Disability Rights in India

What the RPWD Act recognises

The Act recognises 21 categories of disability, a significant expansion from the 7 covered under the old law. These include:

• Physical disabilities - locomotor disability, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims
• Sensory disabilities - blindness, low vision, deaf and hard of hearing, speech and language disability
• Intellectual and developmental disabilities - intellectual disability, specific learning disability, autism spectrum disorder
• Mental health - mental illness
• Neurological conditions - multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease
• Blood disorders - haemophilia, thalassaemia, sickle cell disease
• Multiple disabilities and other conditions notified by the government

Rights and protections under the Act

1. Right to education. Every person with a disability has the right to free education up to the age of 18. Schools must provide inclusive education with the necessary support. Inclusive mainstream education is the stated goal.
2. Right to employment. Government establishments must reserve at least 4% of posts for persons with benchmark disabilities. The private sector is encouraged but not legally mandated to follow suit.
3. Right to accessibility. Public buildings, transport, information and communication systems must be made accessible. This includes physical infrastructure as well as digital accessibility.
4. Right against discrimination. No person with a disability can be discriminated against in education, employment or provision of services. Institutions found guilty face penalties.
5. Right to social security. The government must provide insurance schemes, rehabilitation services and community support for persons with disabilities, particularly those with severe conditions.
6. Guardianship reform. The Act introduces the concept of limited guardianship, replacing the old system of total guardianship that stripped adults with disabilities of their legal decision-making rights entirely.

What the Act doesn't cover

The RPWD Act is meaningful legislation, but a few important gaps remain.

1. Assistance and service dogs have no legal recognition. The Act does not mention working dogs of any kind. There is no right for a person with a disability to be accompanied by a trained assistance dog in a public space, hospital, school or workplace. This is a significant gap compared to disability law in the US, UK and Australia.
2. Implementation lags far behind the law. Accessible infrastructure, inclusive classrooms and employment quotas exist on paper, but enforcement is weak and awareness among institutions is low. Most of the rights the Act guarantees are not yet consistently experienced by the people they are meant to protect.
3. The private sector is largely exempt. Employment quotas apply only to government establishments. Private companies face no binding obligation under the Act, which limits its reach significantly given how much of India's employment is in the private sector.

The legal grey area

The absence of assistance dogs (also known as service dogs) from India's disability rights framework is one of the core reasons the sector doesn't exist here. Without legal recognition, a person with a disability has no guaranteed right to be accompanied by a trained dog in public spaces. Hospitals can refuse entry. Transport providers can turn them away. Schools have no obligation to accommodate them.

What we are doing about it

HeartDogs trains Indies - India's native landrace dogs - as assistance and therapy dogs in India. We work within the current legal framework while advocating for the recognition that working dogs deserve in Indian disability law.

Awareness is the first step. The more families, institutions and policymakers understand both what the RPWD Act already provides and where it falls short, the closer India gets to a framework that genuinely works for everyone.