Abstract - RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITY ACT, 2016 - Income-tax Act, 1961

SECTION 2 AND SCHEDULE OF RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITY ACT, 2016 Definitions. 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- (a) appellate authority means an authority notified under sub-section (3) of section 14 or sub-section (1) of section 53 or designated under sub-section (1) of section 59, as the case may be; (b) appropriate Government means,- (i) in relation to the Central Government or any establishment wholly or substantially financed by that Government, or a Cantonment Board constituted under the Cantonments Act, 2006 (41 of 2006), the Central Government; (ii) in relation to a State Government or any establishment, wholly or substantially financed by that Government, or any local authority, other than a Cantonment Board, the State Government; (c) barrier means any factor including communicational, cultural, economic, environmental, institutional, political, social, attitudinal or structural factors which hampers the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in society; (d) care-giver means any person including parents and other family Members who with or without payment provides care, support or assistance to a person with disability; (e) certifying authority means an authority designated under sub-section (1) of section 57; (f) communication includes means and formats of communication, languages, display of text, Braille, tactile communication, signs, large print, accessible multimedia, written, audio, video, visual displays, sign language, plain-language, human-reader, augmentative and alternative modes and accessible information and communication technology; (g) competent authority means an authority appointed under section 49; (h) discrimination in relation to disability, means any distinction, exclusion, restriction on the basis of disability which is the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field and includes all forms of discrimination and denial of reasonable accommodation; (i) establishment includes a Government establishment and private establishment; (j) Fund means the National Fund constituted under section 86; (k) Government establishment means a corporation established by or under a Central Act or State Act or an authority or a body owned or controlled or aided by the Government or a local authority or a Government company as defined in section 2 of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013) and includes a Department of the Government; (l) high support means an intensive support, physical, psychological and otherwise, which may be required by a person with benchmark disability for daily activities, to take independent and informed decision to access facilities and participating in all areas of life including education, employment, family and community life and treatment and therapy; (m) inclusive education means a system of education wherein students with and without disability learn together and the system of teaching and learning is suitably adapted to meet the learning needs of different types of students with disabilities; (n) information and communication technology includes all services and innovations relating to information and communication, including telecom services, web based services, electronic and print services, digital and virtual services; (o) institution means an institution for the reception, care, protection, education, training, rehabilitation and any other activities for persons with disabilities; (p) local authority means a Municipality or a Panchayat, as defined in clause (e) and clause (f) of article 243P of the Constitution; a Cantonment Board constituted under the Cantonments Act, 2006 (41 of 2006); and any other authority established under an Act of Parliament or a State Legislature to administer the civic affairs; (q) notification means a notification published in the Official Gazette and the expression notify or notified shall be construed accordingly; (r) person with benchmark disability means a person with not less than forty per cent. of a specified disability where specified disability has not been defined in measurable terms and includes a person with disability where specified disability has been defined in measurable terms, as certified by the certifying authority; (s) person with disability means a person with long term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment which, in interaction with barriers, hinders his full and effective participation in society equally with others; (t) person with disability having high support needs means a person with benchmark disability certified under clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 58 who needs high support; (u) prescribed means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (v) private establishment means a company, firm, cooperative or other society, associations, trust, agency, institution, organisation, union, factory or such other establishment as the appropriate Government may, by notification, specify; (w) public building means a Government or private building, used or accessed by the public at large, including a building used for educational or vocational purposes, workplace, commercial activities, public utilities, religious, cultural, leisure or recreational activities, medical or health services, law enforcement agencies, reformatories or judicial foras, railway stations or platforms, roadways bus stands or terminus, airports or waterways; (x) public facilities and services includes all forms of delivery of services to the public at large, including housing, educational and vocational trainings, employment and career advancement, shopping or marketing, religious, cultural, leisure or recreational, medical, health and rehabilitation, banking, finance and insurance, communication, postal and information, access to justice, public utilities, transportation; (y) reasonable accommodation means necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments, without imposing a disproportionate or undue burden in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise of rights equally with others; (z) registered organisation means an association of persons with disabilities or a disabled person organisation, association of parents of persons with disabilities, association of persons with disabilities and family members, or a voluntary or non-governmental or charitable organisation or trust, society, or non-profit company working for the welfare of the persons with disabilities, duly registered under an Act of Parliament or a State Legislature; (za) rehabilitation refers to a process aimed at enabling persons with disabilities to attain and maintain optimal, physical, sensory, intellectual, psychological environmental or social function levels; (zb) Special