Aarogya - The Wellness Site

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Indian Definitions of Disability
Mental Retardation
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Another set of definitions has been provided for in the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992
These are as follows:
Hearing handicap: Means deafness with hearing impairment of 70 decibels and above in the better ear or total loss of hearing in both ears.
Locomotor disability: Means a person’s inability to execute distinctive activities associated with moving, both himself/herself and objects, from place to place, and such inability resulting from affliction of either bones, joints, muscles or nerves.
Mental Retardation: Means a condition of arrested or incomplete development of mind of a person which is specially characterized by sub–normality of intelligence.
Visually handicapped: Means a person who suffers from any of the following conditions, namely:

• Total absence of sight.
• Visual acuity not exceeding 6/60 or 20/200 (snellen) in the better eye with the correcting lenses.
• Limitation of the field of vision subtending an angle of degree 20 or worse.

Orthopedic or Neurological Disorder: A person shall be deemed to be orthopedically or neurologically disabled if he/she has having disability of bones, joints or muscles leading to substantial restriction of the movement of the limbs or if he/she has any form of Cerebral palsy.

In 1986, The Ministry of Welfare, Government of India issued orders prescribing a standard set of definitions alongwith standard tests for the purposes of certification of disability. These definitions (whose suitability in the light of new legal safeguards must be carefully examined) were adopted and used.

For major categories of disability, the definitions are as follows:
Visually handicapped: The blind are those who suffer from either of the following conditions:

• Total absence of sight.
• Visual acuity not exceeding 6/60 or 20/200 (snellen) in the better eye with correcting lenses.
• Limitation of the field of vision surrounding an angle of degree 20 or worse.

Locomotor: The locomotor handicapped are those who have restriction in the activity of arms, limbs or other parts of the body on account of damage to the bones, muscles or nerves. Persons suffering from more than 40 per cent disability would be entitled to facilities/concessions provided by Central/State governments. Hearing Handicapped– The deaf are those in whom the sense of hearing is non–functional for ordinary purposes in life. They do not hear/understand sound at all even with amplified speech. The cases included in this category will be those having hearing loss of more than 70 decibels in the better ear (profound impairment) or total loss of hearing in both ears.