Rights of Persons with Disabilities #disabilities #socialissues #socialjustice #rights #upscmains

0:00 [Music] All right, good morning everyone. So I have got this answer from Sunny. It's a still good answer. Okay, it's not a bad answer. But where I find the problem? Uh one is sentence formation. Okay, you have to take care of the grammar as well as the structure of the sentence. Yeah, that's not a big thing to do. It's easy. Second is leave the university mode. For example, your introductory part is good, but the same is getting repeated in the conclusion part, not needed. Two statements are enough, not a paragraph, right? Because 150 250 words not going to help you. In

0:46 the way forward you can add three more points like more budgetary allocation, proper allocation of funds, uh ensuring that there is no corruption in the allocation of funds, effective policy implementation, uh need more data. Uh one more thing that can be done is that uh time bound studies you know national commission for schedule tribe is entrusted with this task of time bound studies, research and inquiry. So we can have that. So way forward is those seven points. Same is in the second answer but in comparison to two answers the second answer is far better yet I will give you five five out of 10 in both write it again show it to me try for seven out of 10 but I think I give three questions

1:35 I think I will meet you all on Sunday perhaps okay so on Sunday I want this question online please send me we'll start let's start I don't want to waste any time okay so today we are going to discuss the rights of person with disabilities uh when I was teaching this topic in the Hindi medium a direct question came from the class all right so I was discussing this topic we were explaining and understanding and a direct question was asked by the UPSC in the main examination so I'm hoping if not this year but maybe next year also or perhaps in your personality test a question could could be asked from this topic as well. Now when you think about

2:21 the question of rights of persons with disabilities. Now I think we have reached the level where are your assignment questions homework I got answer of sunny checked like this h very good so rinki's uh definition of exploitation is better than yours your first statement should come after Yeah, same.

3:07 Okay. H. Very good. Where is your name on it? So good, good, good, good. Okay. Yeah. Where is the critical examination critically examined? What is there in the constitution? So critical examine how the Indian constitution has elaborated on these rights. Okay.

3:53 Okay. Second question. Mhm. Good. Same. Mhm. Second question. Secondagraph. Very good. Done. Perfect. Perfect. Second answer is perfect. Third answer.

4:43 Third answer structure presentation that is not good. I need pointers. So content is nodri mention learning a third answer be perfect 6 out of 10 anali Okay. All right. Done. Done. Done.

5:30 Done. Examination. Second question. Very good. Very good. Wonderful. Very good. Perfect. Good answer. 6 out of 10. Third wa third submit. So good answer. So this this happens. It's a competitive exam. No doubt about it. Right? But your competition should be with each other as well. Compete. But you are also a class.

6:19 So you have to compete as a class as well. Kashisha answer. So fine, I want their answers as well. Ch. Now let's start with the right of person with disabilities. answer and when you when you have a small class I personally prefer small class like I

7:04 got this this good insight in my masters one of our class I only had two students so professor and we too and that class was one of the best classes I think I learned the most in that class so you also have an opportunity try to learn try to prepare well and go with a good question and answer in the examination. So I was discussing this with Sunonny when you people have not come that UPSC has asked a question on rights of person with disabilities and interesting fact is that it has been asking a question. So for example it's not just last year few years back they asked a question right so if not in the main examination the question could come in the pre-examination if not in the pre and main the question could be posed in the

7:50 personality test. So we should be aware about it or let's example let's say essay what about there's a essay question on disability what about there is a essay question on let's say social justice so there also you can mention the issue of disabled people in the India as well as around the world uh the interesting aspect as far as the right of disability is concerned right of person with disability is concerned is that India is also a signary to the United Nations convention on the right of person with disabilities and uh you will learn this in the class today that if you are a signate mandatory to such a convention. It is mandatory or obligatory on part of the state parties who have signed to frame laws according to the convention. Right? More than that, if you recall my class on article 13 in which I discussed that if the

8:37 Supreme Court has to declare some law as constitutional or unconstitutional, the Supreme Court will rely on laws in India majorly the Indian constitution but the Supreme Court will also take help of the international conventions to which India is a signary. So if India has signed this document by the UN, it is of course going to affect the way article 13 is interpreted in the Indian polity. That's also this issue of rights of person with disability becomes important. Now the first thing or the first stepping stone to understand this topic is you have to make a distinction between this concept called handicap one side handicap and then something called disability. All right.

9:23 Sometimes people also add one more word which is impairment. Impairment. Now often what happens if you think about the Hindi term for disability it's viklang Hindi Viklang uh nowadays right the government has announced. So if you visit the ministry of social justice and environment uh social justice empowerment and in that ministry if you look at the department which is responsible for furthering the interest of disabled population they are mentioning it disabled people bracket may dyang but the term viklang is actually the h English version or Hindi version is handicap. So handicap is viklang whereas disability people often use this term viklang again but that is

10:10 not a good way to do it. Perhaps a better term is asham. Okay, what is the term akam? One is saksham abled, the other is axam. So when you think from this perspective, perhaps there's a difference between these three words and why we are not referring to the term like rights of the person with handicap or rights of handicap person. We are not mentioning that we are mentioning right of person with disability. Now if you think about the handicap, what are the two words emerging? One is cap and one is hand. And the second word is hand. So, so think like this. There is a cap. So, let's say right and then there is a hand.

