By- Aakriti Bhanjo (b2020apccp001)

Namitha Sheba Mathew (b2020apccp081)

 What is Disability?

“Disability is a restriction or lack (resulting from an

impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner
or within the range considered normal for a human being”.
It describes a functional limitation or activity restriction
caused by an impairment. Disabilities are descriptions of
disturbances in function at the level of the person. (United
Nations, 2003). It occurs when an impairment meets
barrier.
A total of 19 models exist for disability each explaining
disability each explaining disability from its own view
point.
Example:
Medical model-Disability is caused by the malfunctioning of
an organ.
Religious model- Disability is caused by the sins of the past
life.
 Convention on the rights of persons with disability

● International Human rights treaty of the United Nations

that aims to protect the rights and dignity of persons
with disabilities.
● Drafted on 13 November 2006. Signed on 30 March 2007
and became effective on 3rd May, 2008.
● The convention consists of 50 articles with each article
covering different domains of disability.
● There are eight guiding principles in the convention.
They are as follows:
Acessibility, equality of opportunity, equality
between men and women, respect for the evolving
capacities of the children with disability and to respect
their right to preserve their identities,non
discrimination, full and effective participation in the
society, respecting differences and acceptance of
persons with disability as part of human diversity and
humanity and respect for inherent dignity, inherent
autonomy and their independence.
Rights of persons with disability
act, 2016.
Key features:
● The number of disabilities increased from 7 to
21.
● It included acid attacks, speech and language
disability, specific learning disabilities and
three blood disorders.
● The act also states that it is the responsibility
of the state government to ensure that the
disabled persons enjoy their rights equally as
the other citizens.
● Additionally benefits include reservation in
higher educational institutions, government
jobs and reservation in allocation of lands.
 The Constitution and People with
Disability:

● The constitution guarantees equal

opportunity to all its citizens.

● Every person including the disabled has his

life and liberty guaranteed under article
21 of the constitution.

● In addition to the above mentioned

articles, the disabled has equal access to
all the educational laws, health laws,
succession laws, family laws, labour laws
and income tax laws.
Recent trends in Educational Services

● Percentage of people with disability in India are 2.2%.

(NSO,2018).
● 78,64,636 are children, which is 1.7% of the population.
● 61% of Children with Disability aged between 5 and 19
are attending an educational institution compared to the
overall figure of 71% when all children are considered.
● Around 12% drop out of school and 27% never attend any
educational institution.
● A large number of children with disabilities do not go to
regular school, but they are enrolled at the National
Institute of Open schooling. (NIOS).
● The biggest group of children with disabilities who enroll
in the NIOS are children with learning disabilities.
● The percentage of children attending schools is the
lowest among those with multiple disabilities.
 BARRIERS IN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
ATTITUDINAL BARRIERS:
Attitudinal Barriers refer to the behaviors, perceptions, and
assumptions that discriminate against persons with disabilities.
The source of these barriers are:
● Lack of understanding leading to ignorance and
judgementality.
● Misconceptions about a person with disability.
Segregating children into special needs and mainstream schools
prevent equal access to social and cultural opportunities and
labels children. (UNESCO, 1994.)

As mentioned by the interviewee during the interview

conducted, in his school many parents and classmates thought
that his impairment (visual impairment) is contagious which
shows the lack of awareness among people. Thus, we believe
that firstly there needs to be an increase in spreading
awareness and educating people which should start from
school.
 Tackling attitudinal Barriers

Addressing Own attitudinal

Avoid assumptions directly. Communication Assistance
Barriers.

When talking to a When talking to a If the individual Always offer Recognize one’s
child with child with has trouble assistance to a own attitudinal
disability do not disability, do not understanding disabled child, but barriers to create a
assume what they address them what a disabled first ask for their safe learning
can or cannot do. through their child said, ask permission. environment.
Ask them. friends or parents. them to repeat it
Make an effort and rather than
have a direct pretending to
conversation with understand. This
the child. enables smooth
communication.
 ORGANIZATIONAL BARRIERS:

Organizational barriers occur when policies, practices,

or procedures give people with disabilities, fewer
opportunities than the people without disabilities.

