Disability in Pakistan

Demographics

The 5th Population and Housing Census conducted in 1998 identified the population of Persons with Disabilities in Pakistan to be 2.38% of the entire population. However, as per the 6th Population and Housing Census of 2017, the percentage has gone down to less than 0.48%. The drastic decline in the population percentage has raised concerns in some circles, Supreme Court of Pakistan being amongst them: "the court expressed its displeasure that Pakistan Bureau of Statistics continued citing various issues for not counting disabled persons after the census had already begun across the country." If it were not for the Supreme Court of Pakistan's intervention, the disability question would not even be made part of the survey at a later stage. The Bureau itself accepted that census might not be thorough, an official stated: "that there was a possibility that the number of transgender and disabled persons had not been shown in complete detail."

Some stakeholders also follow the figure of 15% identified by World Health Organization. As per WHO, "About 15% of the world's population lives with some form of disability." Using this figure, British Council estimated the population of Persons with Disabilities to be around 27 million in their 2017 report. Moreover, in 2011 Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund undertook a comprehensive survey of 23 union councils in seven districts of Pakistan, comprising 78939 households, and found the disability prevalence rate to be around 12 percent, of which 2 percent had severe disabilities.

Recognized Disabilities

Recognized disabilities are listed in Schedule [Section 2(h)] of the Sindh Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2018.

1. Physical disabilities

A) Locomotor disability

It means the inability to move the limbs. It's the disability of the legs (generally bones and joints) that causes problem in a person’s movements (like walking). It includes:

a. Due to accident/trauma/disaster: It means people who suffered road accidents, went through a traumatic event or natural/ man-made disasters including earthquakes, floods, building collapse etc.;

b. Cerebral palsy: It is a group of permanent movement disorders that usually appear before, during or after birth. It caused by the damage that occurs to an immature and developing brain. It hinders the body’s ability to move in a coordinated way.

c. Muscular dystrophy: It is a group of diseases that cause weakness and loss of muscle mass. It is due to the interference of abnormal genes with the production of proteins needed to form healthy muscle.

d. Polio related Physical Disabilities: It is also called poliomyelitis which is caused by the poliovirus. It may affect the spinal cord causing muscle weakness and paralysis.

B) Visual Impairment

a) Blindness is a condition when there is:

i. total absence of sight.

ii. visual acuity less than 3/60 or less than 10/200 (Snellen) in the better eye with best possible correction; or

iii. limitation of the field of vision subtending an angle of less than 10 degree.

b) Low vision is a condition when there is:

i. visual acuity not exceeding 6/18 or less than 20/60 up to 3/60 or up to 10/200 (Snellen) in the better eye with best possible corrections; or

ii. limitation of the field of vision subtending an angle of less than 40 degree up to 10 degrees.

C) Hearing impairment

a) Deaf means when a person is having 70 DB hearing loss in speech frequencies in both ears;

b) Hard of hearing means a is having a loss between 60 DB to 70 DB in speech frequencies in both ears;

2. Neuro-Developmental Disorders

It refers the impairments of the growth and development of the brain or central nervous system. Its basically a disorder of brain function that affects emotion, learning ability, self-control and memory. The effects of it unfold as a person grows and tend to last for a person’s entire lifetime.

a) Intellectual disabilities involves problems with general mental abilities that affect intellectual functioning (reasoning, learning, problem solving) and adaptive functioning (daily life activities which cover social and practical skills).

b) Autism Spectrum Disorder means a neuro-developmental condition typically appearing in the first three years of life that significantly affects a person's ability to communicate, understand relationships and relate to others, and is frequently associated with unusual or stereotypical rituals or behaviors and sensory issues;

c) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) means a chronic condition marked by persistent inattention, hyperactivity, and sometimes impulsivity. It develops in initial years of life and lasts for a lifetime.

d) Specific learning disorder is a type of disorder that affects a child’s ability to acquire and apply reading, writing and math skills. it begins during school age and may not be recognized until adulthood. It includes conditions such as perceptual disabilities, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia and developmental aphasia;

e) Communication disorder affects a person’s ability to comprehend, detect, or apply language and speech while communicating with others. These include Language Disorder (Receptive and Expressive), Speech Sound Disorder, Fluency Disorder, Social Communication Disorder etc.

f) Syndromes: These include Down Syndrome, Angelman’s Syndrome, Tourette’s Syndrome, Retts Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome etc.

3. Disabilities caused due to chronic neurological conditions

i. Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease of the brain and the spinal cord. In multiple sclerosis, the immune system attacks the protective myelin sheath that covers the nerve fibers and this results in communication problems between the brain and the rest of the body. With time, the disease can cause permanent damage of the nerves.;

ii. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disease of the nervous system that affects the nerve cells in the brain that produce dopamine. This causes muscle rigidity, impaired posture and balance, tremors and change in speech.

iii. Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease refers to a group of diseases in which healthy nerve cells stop working, lose connection with other cells in brain and die. This result in loss of cognitive functioning i.e. thinking, remembering and reasoning. Alzheimer’s is a very specific form of dementia.

iv. Multiple Disabilities means more than one of the above specified disabilities causing severe communication, developmental, social and educational problems.