10:57 So, so perhaps this word has emerged ethmologically from this medieval uh notion of begging. Begging and give me something. Now if you start thinking from this perspective and start using this word for the disabled population it's derogatory isn't it that you are actually comparing their condition with beggars. Who is a beggar? A beggar is a person who is not able to survive by himself or herself. A beggar is dependent upon other people's charity or their kind-heartedness for survival. Isn't it? If you remember old movies, this kind of statement is there in the

11:43 movies. So that is why this consciousness has emerged that we should not use this term for disabled population. Handicap is a derogatory term. It should not be used for the disabled population. So there is a difference. Now there is one more difference and and I have already explained this in your learning aid. Now there is a possibility that you could be handicapped. Let's say you have some kind of physical uh problem in the body but you will not be disabled or in other words or vice versa you could be completely abled yet you will remain handicapped because of circum certain circumstances. So think like an example. Suppose you are all abled by your body. Huh? You are not physically facing not any kind of ailment. You are perfectly fit and abled. You have two hands. You

12:30 have two legs etc etc. And you need to cross a river but there is no boat. The current is very high. It's fast. You don't know how to swim. And there is no way you can cross the river except swimming. Can you swim then? You cannot. So even though your body was physically perfect and fit, you became handicapped because of certain external factors. You know, you are not able to work or you became if you use it as a synonym, you became disabled because of external factors. This is the problem with the way we are understanding disability in the larger context of world. So this distinction must be maintained. Handicap is not equal to disability. Disability

13:17 is not equal to handicap. And perhaps disability has less to do with the physical ailments in the body or the mind. Disability has more to do with the social factors. All right. So there is a theory that perhaps disability is not a natural construct. Indeed disability is a social construct or there's a social construction of disability as far as the person who is facing physical or mental ailment in the body is concerned. Yes. All right. Okay. Now let's look at the way some people have tried to define this concept. So we will go through the definition by WH. We will go through the definition by United Nations and some

14:03 other disabled activist how they have defined it. So if you look at the learning aid page number one you will find that as far as the national human rights commission. So when I was researching for your lecture, this is perhaps the best way to start. NHRC again it's part of the government apparatus right even though not strictly executive apparatus but it is part of the n of the state apparatus and how NHRC has defined it. So disability is often defined as the malfunctioning comma disturbance or loss in the normal functioning of the physical mental or psychological processes. So number one thing is that whenever we talk about disability we are referring to some kind of malfunctioning. Malfunctioning

14:50 often your computer or phone malfunctions is meaning it's not functioning as it is supposed to do right malfunctioning or there is another term known as there could be some kind of disturbance. Right? Or we can have some more words. Let's say there is some kind of ailment. Huh? there's some kind of impairment. Let's bring all these words together and this all is coming in the idea of the normal functioning right the normal functioning let's say mental psychological physical or let's say body etc etc this is how the NHRC reports begins about articulating disability and then they further argue that not only this is leading to this bad way in which

15:35 or malfunctioning of the body or the mind it also becomes a hurdle when that person who is facing these problems wants to adjust in the society or wants to participate in the society. So whenever you have this kind of malfunctioning disturbance or ailment it becomes a hurdle it acts as a hurdle and in one word if you writing for the main examination it acts as a hurdle hurdle in their functioning or in their equal participation in the community. So whenever a person who is disabled because of any such factors he is not able to participate equally in the community which means that all those articles which are available to other individuals on an

16:22 equal ground even though they are also available to the disabled person yet because of their physical mental and psychological condition they are not able to fully participate as equal members in the political community. Is this clear? Any doubts so far? All right. Turn to page number two of the learning aid. Now when you p when you turn to page number two of the learning aid, the first thing you will find is how WH has tried to define disability, right? World Health Organization remember and we are going back to the year of 1976. So in 1976 who actually tried to explain disability and they came with three concepts. First concept as you can see

17:08 it's already bold in your learning it is impairment concept impairment right what is the second concept disability and what is the third one hap handicap terms now see how they are defining it when you see how they have defined impairment they mention something like this impairment or abnor abnormality. Whenever you talk about impairment, we are actually referring to abnormality and definitely in the psychological or physical or any other way of structuring and functioning of the human body I have referred to the term called anatomical.

17:53 Do you understand what is anatomical or anatomy? The anatomy of the body. So just keep it like simple. Now this look at this marker. It has a specific function to perform. Now let's imagine the tip of the marker is broken. Now this is some kind of impairment. Okay, simple example. Now look at how they are defining disability. They are defining disability as any restriction or reduction as a result of impairment of the ability to perform an activity in the manner that is considered as normal for a human being. Now because of this impairment, this is leading to disability. As far as who is concerned, disability here becomes some kind of reduction right in

18:40 performance in one word it is a reduction in performance. So performing any work which is considered as natural for a human being. Let's take an example here. Suppose a person has a impairment in the mind. Let's say the person's mind is not developed as it should be developed of the same age group of some other human being. Suppose you are 20 year old. A 20-year-old individual is considered fit for reading. Okay. Now because of let's say low vision or let's say because their mind is slow in in double comma they are not able to read in the manner in which you all can read. So that impairment is leading to reduction in the capacity. Right? So disability is

19:26 not impairment of the body. Disability here becomes reduction in the capacity to perform a function which is considered as normal for another human being. Right? So reduction in the capacity or ability to perform a function which is considered as normal for another human being. And see how they are defining handicap. Then the handicap becomes something like this is a disadvantage to a person that results from an impairment or disability that prevents the fulfillment of a role considered normal for that person. Now when you think about handicap it could be result of both impairment or disability and handicap turns out to be a some kind of

20:13 dis advantage. Right? So this is how the WH tried to define disability and it tried to maintain some distinction between impairment, disability and handicap. But the problem with this definition is again it is too much focused on medical terminologies. Right? So even though who is trying to bring in social factors but they are saying that disability is a result of reduction disability reduction which is a result of impairment. They are saying handicap is a disadvantage which is a result of disability and impairment. They are leaving everything to the at the level of individual. They are leaving everything at the level of individual's body, individual's mind,

