Year End Review 2018 - Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD)

What is the DEPwD for?

• A separate Department of Disability Affairs was carved out of the Ministry of Social justice & Empowerment in 2012.
• The Department was renamed as Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities in 2014.
• The Department acts as a nodal agency for matters pertaining to disability and persons with disabilities.
• It is primarily entrusted with the task of empowerment of person with disabilities (PwDs) to build an inclusive society.
• It works to ensure equal opportunities for their growth and development to lead productive, safe and dignified life.
• Towards this end, the department undertakes the following measures -

1. Physical rehabilitation - includes early detection and intervention counselling, medical rehabilitation and assistance in procuring appropriate aids and appliances
2. Educational rehabilitation including vocational education
3. Economic rehabilitation and social empowerment
4. Developing rehabilitation professionals/personnel
5. Improving internal efficiency/responsiveness/service delivery
6. Advocating empowerment of PwDs through awareness generation among different sections of the society

What are the key schemes and initiatives?

• Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/Fitting of Aids and Appliances (ADIP) Scheme - More than 1400 ADIP Camps were organized and more than 2.4 lakh Divyangjan were provided Aids Assistive Devices in 2018.

• A Mega Distribution Camp was organized at Gwalior for distribution of Aids & Assistive devices to the Divyangjan and Senior Citizens.
• It was done through ALIMCO (Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India), a CPSE under the Ministry.
• Accessible India Campaign (AIC) - The aim is to create universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities in Built Environment, Transport, and ICT ecosystem.
• So far, Access Audit of more than 1600 buildings in 50 cities has been completed by the auditors.
• Accessibility provisions have been made in airports, railway stations, public transport buses, public websites, etc.
• 100 Accessible websites of various State Government/UTs were launched as part of Accessible India Campaign.
• Unique Disability Identification (UDID) Project - The Department has the UDID project to create national database for PwDs.
• This is to issue Unique Disability ID (UDID) Card along with disability certificate.
• Once the project covers all persons with disabilities, UDID Card will be made mandatory for availing various government benefits.

What are the major activities/achievements over the year?

• 17-member Blind Cricket World Cup winning Indian Team was felicitated and presented with a cash award.
• The first and second meeting of the Central Advisory Board on disability was held.
• The Board deliberated on important policy issues such as inclusive education, implementation of Rights of Persons With Disabilities (RPWD) Act, Accessible India Campaign (AIC), etc.
• The National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities launched the 'Inclusive India Initiative'.
• The objective is to work for the inclusion of Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
• First Indian Sign Language Dictionary of 3000 words developed by Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC), New Delhi was launched.
• ISL dictionary consists of various categories of words such as legal terms, medical terms, academic terms, technical terms and daily use words.
• The Department organized the ‘1st Sensitization Meeting of Stakeholders to make Delhi a Model Accessible City’.
• The Department coordinates the meeting of all key stakeholders, sensitize them about the legal mandates and would hold supervisory role in this entire journey.
• The Department organized a meeting with the Scientists of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation (ALIMCO).
• It was on the issue of commercialization of various technological interventions developed by DST for the benefits of PwDs.
• A National workshop on Skill Development for Persons with Disabilities was held.
• Various core issues relating to promoting skill development for Persons with Disabilities, Skill curriculum design, participation of industry and experts were deliberated upon in the meeting.
• A National Conference was organised to create awareness about important components of revised scheme of District Disability Rehabilitation Centres (DDRC).
• DDRCs provide comprehensive services to PwDs and facilitate creation of infrastructure and capacity building at the district level for awareness generation, rehabilitation, training of rehabilitation professionals.
• A National Workshop on Physical and Mental Disabilities in the light of Global Best Practices in Care, Rehabilitation and Research was held.
• The outcome of the workshop will support protocol development in the service deliveries and encourage adaptation of global best practices in Indian context.
• A three day international event of the “Global IT challenge for Youth with Disabilities, 2018” was hosted by the Department.
• Youth with disabilities from 18 countries participated in the event. India won three medals in the event.
• An MoU has been signed between the Government of Australia and the Government of India for cooperation in the disability sector.

Source: PIB