Few of the organisational policies that promote barriers

are:

● Departmentalization of special education.

● Special educational cooperatives and Sponsors for
the school to promote exclusion.
● Absence of teachers who are trained to teach
students with disability.
● An overall policy of not giving admission to disabled
students.
 Overcoming organizational Barriers.
● Including policies that allocates special funds to
include children with disabilities and to have staff
members who are fully trained to teach children
with disability. Allocate professional development
days.
● Policies that detail strict action against any member
of an instituition who discriminates, violates or
brings in any harm to individuals with disability.
These policies must have a detailed description of
what constitutes as discrimination, violation and
harm.
● To encourage sponsors and NGOs that provide
services to the disabled children.
● Eliminating departmentalization of education.
● Prioritize inclusion over quality.

As mentioned by the interviewee, organisations should

make a special effort to make sure that inclusion is
happening at all levels. If inclusion starts from something
as fundamental as education, then change will be easy in
the society. Policies should be crafted in such a way there
must be some seats compulsorily allocated to disabled
students.
PHYSICAL BARRIERS:
These barriers refer to components of buildings or spaces
that act as barriers to people with disability. For instance,
absence of ramps, absence of elevators, heavy
doors,inaccessible washrooms, inaccessible playgrounds
etc.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education

(RTE) Act, 2009 in India provides that every school should According to participants at the
have barrier-free access. However majority of the schools National Convention of Youth with
are physically inaccessible for people with disabilities. Disabilities 2017, not even 1
percent of Indian educational
The interviewee mentioned that some classes in school were institutions are genuinely
in the basement which was very difficult for him to go to and accessible and disability friendly.
despite requesting there was no change. This is a primary
example of physical barrier. Shifting the classes from A 2016 study showed that 77
basement to the ground floor where it can be easily percent schools lack - disability
accessible for everyone would remove the barrier and be an friendly toilets and 40 percent
example of good design.
bereft of ramps.
BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR CREATING A BARRIER- FREE
ACCESS:
1) Adequate space should be allocated for persons with mobility
devices for eg - Wheelchairs, crutches etc. The height of the
desks should be appropriately designed.
2) Information boards and signs to help those with hearing
impairment.
3) Tactile flooring, information board in Braille, audible
signages for those with visual impairment.
4) Doors and doorways shall be designed to enable all people
especially wheelchair user to enter and leave any room
unaided or without undue difficulties.
5) Ramps should be provided at each level if there are no
elevators.
6) Handrails must be designed to be easy to grasp and provide a
comfortable grip.
7) Washrooms should be designed in a way that it is accessible
for people with disabilities as independently as possible.
 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
BARRIERS:
These barriers occur when sensory
disabilities, like hearing, seeing and learning
disabilities have not been considered. For
instance, Print that is too small or font that is
difficult, videos that are not captioned etc.
The interviewee mentioned how he was not able to
access the study materials that was required while
he was in India. He also mentioned, that he doesn’t
face this issue abroad. This shows how
interconnected all the barriers are. Funds should be
allocated so that policies in organizations can be
made and audio books can be produced.

Further in India, the curriculum is unable to

meet the wide range of learners. In most
institutions the teachers lack skills to
communicate information efficiently with
people with disabilities.
 Books and other
learning materials Individuals who are
should be available in lip-readers and those
various formats- with low vision will
Braille, Audio books benefit by sitting close to
etc REMOVING the teacher.
THE
BARRIER:
Classrooms used by
If an individual can
children with hearing
communicate using sign
loss should be located
language, having a sign
away from noisy areas
language interpreter can
and have as little
be helpful.
background noise as
possible from fans and
other mechanical
The teacher should be skilled to
equipment.
provide the information in
multiple formats which will not
help persons with disability but
also those with different learning
styles.
 TECHNOLOGY BARRIERS:
Technology barriers occur when a device or
technological platform is not accessible to its
intended audience and cannot be used with an
assistive device. These are often related to
information and communications barriers.
Examples include course material which is only
available in hard copies, lack of staff training
with respect to assistive technology.
Few steps which can be taken:
● Availability of electronic documents along with e-text
readers and screen –reading software to make it
easier.
● Films and other audio-visual materials can be used
however it must be ensured that there are captions
for those with hearing impairment and described
content for those with visual impairment.
● All boards must embrace accessible standards such
as EPUB 3.0 for publications and WCAG 2.0 for
their websites and make course content available in
accessible formats.
● Through a functional skills assessment, teachers
can request from the administration the hardware
supports required for their students with disabilities
like speech to text conversion, picture-boards etc.
 A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION
POLICY (2020) AND DISABILITY INCLUSION:
● The National Education Policy (2020) postulates that children with
disabilities will have opportunities for equal participation across
the educational system.