21:00 individual's development. There is no recognition of the social factor in defining disability. Now even though WH after 1976 indeed tried to reform its definition but they largely operate within the medical framework. Okay is operate they operate within the medical framework and the problem with medical framework is that if you think something as a medical problem you will only look for medical solution. Isn't it problem? Think about COVID pandemic and know if you think about it just as a medical problem. So only medical solution is vaccination isn't it? But now think like this. What

21:46 about laborers? Huh? The laborers who had to for who were forced to migrate on themsel on their own. They were not provided with enough facilities which we had because we are born at a very good stage of social lottery. You know we were at least upper middle class or middle class. But the poor laborers they actually use trains or buses they went on their own and news came that they are walking and they are walking to reach their villages right. So if India also took the same stand and looked at pandemic just as a medical question they would never have thought about taking care of social considerations. That is the problem with WH. When you only fulfill a medical framework, you only look for a medical solution or you look

22:32 at the problem only from the perspective of medical or let's say science and the social factors or the legal factors or the regime, they are not taken into account. So imagine something like this. What about conditions which are social? What about conditions which are political? What about conditions which are administrative and or let's say what about conditions which are economic? What about there is some connection between disability and community basis? What about there is a connection between gender and disability. Now if you come from this perspective a mere emphasis on the medical impairment or disability or handicap is not enough. That is why when

23:18 people think from from the perspective of other ways on which other vantage points they try to separate themselves from the WHO definition and it is not surprising it's world health organization and it's a world health organization so that they are definitely going to have a medical definition but here when you think about UPSC and your examination and the way law has been framed in India you cannot rely on this framework rather you have to think about disability not as as a medical issue but more as a rights issue. I'm not as a medical issue but more as a rights issue or let's say a larger framework human right you understand what is human right anybody in class

24:06 what is human right h anybody human rights how to understand it no No, no. Human right see whenever you think about human human rights are those rights that are available to every human being because they are a human. So suppose you are born you are born with certain rights. Those rights are known as human rights. The idea of human rights has developed over time. Initially we had the idea of natural rights and I think I have discussed this in the class as well. Natural rights refers to rights of life, liberty and possession. Sometimes people call it

24:51 property but actually the term used by John Lock is possession. When you possess something out of your labor, hard work labor then you possess something. And John Lo said that these rights are God-given because of Bhagwan. So God is giving you life. God has granted you liberty and God has given you this capacity to perform labor and by performing that labor you possess something. You enter a orchard of mangoesh that is free free a free mango tree nobody has claim over it and then you look at a mango huh and you're like let me just get this mango and but the the mango is high up in the

25:38 in the in the branch of the tree. So you try to climb you cannot do that. Mango is 12 ft tall. So now what will you do? You will think about a stone. So you're now using your labor to throw a stone. But then you come to know no mango could get hurt. Then you try to get some big long stick. H you take out that. Let's suppose you find a stick and then you say okay always dundday say I will get this mango and then now you use that stick and you take out that mango from the tree. Now you have applied your labor that mango becomes your property. This is John Lo. John Lo is saying when you perform labor you possess something. But the problem

26:24 is John Lock's idea was coming from the idea of god-given rights and we are living in a secular world. Secularism cannot have this good relationship with God. Now especially as far as law is concerned. So secularism will claim no have a different theory. So idea of secularism or secularization process said these rights are not god-given. These rights are not natural because they are god-given. These rights are natural because these are human rights. Since we are born we are humans. Humans deserve this right. And then the most famous document is the universal declaration of human rights by the United Nation. That declaration came after the second world war. And as you all know perhaps by now that second world war the history of second world

27:11 war is full of brutality. It is full of denial of rights to a certain section of the population especially known as Jews in Germany. So there the idea developed and when you have something like a human right it is bestowed upon you. It's your entitlement. It's your due. It's your claim. And then there are different categories of human rights. Political human rights, economic human rights, socioultural human rights, gender based human rights, indigenous community based human rights, traditional human rights. Okay. These are different way group rights etc etc. So human rights clear? Huh? Can we move forward? So whenever you come across and by the way UPSC has asked a question from this part as well in the pre-examination UPSC asked a question which of the following of the

27:58 Indian constitution contains rights that are also present in the universal declaration of human rights. Okay. And they gave certain examples fundamental rights DPS some other two examples. The answer was both fundamental rights and DPS. So if there is any question like this always remember this is the trick. Remember it DPS and fundamental rights contain rights which are also part of the universal declaration of human rights maintained and passed by the United Nations. Let's move forward. Now if you turn to page number three of your learning aid you will find that we also have a law

28:43 here. So persons with disability equal opportunities protection of rights and full participation act 1995 and this law contains certain ideas about disability how to define disability and see what they are defining. The first category of disability is if a person is facing some kind of blindness. Okay. If the person is facing some kind of blindness and then it also includes a category called low vision. Right now I think for your perspective you don't need to mug up these things in detail. What you have to understand is the just detailing of the terms that could give somebody an advantage to be called as a disabled person in the polity and administrative apparatus of the country. Think about

29:30 the second one. Leprosy cured. Leprosy Anybody? Leprosy? Huh? Huh? But what what is it? Leprosy is is a specific uh yes. So, so yeah, people could be cured as well. But see, if somebody is facing leprosy, of course, that person is disabled. But leprosy cured means that even after treatment the person has not been able to perform as a normal human being. All right? And he's facing some kind of difficulties in feeling sensations around the body as well. And then if you read carefully see how it is freed but with loss of sensation in the hands or feet and loss of sensation in