Employment Exchange means any office or place established and maintained by the Government for the collection and furnishing of information, either by keeping of registers or otherwise, regarding- (i) persons who seek to engage employees from amongst the persons with disabilities; (ii) persons with benchmark disability who seek employment; (iii) vacancies to which persons with benchmark disabilities seeking employment may be appointed; (zc) specified disability means the disabilities as specified in the Schedule; (zd) transportation systems includes road transport, rail transport, air transport, water transport, para transit systems for the last mile connectivity, road and street infrastructure, etc; (ze) universal design means the design of products, environments, programmes and services to be usable by all people to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialised design and shall apply to assistive devices including advanced technologies for particular group of persons with disabilities. THE SCHEDULE [See clause (zc) of section 2] SPECIFIED DISABILITY 1. Physical disability.- A. Locomotor disability (a person s inability to execute distinctive activities associated with movement of self and objects resulting from affliction of musculoskeletal or nervous system or both), including- (a) leprosy cured person means a person who has been cured of leprosy but is suffering from- (i) loss of sensation in hands or feet as well as loss of sensation and paresis in the eye and eye-lid but with no manifest deformity; (ii) manifest deformity and paresis but having sufficient mobility in their hands and feet to enable them to engage in normal economic activity; (iii) extreme physical deformity as well as advanced age which prevents him/her from undertaking any gainful occupation, and the expression leprosy cured shall construed accordingly; (b) cerebral palsy means a Group of non-progressive neurological condition affecting body movements and muscle coordination, caused by damage to one or more specific areas of the brain, usually occurring before, during or shortly after birth; (c) dwarfism means a medical or genetic condition resulting in an adult height of 4 feet 10 inches (147 centimeters) or less; (d) muscular dystrophy means a group of hereditary genetic muscle disease that weakens the muscles that move the human body and persons with multiple dystrophy have incorrect and missing information in their genes, which prevents them from making the proteins they need for healthy muscles. It is characterised by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue; (e) acid attack victims means a person disfigured due to violent assaults by throwing of acid or similar corrosive substance. B. Visual impairment- (a) blindness means a condition where a person has any of the following conditions, after best correction- (i) total absence of sight; or (ii) visual acuity less than 3/60 or less than 10/200 (Snellen) in the better eye with best possible correction; or (iii) limitation of the field of vision subtending an angle of less than 10 degree. (b) low-vision means a condition where a person has any of the following conditons, namely:- (i) visual acuity not exceeding 6/18 or less than 20/60 upto 3/60 or upto 10/200 (Snellen) in the better eye with best possible corrections; or (ii) limitation of the field of vision subtending an angle of less than 40 degree up to 10 degree. C. Hearing impairment- (a) deaf means persons having 70 DB hearing loss in speech frequencies in both ears; 36 (b) hard of hearing means person having 60 DB to 70 DB hearing loss in speech frequencies in both ears; D. speech and language disability means a permanent disability arising out of conditions such as laryngectomy or aphasia affecting one or more components of speech and language due to organic or neurological causes. 2. Intellectual disability, a condition characterised by significant limitation both in intellectual functioning (rasoning, learning, problem solving) and in adaptive behaviour which covers a range of every day, social and practical skills, including- (a) specific learning disabilities means a heterogeneous group of conditions wherein there is a deficit in processing language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself as a difficulty to comprehend, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations and includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia and developmental aphasia; (b) autism spectrum disorder means a neuro-developmental condition typically appearing in the first three years of life that significantly affects a person's ability to communicate, understand relationships and relate to others, and is frequently associated with unusal or stereotypical rituals or behaviours. 3. Mental behaviour,- mental illness means a substantial disorder of thinking, mood, perception, orientation or memory that grossly impairs judgment, behaviour, capacity to recognise reality or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life, but does not include retardation which is a conditon of arrested or incomplete development of mind of a person, specially characterised by subnormality of intelligence. 4. Disability caused due to- (a) chronic neurological conditions, such as- (i) multiple sclerosis means an inflammatory, nervous system disease in which the myelin sheaths around the axons of nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and affecting the ability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to communicate with each other; (ii) parkinson's disease means a progressive disease of the nervous system marked by tremor, muscular rigidity, and slow, imprecise movement, chiefly affecting middle-aged and elderly people associated with degeneration of the basal ganglia of the brain and a deficiency of the neurotransmitter dopamine. (b) Blood disorder- (i) haemophilia means an inheritable disease, usually affecting only male but transmitted by women to their male children, characterised by loss or impairment of the normal clotting ability of blood so that a minor would may result in fatal bleeding; (ii) thalassemia means a group of inherited disorders characterised by reduced or absent amounts of haemoglobin. (iii) sickle cell disease means a hemolytic disorder characterised by chronic anemia, painful events, and various complications due to associated tissue and organ damage; hemolytic refers to the destruction of the cell membrane of red blood cells resulting in the release of hemoglobin. 5. Multiple Disabilities (more than one of the above specified disabilities) including deaf blindness which means a condition in which a person may have combination of hearing and visual impairments causing severe communication, developmental, and educational problems. 6. Any other category as may be notified by the Central Government.