Vol. 2, Issue 2, Part H (2016)

Abstract
India is a vast country with a population of more than one billion. While estimates vary, there is growing evidence that people with disabilities comprise between 5 and 8 percent of the Indian population (around 55-90 million individuals). About 48 percent of them are women. The disabled are deprived of all opportunities for social and economic development. The basic facilities like health, education and employment are generally denied to them. In spite of several international and national pronouncements, the rights of the disabled have remained on paper. Both disability and gender are physical constructs that totally ignore the personhood. To be a disabled person is to fail to measure upto the general cultural definition of masculinity as strength, physical ability and autonomy. To be a disabled woman is to be considered unable to fulfil the role of homemaker, wife as also mother, and unable to conform to the stereotype of beauty and femininity in terms of physical appearance. But being a disabled woman also fits well into the stereotype of passivity and dependency.