30:16 the eye and the eyelid. Eyelid eyelids eyelids or majorly this part. So your body is not functioning properly. Precisely this is the concept here. Third is hearing impairment. Okay. And again a person could use some kind of aid but that doesn't mean that the person is not disabled. Then locomotive impairment, mental retardation and mental illness. So locomotion is of course about movement of the body. Okay? It's about movement of the body. You could have just one leg or perhaps you are not born with any leg. Then you have mental retardant retardness and the last one

31:02 option here is mental illness. Perhaps you must have a difference between mental retardness and mental illness. I will discuss this later. But this is how one of the law has tried to define disability. Okay. So suppose now UPSC ask you a question in the pre-examination. Which of the following are considered as categories of a person who is facing disability? So what is the answer? One is blindness also include low vision. The second is leprosy cured. Third is hearing impairment. Fourth is locomotive impairment. Fifth is mental retardness and sixth is mental illness. Yeah about a right. And similarly the United

31:48 Nations Convention on Person with Disability to which India is also a signary has also tried to define disability in these ways and they have also not differentiated from the way the law is defining it or the way who is defining it or perhaps the human rights model is defining it. So by the time we reach the convention on person with disability which is CPRD rights of disability person CPRD by that time they have tried to inculcate the medical outlook as well as the rights based approach and they both have been amalgamated together to define how a disabled person actually feels what kind of problems are faced by a disabled person and how to provide them with certain additional benefits or rights so that they are able to participate on

32:33 full and equal terms in comparison to normal human beings in the political community. Is this clear? All right. Write a practice question. Right. Question number one. What do you understand by the term disability? What do you understand by the term disability? Question mark. In what manner? In what manner international institutions or national law in what manner the international institutions or national law has defined disability?

33:19 Question mark elaborate. Question mark elaborate. Write the first point. Disability is often defined Disability is often defined as the malfunctioning as the malfunctioning comma disturbance or or loss within bracket. often permanent. Often permanent but could be temporary as well. But could be temporary as well. Bracket close.

34:05 In the normal functioning of In the normal functioning of physical comm, mental physical, mental and psychological processes and psychological processes of a human being of a human being. Full stop. Continue in the same statement. It acts as the hurdle. It acts as the hurdle in their active and full participation. Active and full participation in the community life. In the community

34:53 life. Full stop. Right. Second point. WH. Second point. WH provides a threedimensional understanding of disability. WH provides a threedimensional understanding of disability by by differentiating between by differentiating between impairment impairment, disability, disability and handicap comma disability and handicap. Full stop. continue in the same point

35:40 for WH for WH, impairment. Impairment is abnormality in the functioning of human body. Impairment is abnormality in the functioning of human body or structure or structure comma disability. Disability is any restriction or reduction. Disability is any restriction or reduction which is result of impairment.

36:25 Whereas whereas handicap handicap is the disadvantaged to the person. Handicap is the disadvantage to the person resulting resulting from from both both disability and impairment. from both disability and impairment. Full stop. Right. Next point. The persons with disabilities. The persons with disabilities within bracket. Equal opportunities. Equal opportunities, protection of rights. Equal

37:10 opportunities, comma, protection of rights and full participation. and full participation. Bracket close act comma 1995 bracket close act comma 1995 defines disability disability from medical lens from medical lens like who like and it means and it means A person facing and it means a person facing blindness

37:57 blindness comma low vision low vision comma leprosy cured leprosy cured comma hearing impairment hearing impairment comma locomot impairment impairment, comma, locomotive impairment, comma, mental retardness, mental retardness, and mental illness and mental illness. Full stop. Write the final statement in this point. It should not be less than 40%. It should not be less than 40% as per the act. As per the act. and write

38:44 the last point for for United Nations Convention for United Nations Convention on Rights of Person with Disabilities. for United Nation Conventions on Rights of Person with Disabilities, Comma. It is a result It is a result of environmental constraint of environmental constraint as well as impairment as well as impairment. and write the last point I like a

39:30 analytical statement. Majority of definitions majority of definitions have been framed from medical perspective and they lack they lack the rights based. They lack the rights based or social understanding of disability. They lack the rights based or social understanding of disability. Now give a page break. Give a page break and write a subheading. Is disability a social

40:17 construct? Write a subheading. Is disability a social construct? Okay. Second job topic which is this is disability a social construct. Now in your learning aid you will find a picture. I found it on Google and I think it's uh good enough for your understanding. Okay. On page number four you will find and in the center you will see that they have made a circular kind of thing like a world right and they are saying the problem is not the disabled person the problem is the disabling world this is see the see the chart there the the picture the problem is disabling

41:04 world and not the person as such isn't it interesting hm Isn't it interesting? Now think like this. Suppose a disabled person has to come to this class and teach. Can he do that? What if the person has no legs, but he is a wonderful teacher? Like he is the best in the best in the business. Okay, he's the best. He's like 1,000 times better than me or 100,000 times better than me. But can he just come to this class and teach? Why? What's the problem? in excess. No excess. Why? We have the stairs. What's wrong? We have the stairs. We can come now. He can't come because there is no lift. Right? So even

41:52 though he is best in the best in the business, even though his mind is best, he can only teach you through online medium because he cannot come here. He can come with Zoom classes. All right. Okay. What if uh so I will give you examples to which you can relate. Have you seen these new DTC bus stops or have you seen the old one or the old DTC busesc how many of you have been living in Delhi uh for the past 20 years 15 years? No. No. Have you not seen that old buses of steel kind of frame a bit green and silver? Huh? Okay. So see this is this was the DTC bus

