PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED IN INDIA: AN OVERVIEW

In India, different definitions of disability conditions have been introduced for various purposes, essentially following the medical model and, as such, they have been based on various criteria of ascertaining abnormality or pathologic conditions of persons. In absence of a conceptual framework based on the social model in the Indian context, no standardization for evaluating disability across methods has been achieved. In common parlance, different terms such as disabled, handicapped, crippled, physically challenged, are used inter-changeably, indicating noticeably the emphasis on pathologic conditions. The paper collected secondary sources and analysis the causes, types of physical changes and legal protection.