The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act enacted in 2016 is aimed at upholding the dignity, autonomy, and equal rights of persons with disabilities (PwDs). In Jammu and Kashmir, where the population of PwDs is steadily increasing, systemic barriers, administrative delays, and social stigma prevent the Act's promises from being fulfilled.
Implementation Gaps: Law vs. Reality
The RPWD Act, 2016, identifies 21 categories of disabilities and mandates state governments to ensure the rights of PwDs through access to infrastructure, education, employment, social security, and healthcare. Importantly, it aligns with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), to which India is a signatory.
In theory, the Act recognises disability as a human rights issue and not just a matter of charity or welfare. In practice, however, particularly in J&K, the state apparatus has been sluggish in translating legal commitments into action.
The chasm between policy formulation and on-the-ground action is glaring, leaving the disabled community sidelined, systematically ignored, and persistently voiceless.
Voices from the Ground: Activists Speak Out
Javed Ahmed Tak, a prominent disability rights activist and Padma Shri awardee, says that the RPWD Act’s enforcement in Jammu and Kashmir remains superficial.
Under sub-section (1) of Section 79 of the Act, the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities was appointed in September 2022, for a tenure of three years.
However, critical administrative mechanisms such as the State Advisory Board and District-Level Committees for Persons with Disabilities have yet to be constituted, even several years after the Act's adoption, says Tak. He points out that the reservation in promotion for employees with disabilities has not been implemented, and the identification of suitable posts for persons with disabilities has not been aligned with the Central Job Identification List.
Moreover, recruiting agencies and government departments have failed to maintain mandatory registers for the carry-forward and backlog of vacancies reserved for persons with disabilities, leading to their exclusion.
Umesh Sharma, another prominent disability rights activist from Jammu, emphasized that under Section 24 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016, the government is mandated to provide financial assistance to persons with disabilities 25% higher than other social security schemes.
However, in the Union Territory, the government is currently providing only Rs 1,250, to all beneficiaries which falls short of the mandated amount. He also highlighted Section 86 of the Act, calls for the establishment of a Union Territory Fund for Persons with Disabilities but no tangible progress has been made in operationalizing this fund.
Sharma has formally written to higher authorities and the state Disability Commissioner, to raise these two demands but there is no response.
Accessibility: The First Barrier
Accessibility is the foundation of dignity and autonomy for persons with disabilities (PwDs). It is what enables them to participate fully in education, employment, civic life, and social engagement.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016, under section 40 mandates barrier-free access to public buildings, transport systems, and information and communication technologies. Yet in Jammu & Kashmir, even key government institutions—such as the Social Welfare Department, High Court, public schools, parks and hospitals—fail to meet even the most basic accessibility standards.
Despite the targets set under the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan), the majority of public spaces across Kashmir remain hostile to people with disabilities. Sidewalks are uneven or non-existent; ATMs, police stations, post offices, schools and bus terminals often lack ramps, tactile pathways, elevators, or even accessible toilets.
Moreover, digital accessibility is virtually absent. Most government websites and online services are not designed with universal access in mind, excluding PwDs from essential digital platforms and e-governance services. This digital divide further isolates an already marginalised community, reinforcing the sense that their needs are invisible to those in power.
Inclusive Education: A Distant Dream
Section 16 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016, guarantees the right to inclusive education, placing a legal obligation on both government and private educational institutions to adapt curricula, train teachers, and provide necessary support including assistive devices and learning aids to enable children with special needs to learn in mainstream classrooms without discrimination.
However, in Jammu and Kashmir, inclusive education remains more a policy ideal than a practiced reality, especially in private as well as government-run schools.
Most schools lack qualified special educators, trained counselors, Rehab Therapists, accessibility and access to Braille books, sign language interpreters, or assistive technologies such as screen readers or learning software.
The situation is far worse in rural and remote districts, where children with disabilities are often either kept at home due to inaccessibility or are enrolled in schools that lack the basic infrastructure or human resources to support them.
Parents are frequently confronted with a heartbreaking choice to accept inadequate and discriminatory education in mainstream schools or send their child to special schools run by NGOs, which are few in number, poorly resourced, and often geographically or financially inaccessible.
Adding to these systemic barriers is the entrenched societal stigma surrounding disability. Teachers and school administrators, largely untrained in disability awareness or inclusive education, may unintentionally marginalise or isolate students with disabilities.
This results in low self-esteem, poor academic performance, and high dropout rates among such children, undermining not just the letter of the law, but the very spirit of equality, dignity, and inclusion that the RPWD Act was designed to uphold.
Vocational Training and Employment: A Broken Bridge
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016, under Section 19, emphasizes the importance of vocational training for the economic empowerment of persons with disabilities (PwDs). It also mandates 4% reservation in government jobs for individuals with benchmark disabilities.
However, vocational training is virtually non-existent for disabled adults over 18, confining them to homes without independence or income opportunities. The few training centers lack proper infrastructure, funding, and qualified instructors. Government departments ignore mandatory job quotas while private sector hiring remains discriminatory.
This systematic exclusion violates the RPWD Act and traps disabled persons in poverty, dependency, and social isolation, denying their right to dignity and economic self-reliance.
Health Care: Inaccessible and Inadequate
Section 24 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016, guarantees the right to accessible, non-discriminatory, and affordable healthcare including diagnostic, preventive and rehabilitative services for persons with disabilities. However, the reality is systemic neglect, infrastructural inaccessibility, and a lack of disability-sensitive services.
Healthcare facilities lack rehabilitation centers and early intervention services for special needs children who require timely therapies, medical interventions and development support, causing irreversible setbacks in their growth.
District hospitals and Primary Health Centres are inaccessible with almost non-existent wheelchair entry points, disability-friendly toilets, and basic assistive infrastructure. Critical services like speech, occupational, and physiotherapy are unavailable or unaffordable.
Families are forced to travel to major cities like Srinagar or Jammu for basic care, leaving remote communities and economically weaker sections neglected. This healthcare failure violates the RPWD Act and reflects a broader policy neglect of disabled persons' needs.
The Way Forward: From Policy to Practice
To bridge the gap between rights and reality, J&K must adopt a multipronged approach.
Way Forward
This should include conducting accessibility audits and retrofitting all public buildings, transport, and schools, trained special educators, disability modules in school curriculum and monitoring of inclusive education compliance, and redesigning of skill programs for disabled persons with customized curricula and trained instructors. While Public-private partnerships should be incentivised to promote inclusive hiring and entrepreneurship for disabled individuals, the government must establish disability desks in every district hospital with free mobility aids and therapy services. There is also need for reliable disability data systems and empowering the state commissioner with enforcement powers, besides launching awareness campaigns to combat stigma.
A truly rights-based approach requires more than forward-looking laws—it demands robust implementation, institutional accountability, and a fundamental shift in societal attitudes.
The new J&K government must act immediately. With the current Disability Commissioner's tenure ending in September 2025, appointing a dedicated successor and creating an inclusive governance roadmap is critical. Without these measures, disabled persons' rights will remain unfulfilled promises rather than lived realities.
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