42:38 stand just few years back. So it used to be like this. So there will be one rod like this. There will be another rod like this and there will be one more rod like this. Okay. So you can sit here and you can have your legs here. There was no sitting like a chair. There was it was not like stand was not like this. And then you will not have any pavement as such. Aana say you just walk and you find that there is a bus stand like this. Huh? It will be like this. Huh? And then there will be lot of trees sprouting up people. Huh? Anytime it can fall. And the DTC bus was also like this. So there is a big bus. Suppose this is the entry to the bus. There is a big tire here. The bus is

43:24 like this is a framework. There are stairs and then only you can enter the bus. Now just imagine the new DTC buses. Have you seen the new DTC buses? The purple bus or the maroon color bus, the orange bus, the green bus, the low floor buses, right? And have you seen the DTC bus stand? If you see carefully the bus stand and the DTC bus, their elevation from the ground is of the same level. So suppose you are standing on this podium and there is a bus stop and the bus will just come here right here. So the person who is disabled they don't need to climb the stairs they can just enter the bus easily right not only this suppose the person is blind he cannot see okay even

44:09 though they may have a vision of the future but he cannot see and that person wants to board the bus so he can also go to the bus stand have you seen those yellow plates on the pavements like if you observe carefully Just go office just walk and you will find that on the roads there are something something in yellow color something like this yellow plates like tiles. So there are tiles like this right? There are different different tiles but there will be a yellow kind of tiles all throughout the pavement the footpath. So this is actually for the uh people who are blind so that they can follow the straight

44:55 path and suppose there is a turn somewhere on that turn you won't find this kind of plating you will find circles small small circles so the person who is blind now when he reaches that place so he can sense it from his legs okay it's not straight so there is a turn here so the person turns or let's imagine I think you must be using Delhi metro H on Delhi Metro platforms you will see the same thing there is a yellow plate right if you enter the DTC bus there is one thing just right next to the emergency door you will find a seat belt but there is no seat that is for the wheelchair person so that they can have the in the last coach of Delhi metro you will find the same thing there is a big rod a big space

45:44 often we all abled person we just go there and stand like this as if it's without property or daddy's capital but that is meant for the disabled population right so this change in the environment now imagine had this not been the case a disabled people won't be a disabled person won't be able to board the bus on time a disabled person won't be able to reach the metro on time then they won't be able to reach the office on time and due to this kind of structure they won't be able to enter the class and teach right not only this in your colleges you all have studied H from some college. If you visit any uh big seminar hall or uh part of the college campus, you will see that there are elevated pavements. Now there is a stair and there is elevated payment. As

46:31 usual, the people who are abled, they just take the elevated payment route. But that is for the disabled person. They can also enter the premises. And those who are abled, they must use the stairs. But we are like it's our daddy's capital. So this is the idea here that what you think about disability it's not a result of the physical ailment alone rather the world is also disabling and if you want to change the condition or provide social justice to the person with disabilities you cannot just deal this as a medical framework rather you have to change this disabling word itself and this is what Indian government has been doing and this is what the United Nations has persistently emphasizing upon on that you need to change the

47:17 disabling one. So for example, think about those. The first option is the buildings are badly designed. Right? How the world is disabling? What is the first thing present in your picture? The buildings are badly designed. So you don't need to go far away. Right? Even the classroom of uh prospect is it's badly designed, isn't it? I I don't know whether you have um whether you have seen these things or not. How many of you have actually gone to your college department, staff room or classrooms? Uh on the classroom door of course a number is mentioned but you will see now

48:05 that they are also mentioning the name of the classroom or the number of the classroom in the braille script. Have you observed it or has it not happened yet? I think in your kurusetra university right which university right it must be there has it I have been there Delhi university has it no no you you when you so what I'm trying to suggest here is that the buildings are badly designed means that there is no elevation huh huh ramp there is a ramp there are now lifts right but more than that you will also find. So for example um in your library perhaps

48:50 uh there must be a room where the disabled people can hear the book right so they can hear it or think like this if you visit any reputed journal right any reputed journal you will find this tab there click here to listen to this article so the person who cannot read if he is not deaf also that person can just click there to listen to the article or for example think about your apps like Uber and Ola H they have this voice right although she speaks very fast but the voice is very fast sometime it is not even audible what they're trying to make sense of but the apps are also made to make sure that text to speech translation is going on in the

49:35 smartphone you will find it so buildings are badly designed so we need to change it similarly there are stairs not rams no lifts right so we need ram camps and lifts special schools. Now this is the problem. If you create special schools only that is also a problem because then the participation won't happen in the same way. We don't need segregation we need amalgamation then if for few sign language interpreters. Now how many of you actually find people who are also learning sign language? You won't find it. By the way there is another news here in the current affairs. I think it happened last year. There is a perhaps just one Hindi film industry actor whose name has received a

50:21 sign language. Can you guess the person's name? He's the best actor considered as the kind of emperor of Hindi film industry. The kind of basha kind of person who is the Yeah. So if you do this now, it means you are saying Shah Rukh Khan in the sign language. Just do this. Okay. What it means? Two times tab by two fingers is Shah Ruk Khan. sign language, few sign language interpreters, discrimination, inaccessible transport, no parking places, isolated families and poor job prospects. So suppose if you visit the banks now you will find that the banks have this policy or now the government has made this policy after the passage of the right of personal disability act 2016 that at least 5% jobs should be there for the disabled population. So when you

51:06 visit a bank if you observe it carefully for your UPSC preparation you will find a disabled person often the person is blind they are sitting somewhere and they are performing in the bank but why I'm saying that is not enough because in the disabling world scenario they are not given any bigger task rather what is the job of that person who is blind in the bank a person will go to him and say give me the inquiry form and that person will have three forms in front of her or him and they will just pinpoint okay second number is inquiry form first number is check form the third number is ATM form fine you want inquiry form so even when you have these people now they give them jobs they are not granted with larger opportunities so we come

