Unless this eliminates a sign of bias, it violates their rights, says SC – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Considering that no one wants to forfeit the claim to pursue education or pursue his/her preferred profession due to disability, the Supreme Court has called for a change in the approach of the government agencies by focusing more on the aptitude and not on the disability of such persons, and bring them into the social mainstream and enable people with disabilities to pursue studies and employment in their chosen field.
Allowing the plea of ​​a medical aspirant who was denied admission to the MBBS course due to incorrect assessment of his ‘disability’, the top court said that if reasonable accommodation is denied to a differently-abled person , this would amount to discrimination and a violation of the law. fundamental rights, which would not only demean the aspirations of the individual but also harm the country as a whole.
“The courts cannot allow themselves to be stunned into inaction by the lack of an adequate framework or expertise when questions of fundamental rights arise. The flurry of cases involving medical aspirants with disabilities that have come before this court shows that the overarching issue is a sense of over-medicalization. of disabled bodies by the assessment committees,” said a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
“The approach often taken, due to inertia or unconsciously, is to assume that a person with a disability may not be eligible to take the course and then subject the candidates to tests to prove the assumption,” it added.
CJI: Integration of disabled people into medical practice is essential for a humane view
The approach focuses more on a person’s disability than on their ability. This turns the principle of reasonable accommodation on its head. The question the board should instead ask itself is: What measures can be taken to ensure that the candidate with disabilities can start his/her MBBS course on an equal footing with his/her future classmates?” the court.
This is one of a series of judgments delivered in recent times to protect the interests of people with different disabilities who faced various bottlenecks in accessing educational institutions.
On October 16, the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment aimed at breaking down barriers to entry for people with disabilities into educational institutions, had ruled that a quantified disability by itself will not deprive a candidate of the right to be considered for admission to educational institutions, and that he or she would be eligible for admission if the disability assessment committee is of the opinion that the disability does not prevent him or her from pursuing a course of study. Earlier, SC had struck down a rule that banned color-blind students from taking admission in MBBS courses.
CJI Chandrachud, author of the judgment for the court, said that the integration of persons with disabilities into medical practice is crucial to ensure that the approach of the medical community, hospitals and other healthcare institutions is humane, sensitive and based is on lived experiences. He said a society in which discrimination and exclusion are addressed and eliminated will create a just and equitable system for all people, regardless of their identity.
“Persons with disabilities are not objects of pity or charity, but an integral part of our society and nation. The promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities is a national project, together with the eradication of all forms of discrimination. A part of this project is the inclusion of persons with disabilities in all activities of life,” the CJI said.