An estimated 7,91,998 persons in Kerala suffer from various disabilities, according to Social Justice Minister M. K. Muneer. http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Thiruvananthapuram/nearly-8-lakh-disabled-in-kerala/article7709737.ece Releasing the draft of the “Disability Census 2015’ here on Wednesday, he said they constituted 2.2 per cent of the State’s total population. He claimed that the census was the first of its kind in the country. The government has identified 22 types of disabilities that have afflicted the State’s population.
It has broadly classified them, in the order of prevalence, as movement disability, muscular dystrophy, chronic neurological disorder, multiple-sclerosis, hunched back, dwarfism, blindness, seriously impeded vision, learning disability, speech disability, mental retardation, mental illness, autism, deafness, leprosy free persons, haemophilia, thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, deaf and blind, and multiple-disabilities. An estimated 9.87 lakh households in Kerala have disabled people. Such homes constitute 11.01 per cent of the total number of dwellings in the State. Importantly, the census has revealed that 42.86 lakh persons in Kerala are above the age of 60 and they constituted 12.03 per cent of the total population. Various government departments were involved in the disability census. Census enumerators, around 33,000 Anganwadi workers, visited 83.88 lakh houses in the State to complete the counting process. The census was conducted in three phases. It found that 2.34 lakh people had been erroneously categorised as disabled persons. Dr. Muneer said the census would usher in a host of welfare measures for the disabled. Importantly, government offices and hospitals would be fitted with ramps, grab rails and specially designed toilets to make movement easy for disabled persons. -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