51:53 with this mindset that the person who is disabled has also less mind he cannot think properly he cannot talk properly right so I think perhaps there was a very good famous epic writer in India who was blind. Have you heard this name Suras? Right? So perhaps Suda needs to be born again to make the abled population understand, hey, you're doing wrong with me. Right? So the problem is not just uh the disabled person. The problem is equally what is known as the disabling world. All right? So write a practice question or I want it tomorrow. No, I won't be meeting you tomorrow. Perhaps on Sunday

52:39 I will meet you all. So write this question. Mayor emphasis Mere emphasis on medical conditioning is not enough. Medical conditioning is not enough to ameliorate. A m i o r a t e. Ameliorate the condition of the disabled population. Full stop. Rather rather

53:26 the change in disabling world is necessary rather the change in disabling world is necessary. Full stop. Examine. Examine 150 words. Try to write this. Okay. Now let's look at certain rights of the disabled. Let's look at the next part. Rights of the disabled. Now see if you read the Indian constitution

54:12 it appears as if the constitution has nothing to say about disability. It appears like that. So for example is there any part in the constitution that deals with disability? The answer is no. Is there any specific article that deals with disability? The answer will be no. No we don't find any specific article which categorically mentions something about the disabled population. But when you read article 15 precisely and there are few more articles but article 15 is part of fundamental rights. So that's far better example here. When you read article 15 it contains the word disability. Now you can understand that the framers of the Indian constitution did not consider disability as a result of physical ailment alone rather they

54:58 consider disability as a social problem. So for example in your learning aid you will find that I have mentioned this in your aid. Now if you read article 15 it's about principle of non-discrimination yes or no right it is part of right to equality yes or no. Now see what article 15 is saying. Article 15 clause two. No citizen on grounds only of religion, race, cast, sex, place of birth or any of them be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to etc etc. So even article 152 mentions that as far as the territory of India is concerned and precisely within

55:46 India the citizens are concerned no citizen shall be subject to any kind of disability. Isn't it? This is what the article is mentioning. But this in itself is not enough because the article is not at all explaining what it means by disability. Right? But perhaps when you go through the constant assembly debates, it is categorically mentioning that even though if you are imposing certain kind of disability to any individual, whether it's a woman or a man, whether it's a minority or a majority, whether it's abled or a handicapped person, if you are subjecting them to disability, you are actually leading to violation of a fundamental right. But the problem here is that this article is not precisely

56:33 focused on the disabled population. It is only focusing on the word called disability. That is why whenever you think about Indian constitution, we can say that yes, all the fundamental rights are available to the disabled population. But there is no specific enumeration of rights for disabled population as such. But is constitution a dead document or is constitution a living document? Which option would you choose? It's a living document. Constitution develops over time, right? So we can give this much space to the framers that okay fine they were not that much farsighted in their approach perhaps they lost this thing okay fine we need to have one more article for disabled population etc etc but this convention by the UN India signed this

57:18 convention right and when you read this convention the old one the new one is of course far ahead of the old convention but the old convention maintains certain rights which should be given to the disabled people and those rights I have enumerated in your learning aid. So for example, see the first right equality in socioeconomic and cultural rights. So the first right that a disabled person has is about right to equality and what it means social equality. Second cultural equality and third tell me social cultural and economic. See there is a third one economic equality. Right? So for example, what it means? What is social equality and cultured equality?

58:04 What's the difference between society and culture? Social equality simple means that every person is equal and they should be treated equally. There should be no discrimination. Cultural means that they should be take they should be able to take part in the cultural activities of the community. Right? So for example, think like some kind of celebration janti. There is some yeah there is hanuman janti today. Right? So in my village we don't celebrate hanuman janti today here we celebrated hanuman janti but in my village it's a different day but anyways so hanuman janti right there is some ram lila going on we need to have a disabled person performing it isn't it have you ever seen a disabled per person performing any cultural event in your life h have you ever came across a news that disabled people are actually performing

58:52 no you have not huh in your college you must have seen. So what was the performance? Yeah. H okay. So listen this let me tell you I I was lucky. So I visited this uh world trade fair. You know there is a trade fair and in that trade fair I think it used to happen at praati madan those days. I don't know where it happens today. Uh yeah there was a big big fair and u I think I was in 11th standard perhaps. So I went there and uh there was a MP theater a big theater kind of thing. So I just entered that place it was free and it was written that you will also get some refreshments. So you know as usual the

59:38 student the kids like AC and food is like the best deal you can have. You're heating and you're having a air condition. And then when we entered me and all my friends we were like okay fine we can just enter this place. But then we came to know it's a performance by the disabled people. I can tell you honestly even I thought what they will do right because I was not you know I was not studying enough. I my mind was small. I was nut in my brain. I only thought that only abled people can perform and then I saw that they were going to perform the war of Mahabharat in 1 hour. That excited me. I was like no let me see what they're going to do. And all of them were on wheelchair.