● The policy has provisions for recruitment of special educators with

cross-disability training and incorporates disability awareness within
teacher education. Teachers will be trained to recognize and identify
disabilities, particularly specific learning disabilities.

r
● The NEP states all three – neighbourhood schools, special schools,
and home-based education – as options for the education of children
with disabilities, thereby attempting to resolve the ambiguities
around school choice.
·

● The policy states that curricular changes will be made in consultation

with national institutes under the Department of Empowerment of
Persons with Disabilities.
Though this policy tries to address significant areas , it seems to miss out on real issues.There is
still much more which needs to be done for improving access to education and ensuring inclusion.
The policy undermines the notion of inclusive education, which views the challenges of disabled
people as a result of structural constraints, not individual shortcomings that need to be fixed.
Children with disabilities in the policy are primarily viewed as recipients of welfare and care in the
form of peer tutoring, open schooling, and one-on-one teaching. There is a need to go further, to
recognize disability as an identity and as a form of diversity rather than solely a deficit – an
example of this would have been to suggest the standardization of Indian Sign Language as a
valuable language system for all students, not just for students with hearing impairments (Sarkar,
2020).
 SPECIAL EDUCATION vs INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
SPECIAL EDUCATION INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Special education refers to providing Inclusive education refers to educating students

individualized instruction and support to students with disabilities alongside their peers without
with disabilities. disabilities in the same classroom.

So far mostly the focus has only been on special education and not inclusive education which has resulted in the

segregation. Segregation occurs when the education of students with disabilities is provided in separate environments,

designed or used to respond to a particular or various impairments, in isolation from other students (Persons with

Disabilities, n.d.). Inclusive education recognises the capacity of every person to learn, including people with disabilities,

and acknowledges that each person has different strengths, requirements, and learning styles. Inclusion, therefore, takes

an individualised approach with curricula, teaching, and learning methods that are flexible and adaptable. Students with

disabilities are not expected to adjust to a fixed education structure. Rather the structure is adjusted so that everyone’s

learning styles can be met. Barriers to learning are removed to allow each student to participate fully in the curriculum

and feel equally valued. The end result is that all students with and without disabilities benefit. Thus there needs to be

shift from Special education to Inclusive education.

 Universal Design

● Universal design is the process of creating

products that are accessible to people with a
wide range of disabilities, abilities and other
characteristics.
● They accommodate individual preferences and
abilities and communicate necessary
information.
● They can be approached, reached, manipulated
and used regardless of the individual’s posture,
body size or mobility.
● The seven principles of universal design are:
Equitable use, flexibility in use, simple and
intuitive use, perceptible information, tolerance
for error, low physical effort and size and space
for approach and use.
 Universal Design and Inclusive Education

● Universal Design when applied to education was a key stratergy in successful

inclusion efforts. It gives every student an equal opportunity in succeeding.
Universalfrom
● ● Principles Design
thewhen applied
universal to education
design is a key
can be used strategy
to plan in successful
curriculums, learning
inclusion efforts. It gives every student an equal opportunity in succeeding.
environments, assessments that will ensure meaningful and inclusive education.
● Principles from the universal design can be used to plan curriculums, learning
● An example of Universal design for education would be: Materials that are
environments, assessments that will ensure meaningful and inclusive education.
required in a classroom made acessible for all types of learners. This owuld mean
● An example of Universal design for education would be: Materials that are
the material
required inbeing available
a classroom madein aaccessible
digital copy, printed
for all typescopy, audio copy
of learners. and braille
This would
copy
meanamong the many.
the material being available in a digital copy, printed copy, audio copy and
● The one example mentioned
braille copy among the many. above itself fuliils three principles of universal design:
● equitable
The one use, flexibility
example in useabove
mentioned and simple and intuitive
itself fulfils use.
three principles of universal
design: equitable use, flexibility in use and simple and intuitive use.
 Interview with a Person with Visual Impairment

