Target Group

Project Target Group 

Project SHUCHITA - Skilling unique choice, hope, inclusion, training and abilities, is an inclusive skills development Programme for Women with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (Divyangjan). The World Bank Group estimates that India has anywhere between 40 and 80 million Persons with Disabilities, yet 45% of them are illiterate and over 70% are not part of the labour force. It seems as if the life of an individual with an intellectual disability has been viewed as less valuable than the life of a non-disabled person, lacking in fundamental equality and moral status significance. 

Deciphering Disability:

Disability is an umbrella term that covers a range of experiences

-World Health Organization

What is Intellectual and Developmental Disability (IDD)?

There is no conclusive definition of ‘intellectual disability within the sector. For instance, while the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders distinguishes between intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the RPwD Act, 2016 includes autism within the purview of ID. Furthermore, while service providers often club cerebral palsy (CP) with intellectual disability because there may be an overlap in the support they require, persons with CP do not experience any intellectual disabilities per se. For the purpose of this project, therefore, we are considering Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities collectively.

Developmental Disability: A delay in sensory, cognitive, social, emotional or communication development is known as a developmental disability. Such disabilities appear before the age of 22 and could involve physical disabilities such as blindness from birth and/or intellectual disabilities like Down’s Syndrome.

Intellectual Disability: It is a condition characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning (reasoning, learning, problem-solving) and in adaptive behaviour (which covers a range of everyday social and practical skills).

This project specifically addresses intellectual and developmental disabilities that echo the focus areas of the National Trust Act for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Intellectual Disability and Multiple Disabilities under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. 

Working Definitions as per RPD Act: 

Intellectual disability, a condition characterised by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning (reasoning, learning, problem-solving) and in adaptive behaviour which covers a range of every day, social and practical skills, including—

(a) “specific learning disabilities” means a heterogeneous group of conditions wherein there is a deficit in processing language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself as a difficulty to comprehend, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations and includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia and developmental aphasia;

(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 behaviours.

Cerebral palsy: means a Group of the non-progressive neurological condition affecting body movements and muscle coordination, caused by damage to damage to one or more specific areas of the brain, usually occurring before, during or shortly after birth. 

Multiple Disabilities (more than one of the above-specified disabilities) including deaf-blindness which means a condition in which a person may have a combination of hearing and visual impairments causing severe communication, developmental, and educational problems.