One of the largest minority groups in India, who have suffered long years of neglect, deprivation, segregation and exclusion are persons with disability (PwD). In India, disabled persons are still oppressed, marginalized and denied the opportunity for full citizenship and participation, and from living a reasonable quality of life because of society’s persistent stereotypical and prejudiced perception of them as inferior, incapable, inadequate, and a burden on the family resources and society.

Government Initiative:

• In order to give focused attention to policy, issues and meaningful thrust to the activities, aimed at welfare and empowerment of the Persons with Disabilities, a separate Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities was carved out of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on May 12, 2012.
• One of the main objectives of this department is rehabilitation at various aspects including social empowerment such as, Scheme Arising Out Of The Implementation Of The Persons With Disabilities Act (SIPDA), Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme(DDRS), Scheme of Assistance to Disabled Persons for purchase/fitting of Aids/appliances (ADIP) along with other schemes.

Assistance to Disabled Persons:

• Under ADIP scheme, the department provides aids/appliances help the people with disabilities to achieve more autonomy and mobility which leads to social participation and inclusion.

Technology Development Projects in Mission Mode:

• With a view to provide suitable and cost effective aids and appliances through the application of technology and to increase their employment opportunities and integration in society scheme was started

Inclusive Education for the Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS):

• This scheme supports children with disabilities aged 14 or above for completing their secondary education from Class 9 to Class 12 in government, local body and government aided schools.

Accessible India Campaign:

• Creating universal accessibility for PwD’s in built environment, transport, information and communication technology (ICT) ecosystem.
• This campaign is based on the principles of social model of disability; that disability is caused by the way society is organised and no the person’s limitation and impairments.
• A web portal has also been created where people can upload pictures and comments on the accessibility of any building.

Implementation of Persons with Disabilities Act (SIPDA):

• It is a wide financial assistance is given for skill development, creation of barrier free environment running some institutions in the field and other related activities relating to implementation of the Act

Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Schemes (DDRS):

• Financial assistance is provided to NGOs, for projects relating to rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.
• It is aimed at enabling them to reach and maintain their optimal physical, sensory, intellectual, psychological and/or social functional levels through 18 sub-components.

Information, Communication and Technology (ICT):

A mobile app will be launched to provide information on disabled-friendly public utilities in a city. It will feature places like ATMs, banks, malls, toilets and will also have user-generated ratings of how disabled-friendly those places are.

Awareness Generation and Publicity:

The Scheme was launched in 2014 with the objective of providing wide publicity including event based publicity etc. through electronic print, film media, multi media to the schemes and programmes being run by the Central Government for the welfare of persons with disabilities, to create an enabling environment for social inclusion of the PwDs, to disseminate information about the legal rights of the PwDs to sensitize the employers and other similar groups on the special needs of the especially abled persons, to develop content for rehabilitation of different types of disabilities, provide helpline and so on.

Conclusion:

Social empowerment is indispensable to people with disabilities and it is both a continuous process as well as a result. Social empowerment is typically implemented at the four following levels:

(1) the individual level – where the person values him/herself and actively wants to participate in life,

(2) family level-where the family gets guidance and support for social rehabilitation of their members with disabilities

(3) community level-where awareness programme can be conducted.

Social support from the community along with government policies leads to social inclusion where a person level impacting local and national level actions to promote social equity and inclusion of all persons with disabilities. Though social empowerment can be achieved through other areas of practice, such as inclusive education and socio-economic integration, it is also a specific area of practice where tools, methods and approaches exist to facilities social inclusion. Thus, social policies and facilities can become effective tools to encourage people with disabilities to acquire social empowerment.