Name: A.R
Age: 21
Gender: Male
School Education:
● Kasargod, Kerala ( till 10th grade)
● Trivandrum, Kerala (11th and 12th)
Current Status: Pursuing Masters in Literature from
University of London, England

1. What were some the primary challenges you faced in school?

A few of the primary challenges I faced when I was in my hometown was to move from one
class to another.I can only see a blur of light so it was hard to figure out the path.
Sometimes the classes used to be in the basement and even after requesting that it was
difficult for me,no action was taken. This changed when I moved to senior school where
they made sure things were easy for me. Audio books were not available and my scribe
sometimes couldn't understand what I wanted to say when I was writing my exams
especially when I had to tell him to draw a diagram.
2. If you could change/ add something in the Indian education system what would it be??
First would be making the material available in Braille. Second would be having classrooms near the
stairs for people who are blind so that they don't have difficulty finding their way. Giving teachers
and students adequate information about disability, a lot of parents and my classmates used to
think that my disability was contagious.
3. What do you think helped you in school to overcome the barriers?
I did have a few teachers who helped me out with my studies. They put in extra hours to teach me
after school. During my last two years, I had friends who were very helpful and pretty much
everybody. I think after a certain age,people do realise what disability is and how their remarks can
hurt me. My elder brother has disability, so because he already went through this stage, he guided
me. Lastly towards the end, youtube became more prominent and there were videos that helped me
keeping me updated about news, studies etc . My parents supported me alot and that kept me
going.
4. Did you face barriers in terms of getting admissions in the schools you applied to ? If yes, then
what?
Alot of schools rejected me and the reasons were that its against their policy to take a blind
student, some said they don't have enough teachers to give me extra focus. Some said it will
interfere with the normal schedule that the students have and will end up disrupting their schedule.
Finally one school took me because a teacher saw me and insisted on having me there.
5. What difference do you see between India and London when it come to educational services
in reference to disability?

There is a lot of difference between here and India. Firstly, this place is very disability friendly.
This is in terms of the policies that they have which allows me to take my time, study and give
the examinations. Even though I rarely use that option I am a little more relaxed in studies.
Additionally, scribes here are educated and mostly from the same field as me and that gives me
an advantage while writing exams. Technology here is disability friendly and the material that I
require are in Braille. Most importantly, people don't treat me as a special here and that is
something that I always wanted. Back in India, I was the focus of attention and when I got good
marks the teacher used to call me out and say that in spite of my condition, I gained high marks.
Here nobody treats me like that. I am an equal and I love that.
 REFERENCES:

● Education for persons with disabilities. (2019, August 12). UNESCO.

https://en.unesco.org/themes/inclusion-in-education/disabilities

● Ontario Human Rights Commission. The Opportunity to Succeed: Achieving Barrier-Free Education
for Students with Disabilities. Consultation Report (October 2003), p.69. Cited in University of
Toronto Scarborough, Universal Instructional Design, Creating an Accessible Curriculum,
Accessibility, Teaching and Learning Services.
● Persons with disabilities. (n.d.). Right to Education Initiative.

https://www.right-to-education.org/issue-page/marginalised-groups/persons-disabilities

● Sarkar, T. (2020, August 26). Examining Disability Inclusion in India’s New National Education

Policy. The Education and Development Forum (UKFIET).

https://www.ukfiet.org/2020/examining-disability-inclusion-in-indias-new-national-education-policy/
● What is universal design? | DO-IT. (n.d.). DO-IT Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and

Technology. Retrieved January 26, 2021, from

https://www.washington.edu/doit/what-universal-design-0

● Villegas, T. (2020, September 21). Possible Solutions to Inclusive Education Barriers. Think Inclusive

| The Official Blog of MCIE.

https://www.thinkinclusive.us/possible-solutions-to-inclusive-education-barriers/