New Delhi: In a welcome move, the Delhi University has decided to reserve seats in its undergraduate courses for acid attack survivors, students suffering from thalassemia and dwarfism.
The university would be the first in the country to implement the revised Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, which has expanded the ambit of disabilities and has raised the reservation from 3 per cent to 5 per cent.
The university expanded the list to include physical disability, intellectual disability (a condition characterised by significant limitation both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behaviour), mental illness, disability caused due to chronic neurological conditions and blood disorders.
“It’s a welcome move, which will help acid attack survivors to come into the mainstream and fight the stigma, but the government also needs to concentrate on their rehabilitation. The majority of them have been forced to leave the education mid-way and the government has not done enough to re-institutionalize them into the education system,” Ria Sharma, founder Make Love Not Scars, said.
Until last year, the university reserved 3% of its seats in all colleges and courses for PwD applicants. These seats are supernumerary, which means they are over and above the sanctioned strength of a college.
As per the new rule, acid attack survivors will be considered under the Physical Disability category. According to Delhi University PwD guidelines, "An acid attack victim means a person disfigured due to a violent assault by throwing of acid or similar corrosive substance."
This year, at least 260 applicants have registered until now, under the disabled category. The university is yet to upload the guidelines on its website.
The university has increased the categories of physical disability to be considered under the quota. Earlier, there were only three categories, but now there are five categories.
Physical Disability category
Physical Disability: leprosy cured person, cerebral palsy, dwarfism, muscular dystrophy, acid attack victim, blindness, low vision, hearing impairment
Intellectual Disability: specific learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder
Mental Behaviour: described as a disorder of thinking, mood, perception, orientation or memory that grossly impairs judgement, behaviour, capacity to recognise reality or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life, but does not include a condition of arrested or incomplete development of mind of a person.
Disability caused due to multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, hemophilia, thalassemia, and sickle cell disease.
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