Major Issues

1. Driving Licensing for the Deaf

Acquiring driving Licenses has long been an important issue for the Deaf Community. As per the official community released by the Deaf and Mute Community during a protest: “We have been holding demonstrations for the last 10 years, government is unwilling to accept our demands. Driving licenses should be issued to the deaf.”

Promises have been made by the authorities several times to issue driving licenses to the Deaf but it has never materialized.

The government of Sindh recently announced that driving licences will be issued to people with hearing disabilities, as the provincial cabinet has approved the issuance of it.

2. Inaccessibility

As per a report published by British Council, 72% of Persons with Disabilities reported inaccessibility as a major barrier to access education, training & employment. Not only this, Persons with Disabilities also faced issues during General Elections and could not exercise their right to vote because of inaccessible polling station.

Education

There are 531 special schools in Pakistan and about 200 non-governmental organizations and disabled people's organizations offering education to people with disabilities.

Employment

As per British Council’s report Moving from the margins: Mainstreaming persons with disabilities in Pakistan (2014), PWDs tend to have poorer health outcomes, lower education achievements, higher rates of poverty, and less economic participation. These conditions ultimately exclude PWDs as productive members of society; some estimates suggest the cost of exclusion leads to annual loss of US$11.9bn-15.4bn, or 4.9-6.3% of Pakistan’s GDP. Employment quotas have been in place for Persons with Disabilities since 1981 when a figure was 2% was set up by the government. Currently, the employment quotas are as follows: Sindh 5%, Punjab 3%, KPK 3% and Balochistan 5%. The government of Sindh’s Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities hosted a session with the assistance of a local NGO NOWPDP where the current head of the Department Syed Qassim Naveed Qamar highlighted the steps the government was taking to employ persons with disabilities. The government, he said, "was rigorously working for accessibility and transport and also accommodating persons with intellectual disabilities along with other disabilities."

Policy

Pakistan is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, having signed the treaty on 25 September 2008 and ratified it on 5 July 2011. Timeline of national policies and legislations supporting persons with disabilities in Pakistan:

1981: The Disabled Persons’ (Employment and Rehabilitation) Ordinance

2002: National Policy for Persons with Disabilities

2006: National Plan of Action

2006: Accessibility Code of Pakistan

2008: Special Citizens’ Act

2008: National Youth Policy

2009: National Education Policy of Pakistan

2010: Import of Duty-Free Car for Disabled Persons

2011: Ratification of UNCRPD

2014: Accessible Banking Infrastructure for Special Persons

2014: Guidelines for Banking Services to Visually Impaired/Blind Persons

2017: The Balochistan Persons with Disabilities Act

2018: Sindh Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Act

2018: The ICT Rights of Persons with Disability Act

2019: State Bank of Pakistan concessionary financing facility

Sport

Paralympics

Main article: Pakistan at the Paralympics

Pakistan have been competing at the Paralympic Games from 1992. So far, Pakistan has received 2 medals in Paralympics history in 2008 Summer Paralympics and in the 2016 Summer Paralympics.

Blind Cricket

Pakistan national blind cricket team has participated in every editions of the Blind Cricket World Cup as well as in the Blind T20 World Cup tournaments. The Pakistan blind cricket team has won 2 Blind Cricket World Cup titles in 2002 and 2006.Hence became the first visually impaired cricket team to win 2 consecutive Blind Cricket World Cup titles.

The Pakistani blind cricket team also emerged as runners-up to South Africa in the inaugural edition of the Blind Cricket World Cup in 1998.

The Pakistan blind cricket team also emerged as runners-up to India in both Blind T20 World Cup tournaments.

Wheelchair Cricket

Asia Cup T20 Tournament 2019 for Wheelchair users was played in Bangladesh in 2019. Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal participated in the tournament. Pakistan won the tournament after beating Indian Wheelchair Team by 5 wickets.

Special Olympics

Special Olympics World Games 2019 were held in Abu Dhabi. Pakistan's contingent won a total of 61 medals including 18 gold medals, 28 silver medals and 15 bronze medals across 10 different sports.

Notable disabled sportspeople

• Muhammad Akram, blind cricketer-Holds the record for registering the highest individual score in a Blind T20I innings
• Masood Jan, blind cricketer-Holds the record for registering the highest individual innings in a Blind One-Day International
• Haider Ali, Paralympic athlete-Only paralympic medallist for Pakistan in Paralympics history

Notable activists

• Fatima Shah, activist for the blind and visually impaired.
• Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal, activist for the blind and visually impaired from Peshawar and MPhil scholar at University of Peshawar.
• Ihsan Ullah Daudzai, activist for persons with disabilities.
• Farhat Rasheed, advocate for accessible and inclusive workplaces.
• Imran Ghanchi, advocate for hand-controlled auto rickshaws and mobility of persons with disabilities.
• Zahid Abdullah, person with a visual disability and member of Federal Information Commission recently set up by the Pakistani government.
• Yousaf Saleem, Pakistan's first blind judge.

Organizations

• Muslim_Disability_Awareness
• Disabled Organisations Pakistan
• NOWPDP
• Pakistan Association of Blind (PAB)
• Family Education Services Foundation (FESF)
• ConnectHear
• JS Academy for Deaf
• Ida Rieu Welfare Association
• WonderTree
• Special Olympics Pakistan
• Tamir welfare organisation
• Electoral PWDS Rights Paksitan

References

Electoral Rights of PWDS in Pakistan