Rehabilitation of Females with Disabilities in India

Around the world, women make up just over 51% of the population. Women with disabilities are the most marginalized in Indian society. They are deprived of political, Social, Economic, and health opportunities. The problems of women with disabilities become very complex with other factors such as social stigma and poverty. Women with disabilities have been largely neglected when it comes to research, state policies, the disability and women's movements, and rehabilitation programmes, and this has become a widely accepted fact in recent years. Also, "due to numerous societal standards, they continue to be left out of the decision-making processes. This reality is especially true of women with disabilities in cultures where women with the role of wife and mother are considered to be the primary role for a female.Education is the key to the advancement of women and girls with disabilities as it provides access to information, enables them to communicate their needs, interests and experiences, brings them into contact with other students, increases their confidence and encourages them to assert their rights. Hence, there is an urgent need to consider policies and programmers that will place greater emphasis on the participation of women with disabilities in the mainstream education system. Certainly the challenges are great. In the year 2003 Ministry of social justice and empowerment has introduced novel scheme of providing scholarships for people with disabilities to pursue higher education. The important feature of this programme is it reserves 50% of scholarships for women with disabilities.