The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

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;

(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.