Context: Recently a report published by National Centre for the Promotion of Employment for Disabled Persons (NCPEDP)  revealed that individuals with disabilities and their families are at a greater risk of poor health and quality of life outcomes because either their social status is affected by their disabilities or their disabilities are made worse by the inaccessibility that comes with social status. 
Key Points of the report

• The report includes results from a study of 1,067 people with disabilities (about 73% male, 27% female) over 73% of those surveyed experienced serious difficulties due to the lockdown.
• Many people living with disabilities have been more of a task post-lockdown because of governmental negligence, combined with inaccessibility to healthcare and rewarding employment. A large class divide has become increasingly visible in the lockdown.

Challenges faced by persons with disabilities

• People with disabilities have pre-existing conditions like MRSA [an infection] or have compromised spinal cords, which make them more susceptible to virus infection. There is no accessibility in the quarantine centres.
• Social distancing is a privilege for the marginalised classes and is worse for those with disabilities. 
• There is no representation in Parliament, and hence, nobody to ensure the policy made for them is intersectional in nature.
• For families of disabled people, the crisis is harder to deal with considering that they have been deprived of two things, able bodies and financial sustainability. 
• In spite of talk of redressing caste, class, gender and other types of discrimination, disability from systemic oppression has largely been ignored. 

About the National Centre for the Promotion of Employment for Disabled Persons (NCPEDP)

• It is a non-profit organization Registered in 1996  and working as an interface between the Government, Industry, International Agencies, and the Voluntary Sector towards empowerment of persons with disabilities.
• It has successfully advocated several policy changes that have positively impacted the lives of people with disabilities, working across to encourage the employment of disabled people, increase public awareness on the issue of disability, empower disabled people with knowledge, information and opportunities, and ensure easy and convenient access to all public places, products, services and technologies.
• Headquartered in New Delhi, NCPEDP has a pan India presence through the National Disability Network (NDN) and NDN has members from majority States and Union Territories across the country.
• It helps in moving away from traditionally held views of charity by increasing their productivity .
• NCPEDP has also constituted the National Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (NCRPD) consisting of disability sector leaders and experts from across the country, that meets at regular intervals to discuss ongoing pertinent issues relevant to people with disabilities, and to plan a strategy to address the same.

Objectives of NCPEDP

• Encourage the employment of people with disabilities
• Increase public awareness on disability issues
• Empower people with disabilities through appropriate legislation
• Ensure public places are accessible to all

NCPEDP works on six core principles, also called the six pillars of the organization, namely

• Education
• Employment
• Accessibility
• Legislation/Policy
• Awareness/ Communication
• Youth

Road Ahead

• We must think of PwDs living alone, those quarantined in centres, and ensure that Persons with Disability are given basic facilities if their primary caregiver is quarantined.
• There must be a consolidated Ministry, instead of just rebranding them as “divyaang” or just saying that an effort is being made.
• There must be an interlinkage of policymakers with a disability as the focus. The best way to do that is to create Joint Secretary-level positions for disability affairs in the Health, Home and Information and Broadcasting Ministries. 
• These officers would connect the department and concerned Ministries, ensuring disability is not overlooked during policy formulation.