1:00:24 There were at least 18 participants. The 18 participants were performing on wheelchair. And they mesmerized the entire audience by the movement of the wheelchair. And they also formed bow and arrow and the movement of the horse and the chariot. So for example, the person this the first person in the wheelchair, right? He's standing right next. Then there is one more, one more, one more. So there are four people and behind four there are eight people right 12 people together and now they are moving like a horse and behind them there is one person who is on the wheelchair and he's having this strong pole in his arms so he's standing like Krishna and then there is a person behind him who is performing like Arjun that I'm going to

1:01:09 apply this bow and I'm going to kill all of you and they perform for 1 hour not only this there is a specific event which happened in Delhi University I was part of Delh university as assistant professor and we actually perhaps we became the first college in the university to celebrate the disabled sports meet and we made this Ankur was a festival which happened in the Thiagaraja stadium and all across India participants came and the chief guest were not some ordinary abled human beings the chief guest were people who performed cricket disabled cricket team captain came right so he disabled cricket means so there is a ball The ball has a certain ring in it so you can hear it and then you can hit the sixer etc. And the interesting part was that

1:01:55 when I looked at that cultural space and I was actually mentioning the names you know what were the name of the participants very bad names. So there was a name like Rambur. So a person who is born disabled the cultural atmosphere in India is Ramaros. What is meaning of Ramar? Only God can take care of him. Because society won't and his life is ruined. He's disabled. He cannot do anything. And that person actually performed shortput. You know what is shortput? You have a heavy ball here. He had a disability in his leg. So he was standing with one of the basaki like this, you know, support like this. And he and he was the winner by the way. So his arms were very powerful. So disabled people want to participate in

1:02:42 the cultural events. The problem is the disabling world. And that is why if you if we don't have athletic meat for them, we can never see how much talented they are. If we don't have cultural meat for them, we can never see how much talented they are. How much they can perform. Right? They can perform the Mahabharat in 1 hour. Isn't it? So that is how you have to understand this right. Any question? Any doubt so far? Someone may is it completely coming? All right. Next one. The right to work. Okay. Not just equality, the disabled population also has the right to work. So job prospects must be open for them. Like for example, have you ever met a disabled person who is an IS officer?

1:03:28 Have you ever heard about this? H work on equal visas. Any disabled person who is an IS officer? No. Okay. So there is a young lady who has actually quit her job now because uh she was not able to cope up. She was facing problems and there is one more woman who was blind but she qualified the civil services but I think it also came in news there was a disabled woman I think here she was facing dwarfism and she also qualified the civil service examination so that is what they are saying we also have the equal right to

1:04:14 work but the point is everywhere you will find that the demand is equal basis so don't give us job which is considered as a charity ity okay if we are if I'm coming as a teacher better create conditions that can help me to teach properly if I'm coming as a teacher don't give me a class where there are no students like for example in the Delhi university you have the discipline specific elective courses and then you have generic elective courses and then you have also you know major courses right so in some of the generic elective papers there are only two or three students isn't it and in some generic collective paper there are 100 students right so what happens in the atmosphere of the college premises the disabled teacher is often allotted the class

1:05:01 which has less students why because we think that they cannot teach well the student will face the problem we don't think about providing them with daisy meter daisy meter is a equipment through which a disabled teacher can make powerpoint presentations that can be put on the screen and everything can be done properly so we don't think about that what we are thinking A job. Yeah, there is a law. Yeah, let's give him a job but allot him a very small class. But not only this, suppose there is a person who is disabled and he wants to pursue research. That person is often allotted a supervisor of the college, not the department. This also happens. Or suppose you have to provide a comment. There is always this idea of seeing that person from this pity,

1:05:49 right? Good, good argument. Good answer. And the disabled person is saying, "No, tell me more. I can do more." Now, this pity feeling. And I was a very brutal teacher. I would say I remember a disabled student in my class who was blind. He submitted an assignment to me. And there's an assignment was of course written by some other person. So when he submitted that assignment, I said, "How could you write? You cannot see. How come you are writing straight lines and sentences?" He said, "My friend has written it for me." I said, "Did you dictate?" He said yes but he said I he can write it for me. I said read your assignment. The question was the political and technological impact of globalization on India. And by the way this question was asked in some way by the UPSC as well that year. And the person had written is something like

1:06:35 this. He provided definition of globalization five times. In five pages the assignment was complete and there was no mentioning of political and technological dimensions. And then I said what have you done? How will you improve? You know what that guy told me? He said sir give me 3 days. I will write the assignment on my own in braille. He came after 3 days with a braille script assignment and then I said dear friend I am not able to read the braille. How will I check it? He said sir I will read in front of the class. In my life I have never seen an answer like that. That was the best answer on technological and political dimensions of globalization written by a blind

1:07:21 person in the braille script and he read it for me. That is how you have to give opportunity. Right? So if you're giving them social, economic, cultural opportunity, give it on equal basis. If you're giving them work opportunity, give it on equal basis. If you're giving them educational opportunities, give it on equal basis. So you should not try to, you know, feeling of pity. it's not going to work for them. Rather, if our agenda is inclusion, inclusion cannot go with the feeling of pity. Inclusion is not equal to ecomoation. There is a difference. Inclusion means equal basis, equal participation, equal engagement with the larger community.

1:08:09 All right? And then definitely right to liberty, right to equality, all these rights will come. So write a practice question. You have to write it from your learning aid. Write the question like this. What are the different rights of the persons with disabilities? What are the different rights of the persons with disabilities as per as per the convention as per the convention on rights of person with disabilities as per the convention on rights of persons with disabilities? Question mark. And write the next part of the question. Why these documents? Why this document not

1:08:55 these? Why this document emphasizes emphasizes on fulfillment of rights? Why this document emphasizes on fulfillment of rights on equal basis? Fulfillment of rights on equal basis. Full stop. So you have to write this in 150 words. Okay. Short precise answer about break. Okay. 5 minutes break.

