DISABILITY INCLUSION FUND

The “Return on Disability” Report states that over 1.3 billion people across the world live with some form of disability. In India, the number is close to 150 million as per the World Bank’s estimate. India has 13.4 million PwDs (Persons with Disabilities) in the employable age of 18 to 59 years - 74% of them are non-workers or marginal workers and this impacts their economic independence and dignity.

According to WHO Disability affects: (in a PWD)

1. Exposure.
2. Knowledge.
3. Skill.
4. Independent living & Domestic life.
5. Inclusion in society, Interpersonal interactions, and relationships.

Which Results in:

1. Low Awareness due to the decrease of interest to learn and develop Low Access & Mobility due to inaccessible spaces and information.
2. Low Aspirations due to lack of exposure & limited knowledge.
3. Low Quality of Life and Confidence due to lack of access to solutions for daily living and economic independence.
4. Low Dignity due to exclusion in society.

In spite of efforts by Government and non-Government organizations only 30% of PWDs (Persons with Disabilities) are reached and are available to up-skill, train and connect to the labour market, which means 70% of persons with disability are not aware of opportunities and solutions that exist for livelihoods.

There is an imperative need to set up a Disability Inclusion Fund to bridge the gap for persons with disability. Persons with Disability are excluded from the labour market due to information gap, skill gap and logistics gap between employers and institutions looking to place PwDs.

Persons with Disability are often denied of livelihood opportunities due to lack of:

1.  Lack of accessible transport/ greater cost of transport e.g. a person on a wheelchair may need a special taxi if the buses cannot accommodate a wheelchair.
2. Lack of awareness, resources to purchase assistive solutions like screen readers, wheelchair etc.
3. Caregiver and medical help are often unaffordable for persons with a disability even if there is just cause.
4. Upskilling courses, assessments linked to livelihood are inaccessible for persons with disability

The fund will be utilized in building a Disability Inclusion Fund to Provide Reasonable Accommodation to employees/ aspirants with disability. We actively promote Inclusion of Persons with Disability and 51% of our workforce consists of Employees with Disability across Vision Impairment, Hearing Impairment, Physical Disability, Cerebral Palsy, Intellectual Disability and other Disabilities. The fund will support livelihood aspirants in the sector including employees at EnAble India.

Persons with Disability who receive this support will be able to leverage livelihood opportunities.

Statistics show that persons with disability in a remunerative livelihood lead to:

1. Highest starting salaries for fresher of 15 lacs per annum for severe sensory disability.
2. The right person for the right job with the right solution equals equal pay and equal productivity
3. 70 to 81% disabled are supporting their families thereby positively impacting the lives of dependent parents, siblings, spouse and children.
4. Globally there exists a GDP gap of 5% to 7% due to the exclusion of persons with disability. Inclusion of PwD in the workforce helps narrow this gap.