills, income generating program, Community based Rehabilitation etc. Despite
recent efforts, from the media and self-help organizations, a large number of people with
disabilities are unaware about their rights. They still think disability as sin of their past life
and prefer to be the subject of pity and charity rather than to seek their rights to live a
respectable life in the society. Changes in the governing law have become charity outlook on
disability. Without ensuring rights to live a social life for the disable people through
legislation, the programmes designed for people with disabilities become futile. There seems
gap between the policies and their actual implementation. All the discriminatory provisions in
existing laws including the marriage clause of Muluki Ain should be eliminated.
concept is that the environment should change in accordance with needs of disabled persons.
This is in line with the concept of equal opportunities for disabled person in society.
Through education and rehabilitation, person with different abilities have become more active
and have turned into a driving force in the future development of the disabled population. The
organisations (self-help organisations) of persons with disabilities and of their parents,
families and advocates have been formed to advocate better conditions for disabled persons.
It is now felt that the presence of large number of disabled persons is responsible for the
poverty in nation. These people cannot contribute effectively in developmental and economic
activities, thus leading to the poor economic growth of self and the nation. To promote their
quality of life and to enhance their equal participation in various developmental activities has
become the urge of todays world.
Conclusion
Disability is related to poverty and development. Enough information and documentation is
not available for developing countries like Nepal. Yet, there are lots of things to be done in
the field of disability. The environment should change in harmony with the needs of disabled
persons. Construction of ramps, escalators, conveyor belts etc. in the busy public places like
airports, bus stations, hospitals, hotels, government and private offices would significantly
ease their daily activities. The plan of action and programmes should be realistic and keeping
in mind the economic condition of the country and the capacity to implement programmes
and achieve results.
REFERENCES
Thakur, S. C. (2010). A situation analysis of disability in Nepal. Tribhuvan University
Journal, Vol. 25, No.1. pp 1-9
Joshi, S.K. (2004). Disability in Nepal. Kathmandu University Medical Journal, Vol. 2, No.
1. pp 1-5
Disability- the WHO definition. (2002). Retrieved from http://www.making-prspinclusive.org/en/6-disability/61-what-is-disability/613-the-who-definition.html)
Differently abled. (September 13, 2009). Retrieved from
http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/labels/
WHO fact sheet on disability and health. (November 30 2012). Retrieved from
www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs352/en/index.html
National policy and plan of action on disability. (2006). Retrieved from
http://rcrdnepa.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/definition-and-classification-of-disability-innepal_english.pdf
Malla, U.N. (2008). Disability statistics in Nepal. Retrieved from
http://rcrdnepa.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/status-of-disability-related-statistic-innepal_uttam-narayan-malla.ppt
Disability. (2012). Retrieved from
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/0,,contentMDK:23261965
~pagePK:51123644~piPK:329829~theSitePK:29708,00.html
Panthi, M.R. (2004). The disability situation in nepal - disability world. A bimonthly webzine of international disability news and views. Issue no. 24 June-August 2004. Retrieved
from http://www.disabilityworld.org/06-08_04/gov/nepal.shtml