1:09:48 Fresh mind. Huh? Can we start ahead? Huh? A by the way you will also have lot of uh facts and uh screenshots of uh data in this aid by the census 2011. Now why I have done that is to make all of you understand what kind of problem we are facing right so there is lot of uh data there no need to mug it up just look at the data and you will understand I will also tell how to read this uh these screenshots from the census it's a census by the government of India it's a census 2011 the last census which had this idea of disabled population and you will understand the ambit of the problem we

1:10:34 are facing. All right. Uh let's move forward. So the next part is of course some important inputs on the UN convention. Now of course 2007 you have to remember India signed it 2008 it became operational and uh this convention is perhaps the milestone in uh enhancing and furthering the rights of persons with disability. Had it not been the case then perhaps this topic would not have been important. And um interesting part is that if you read the law in India, the law in India,

1:11:19 the first page of the law has a dealing on objectives, right? What is the objective of this law? And the one of the primary objective is to fulfill the demands of the convention. So the convention we are going to go through it's actually the basis in the way law has been framed in India right and the same law on which UPSC has asked questions in the pre-examination as well as the main examination and there is a possibility that in the near future this topic is going to remain relevant. So in the near future also UPSC may ask might ask some questions on this topic and you have to write a good answer there.

1:12:06 Now as you can see that the learning aid is very vast and it's it's a long aid but my entire agenda of behind this aid was to provide you with as much input as possible but the best part that you can understand is how they have tried to define certain words. So for example, if you look at the convention, what are the major objectives of the convention? Number one, to pro promote the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities. So the first objective of this convention is that all those rights which are available to a human being, let's say the human rights. All right.

1:12:53 Second, all those fundamental freedoms, right? All those fundamental freedoms which are available to every human being, a disabled person must be provided with opportunity to full fully enjoy or have full enjoyment of these rights. Is this not the first objective? So for example, there is a universal declaration of human rights. The disabled person must be provided opportunity to enjoy this right fully. Fully means simply what? In comparison to a abled person, there should be no difference. The way an enabled person enjoys these rights, the same way the disabled person must enjoy these rights. For example, if an abled

1:13:40 person has the right to walk, you know, freely without any hurdle on a good road on a good footpath, the same right must be provided to a person with disability. So we need yellow line or yellow streams on the road. We need low floor buses. We need low-flow bus stand. So that the way abled person is exercising this right, the same way a disabled person must exercise this right. What is the second objective? Look at it. to protect and ensure these rights. Mayor provision that we are going to provide these rights is not enough. Rather we must protect these rights and we must promote plus ensure these

1:14:25 rights and perhaps as far as the UN convention is concerned the best way for protection promotion of these rights is to establish an administrative regime is answer how to promote or protect these rights by establishing ing an administrative regime and this requires what? A certain kind of law making. You cannot protect these rights. You cannot promote these rights. You cannot ensure these rights. Okay. All right. And then perhaps it should not be based on pity. Rather the idea is that we must provide a disabled person with dignity.

1:15:14 Interesting aspect of the UN convention is that they have tried to define certain words. So for example in your learning aid you will find words like communication right you will find words like universal design you will find words like language discrimination on grounds of disability etc etc. you will find something called reasonable accommodation. Now UN convention has explained what it means. So for example look at communication. It includes languages, text display, braille, tactile communication, large print, accessible multimedia as well as written right audio plain language etc etc. Now if you read carefully the national

1:15:59 education policy NP right or let's imagine if you visit any university now things are working like that you will find that there is a board but also there is a powerpoint projection available h and then if you read it you will find that there are different prints available so for example if a disabled person goes to a library or to the college and he says I need to have this book could you please get it transformed in a audio form. The college has to do it right. So there should be no barrier in communication. Think about the term language in the convention. Language includes spoken and other language or sign languages and other forms of non-spoken languages. Nowadays perhaps

1:16:45 there is a course as well in which any person can learn the sign language right or for example if you remember I mean I don't know how whether you remember it or not um I think DD news still have it the n DD news channel so there used to be a show in which a a anchor will come and she will recite the news and then there will be a small small box on the right side of the screen and there will be a person who will be performing the sign language. I remember in my childhood of the leader is no more but there was some news about Mulam Singh Yadav. All right. And uh that uh person who was in the box he did something like this. So we were like okay he's mentioning so

1:17:32 mulam is this like you know mulam sing and then he was doing something some so he is trying to explain the news in the sign language form. Now that has become the norm now. So if you want to visit any place or any kind of larger state- based activity, there must be no discrimination on the basis of language as well. Now look at the third point. The third point is about discrimination on ground of disability. What it means? It means any distinction, exclusion or restriction in your copy. Just write these words. If somebody is asking what is discrimination on grounds of disability, it has three major components. It means restriction, right? It means exclusion. You can also

1:18:21 write the term isolation. It's not wrong to write here. So perhaps there is definitely going to be restriction in the life of the person. There is going to be exclusion from the larger community as well as there going to be distinction or isolation or expulsion. Whatever word you want to choose, you can choose it. And this has the effect of denying the disabled person the full enjoyment of right in comparison to others. So this is how suppose there is a question what do you understand by the term discrimination on disab on the grounds of disability. You just have to write this paragraph and then add with certain other factors. Okay, clear. So this is how I have to I mean I don't want to invest more time in it. I just want to give you all a kind of major

1:19:08 input. And the final word which I want to discuss in the class is about the universal design. Now see what has happened over the time. We have developed this idea of creating a special schools for the disabled children. It's a good initiative. I will I will not say it's a bad initiative. Perhaps the best way to understand this have you watched that movie tamiper h Ishan Ishanasi right remember that boy young boy h I remember that song problem I think all of you must be feeling that when you are preparing for UPSC problem it's a very good song you must always hear it again and again but see what is the universal design framework suppose you are

1:19:55 creating ing a building or a government office it must be universible acceptable

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