Central government to makes changes to empower differently-abled
The Centre will make a host of changes — on websites, buses, buildings, public transport, among others — for greater accessibility for the differently-abled. This includes publishing government documents in the electronic publication (ePUB) or optical character reader (OCR) based pdf format on portals, and rebuilding public buildings, buses and public transport systems to make them accessible to the differently-abled.
The changes, notified on Thursday, are part of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, 2017. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill passed in 2016 increased the recognised categories of disabilities from seven to 21 forms of disabilities, and made those with over 40% disabilities eligible for state benefits such as reservations in employment, education, railway tickets, among others. The Bill, compliant with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was ratified by India in 2007, increased the existing reservation quota of 3% to 5%.
As per the rules, all public buildings in the country will have mobility devices like wheelchairs, have smooth walks with a gradient not exceeding 1:20 and with tactile blocks, toilets with proper accessibility, proper signage, space demarcated for clutch and cane users, and accessible toilet facilities. Hotels, too, will now …read more
