Chandigarh has 8,581 disabled persons, with the maximum (4,289) being orthopaedically handicapped (OH) and the least (98) suffering from autism, according to a report released by the Regional Institute of Mentally Handicapped on Thursday. Dr B S Chavan, Joint Director, RIMH, claims that no other Union Territory in the country has 100 per cent coverage of disabled people. Chandigarh is the first city to have covered all disabled persons. The report, “Identification of persons with disability in Chandigarh”, provides every detail about disabled person. Following the report, a software has been prepared which has detailed information of every disabled person in the city. 

“Just one click and we can get information on our screen. We can now check which area has how many disabled people. What kind of disability is more common and which age group is more affected,” said Dr Chavan. He added that the purpose of conducting the study was to reach out to every disabled person in the city in order to help them. To collect the data, a house-to-house survey was carried out in Chandigarh including urban and rural areas by a team of 13 research staff members. It took them three years to survey the entire city. According to the report, a total of 9,25,380 people and 2,54,436 houses were screened. A total of 8,581 disabled people were identified, out of whom 5,234 persons were I-card and disability certificate holders. Further, a total of 3,347 persons require disability assessment. Disability prevalence in the city has come out to be 0.92%. Out of the total disabled people, 63.7 per cent (5,473) are men and 36.2 per cent (3,108) are women. Also, the majority of them (2,751) are in the age group of 19-35 years, followed by 2,344 persons in the age group of 6-18 years. Further, the study has found an important link between the economic status and disability. The highest number (3,135) of disabled people were from the poorest families with the monthly income up to Rs 2,500. As per the data, the number of disability cases decreased with the increase in the family income. Only 79 disabled people were found where the per month family income is above Rs 1 lakh per month. As far as the disability criteria are concerned, out of the total of 8,581 disabled people, nearly half of them (49.98%) are orthopaedically handicapped. It is followed by 1,715 mentally retarded people, 913 hearing impaired and 511 people suffering from mental illness. The survey found 364 low-vision cases, 317 persons suffering from multiple disabilities, 232 blind, 135 cerebral palsy and 98 autism cases. “The data bank has been created now which can be used by the Chandigarh Administration for the purpose of planning various rehabilitation interventions,” mentioned the study. UT Adviser Vijay Dev said, “No other department has come up with such extensive data regarding their field. Since the data has been provided to us, we will now like to build on that and will look at all the possible ways to help these people.” He asked Dr Chavan and Dr Atul Sachdev, director, Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, to make a plan suggesting what kind of interventions by the administration and improvements in the medical sector were required to help these disabled people at the earliest. On the day, two new programmes were also launched to help the disabled people in the city. The first was the mentorship programme, under which one student (undergoing DEd, BEd, MEd training) will adopt one family of a disabled person and help them in getting adequate treatment and getting their cards made. The second was a special van (Community Therapeutic Van) that was flagged off. This van will reach out to disabled persons who are reluctant to visit hospitals. A social worker, a clinical psychologist, an occupationist and a speech therapist will go with the van to different areas. 

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/chandigarh-has-8581-disabled-persons-rimh-report/