“Disability is a class ill itself that any one may fall victim at any time. It call come about as a result of a sudden accident, a fall down a flight of stairs or disease. Disability maintains no socio-economic boundaries. Since disability catches up with most people ill its fold ill old age, it is a class that any of us may fall ill it someday.”

Even today the disabled in India see their physical or mental limitations as either a source of shame or a source of inspiration for others. By concentrating on overcoming the disability, we fail to notice that a disability itself cannot be overcome by a disabled person, however, heroic she or he may be. In the West, the Disability Rights Movement has realized this and, therefore, they proclaim that “it is okay, even good, to be disabled”.The Constitution of India applies uniformly to every legal citizen of India, whether they are healthy or disabled in any way (physically or mentally).

Under the Constitution the disabled have been guaranteed the following fundamental rights:

1. The Constitution secures to the citizens including the disabled, a right of justice, liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, equality of status and of opportunity and for the promotion of fraternity.
2. Article 15(1) enjoins on the Government not to discriminate against any citizen of India (including disabled) on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
3. Article 15 (2) States that no citizen (including the disabled) shall be subjected to any disability, liability, restriction or condition on any of the above grounds in the matter of their access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment or in the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of government funds or dedicated to the use of the general public. Women and children and those belonging to any socially and educationally backward classes or the Scheduled Castes & Tribes can be given the benefit of special laws or special provisions made by the State.
4. There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens (including the disabled) in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State.
5. No Disabled person will be deprived of the right to the language, script or culture which he has or to which he belongs.
6. Every disabled person can move the Supreme Court of India to enforce his fundamental rights and the rights to move the Supreme Court is itself guaranteed by Article 32.
7. No disabled person owning property (like the non-disabled) can be deprived of his property except by authority of law though right to property is not a fundamental right. Any unauthorized deprivation of property can be challenged by suit and for relief by way of damages.
8. Every disabled person (like the non-disabled) on attainment of 18 years of age becomes eligible for inclusion of his name in the general electoral roll for the territorial constituency to which he belongs.