New Delhi, (The Telegrah): The government has junked a parliamentary panel's recommendations to include diabetes and cancer in a disability bill pending for two years now, finally agreeing with most stakeholders that these were medical conditions and not disabilities.

Sources in the ministry of social justice and empowerment said it was possibly the first since the 1995 Disability Act was framed that the government and the sector appeared to be on the same page.

"We have conveyed to the committee that we wouldn't be able to include diabetes and other such things under the bill as they are not disabilities, but medical conditions. Even the disability sector is with us on this issue," a senior ministry official said.

The Rights of Persons with Disability Bill, aimed at amending the 1995 law, was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2013 before being referred to the panel following disagreements.

In May this year, the committee, in a report to Parliament, recommended that "prominent and permanent disabilities" like diabetes, blood cancer and kidney failure be listed in the bill, following demands from a section of the disability sector.

The House panel also suggested that dyslexia (reading disorder), dysgraphia (writing disorder), dyscalculia (difficulty in learning or comprehending arithmetic), dyspraxia (a condition that affects co-ordination), dwarfism, epilepsy, dementia and paralysis of the limbs caused by injuries to the spinal cord or other reasons be included.

Following the committee's report, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia and dwarfism were included in the draft bill.

"The broad category of chronic neurological conditions includes paralysis, spinal injury, stroke and dementia. Of course, a social sector bill cannot ever be all-encompassing, it will evolve," the ministry official said.

The ministry has also redefined "discrimination" in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability, which calls for unconditional right to equality on a par with others. In an earlier draft, the right to equality had been curtailed under Section 3(3). It said the right against discrimination existed, "unless" it could be shown that the "impugned act or omission is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim".

"The government has accepted most of our demands. We demanded that the bill follow the definitions of the UNCRPD and the government has done it," said S.K. Rungta of the National Federation of the Blind. Rungta had protested against the amended bill two years ago, eventually pushing it to the committee.

In the new draft, the government has expanded the definition of disabilities to include autism spectrum disorder, chronic neurological conditions, haemophilia, leprosy-cured persons, locomotor disability, mental illness, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, thalassaemia and sickle-cell disease, a hereditary blood disorder.

The ministry has also included a section on women with disabilities, recognising equal rights, including those to reproduction and family planning.

"These are positive changes. However, I don't know if it was wise to delay the bill for two years when we could have pushed for these amendments after the bill had been passed," said Javed Abidi, of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment of Disabled People, who had supported the 2013 legislation.

Photo credit: The Telegraph