Socio-Economic Conditions Of Differently-Abled Persons In India – An Emperical Study Based On Secondary Data

Abstract

In developed countries, the proportion of people with disabilities ranges from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of total population. Prevalence of disability in developing countries is reported to be 1 per cent to 2 per cent of the population. Persons with disabilities are considered as the world’s largest minority. They are more likely to live in poverty than their non-disabled peers; hence a small portion of governmental allocation will not be sufficient to improve the social and economic conditions of differently abled people. The capacity building and overall development of differently abled persons on par with their non-disabled counterparts and their social inclusion in all developmental activities should be ensured. Persons living with disabilities face multiple barriers due to injustice on the basis of race, color, sex, language, religion, political opinion, national, ethnic, indigenous or social origin, property, birth and age. As a result, persons with disabilities are at a high risk of poverty, which in itself increases the likelihood of having a disability. Social exclusion and inclusive growth have opened up serious debates and discussions on the role of different factors in the development discourse across the globe. In India certain sections of the society are away from the mainstream society and are considered as the most vulnerable groups or outer class. They are often denied minimum access to the basic needs. In India social exclusion is stratified on the basis of caste, class and gender. Differently abled people are excluded from the process of advanced human existence and development (Kummitha, 2015). In addition to social exclusion, problems such as, poverty, unemployment and gender discrimination continue to affect the social and economic development of most of the marginalized groups in India.

Keywords: Differently-Abled, Poverty