'Parl panel proposal catastrophic for narrative of disability'

Inclusion of diabetes Type-I, kidney failure and blood cancer in the list of disabilities, as suggested by a parliamentary panel, is tantamount to equating disability with ailments and will "dilute" its narrative to a "catastrophic" extent, said a former official.
Former Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities Prasanna Kumar Pincha said the committee, in its report "has wrongly recommended that ailments like blood cancer, kidney failure and diabetes Type-I should form part of disabilities".
"This is tantamount to equating disability with ailments or sickness," he said, adding this recommendation, if accepted and adopted, "will dilute the narrative of disability to a catastrophic extent".

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, introduced in Rajya Sabha in 2014, includes 19 types of disability.
Later, the Bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment, which submitted its reports in Parliament on May 7 this year, suggesting inclusion of some long-term diseases including diabetes Type-I, kidney failure and blood cancer as disabilities.
Pincha also expressed shock over the absence of any substantive recommendation on employment-related issues.

The House committee, he said, refers to differences of perception between the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and the Department of Personnel and Training in the matter of extending benefits of reservation in jobs and vacancies to persons with autism and persons with intellectual disabilities.

There is no recommendation whatsoever by the Committee in respect of extending benefit of reservation in promotion, no recommendations in relation to retaining the gains which have accrued to persons with disabilities as a result of progressive judicial pronouncements, he alleged.
"I wish to express hope that the government will accept and Parliament will accordingly adopt the positive aspects of those recommendations while corrective action will be taken in respect of negative aspects," Pincha said.