International Journal of Scientific & Innovative Research Studies ISSN : 2347-7660 (Print) | ISSN : 2454-1818 (Online) PERSONS WITH DISABILITY AND THEIR RIGHT TO SANITATION Indu bala, Dr. Shashi Kumar, Research Scholar, Associate Professor, Department of Human Rights, Department of Human Rights, School for Legal Study, School for Legal Study, BBAU, Lucknow BBAU, Lucknow ABSTRACT Access to safe and clean water and sanitation facilities is a basic right of all people, including people with disabilities, the denial of which can have serious implications on their well-being. The access to clean water and basic sanitation is a right also guaranteed under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Constitution of India also ensures equality, freedom, justice and dignity of all individuals and implicitly mandates an inclusive society for all including persons with disabilities. The new Swachh Bharat Mission, while focusing on universal sanitation coverage, is also looking at better ways of addressing needs of Persons with Disabilities. Sanitation and hygiene programs need to be evaluated to understand if they are really accessible for all including persons with disabilities. This paper will attempt to review the condition of access to water and sanitation for persons with disabilities from the perspective of international developments.. Keywords: Access, Disability, Sanitation, Disable person i INTRODUCTION the world’s population are disabled, of whom 2-4% experience significant difficulties in functioning. Presumably, if persons with disabilities make up 15% Sanitation is a very personal and private matter of of the world’s population, then they also comprise every individual which is directly connected with roughly 15% of all those reflected in such statistics. human dignity. The world Individual also includes Over 500 million people in the world are disabled, persons with disabilities. Disabled people are a part the majority of whom live in poverty in low-income of every community, everywhere in the world. They communities. A major contributing factor to the are among the poorest, most marginalised and poverty of disabled people is their lack of access to disadvantaged person, and are often hidden. In the sanitation and safe water.ii In developing countries recent years, there have been vast and positive there is a massive shortfall of sanitation facilities in changes in the perception of the society towards general and in particular of facilities which are persons with disabilities. Globally, this is underlined accessible to all–including persons with disabilities. by the Sustainable Development Goal 6, which This is despite the fact that 15% of the world’s ensure access to water and sanitation to all by 2030. population lives with some kind of disability. The The World Disability Report estimates that 15% of majority of these persons with disabilities live in 92 | Vol (6), No.3 March, 2018 IJSIRS International Journal of Scientific & Innovative Research Studies ISSN : 2347-7660 (Print) | ISSN : 2454-1818 (Online) developing countries (80%). They are among the reflecting an interaction between features of a poorest, most vulnerable and marginalised groups. person's body and features of the society in which In 2011, the first ever world report on disability has he or she lives. been published by the World Health Organization A sea-change in disability awareness is now and the World Bank (2011). It appears that until now underway. The issue of disability is now firmly disabled people have typically been excluded from established as a human rights issue by the interventions and research around WASH.iii enforcement of the United Nation Convention on According to World Report on Disability by WHO and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Article 3 of World Bank (2011)1 billion people with disabilities the Convention says about the principle of “Respect worldwide and rates of disability are increasing due for difference and acceptance of persons with to population ageing, increases in chronic health disabilities as part of human diversity and conditions and other factors.iv Consequently, the humanity”. It marks a positive approach towards new SDG will not be met unless access to WASH is persons with disabilities. After that the Human improved for disabled people. International Rights Council also adopted a resolution in late 2010 agreements such as the UN Convention on the by affirming that access to safe drinking water and Rights of Persons with Disabilities have ushered in sanitation is a human right for all people, including considerable awareness concerning the diverse those who are disabled. The lack of accessible needs of persons with disabilities. sanitation facilities can create humiliating situations The Convention on the Rights of Persons because it deprives disabled person from their most with Disabilities does not provide a definition of basic and private needs. disability, but it provides a broad description which The Constitution of India ensures equality, is widely inclusive. The UN defines persons with freedom, justice and dignity of all individuals. The disabilities as persons with long-term impairments golden promise of a life with dignity for everyone who face various barriers that hinder their full enshrined under the Constitution of India cannot be participation in society. The impairments can be fully realised without addressing the issues of water, from birth or acquired, temporary or permanent. sanitation and hygiene. Access to safe and clean They can be physical, sensory (i.e. visual, hearing), water and sanitation facilities is a basic Human Right mental or intellectual impairments. People can of all people, including people with disabilities, the become impaired through accidents, wars, natural denial of which can have serious implications on disasters, diseases and old age. Some of these them and their wellbeing.vi The impact of disability is diseases are caused by malnutrition or the lack of felt by persons with disabilities themselves and also hygiene, sanitation and safe water. Therefore by their family members because it often creates a accessibility should always be considered even if no high work load and dependency which leads to person with disabilities is currently known to live in vulnerability, loss of income, compromised health the community.v The definition of ‘disabled’ used and risk of poverty.vii It has been realized that a here is of general in nature. The World Health majority of persons with disabilities can lead a better Organization defines Disability as "Disabilities is an quality of life if they have equal opportunities, umbrella term, covering impairments, activity facilities and effective access to rehabilitation limitations, and participation restrictions. measures. Impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty WHAT STOPS PERSONS WITH encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem DISABILITIES FROM ACCESSING experienced by an individual in involvement in life SANITATION FACILITIESviii situations. Thus disability is a complex phenomenon, Vol (6), No.3 March, 2018 IJSIRS | 93 International Journal of Scientific & Innovative Research Studies ISSN : 2347-7660 (Print) | ISSN : 2454-1818 (Online) Disability and sanitation are related to poverty. The . Family has no toilet, nearest toilet is far link between poverty, disability and access to water away, open defecation is widespread. and sanitation resources, particularly in communities . Stairs or steps to access sanitation facilities; with improving economic resources, needs to be for example some toilet structures are considered. Households in the poorest wealth raised to prevent flooding or to provide quintile are also 5.5 times more likely to lack access better access to faeces vaults. to an improved water source and 3.3 times more likely to lack adequate sanitation compared with the . Lack of support bars in latrines for people highest wealth quintile in the same country. Disabled who have difficulties holding themselves in people and their families tend to be among the a sitting or squatting position. poorest of the poor because of factors including: . Narrow toilet cubicles or narrow entrances. Lack of education . Toilet cubicles are dark with no natural Limited job opportunities light, missing lights or inaccessible light switches. Reduced family income because of caring for a dependant . Doors are too heavy or cannot be closed by a wheelchair user. Increased medical expenditure . Handles and handrails inside are either non- Issues preventing disabled people from accessing existent, too high or too low. water and sanitation in developing countries may vary depending on cultural and geographical . Floors are uneven or slippery. contexts, as well as by the type of disability a person . Inaccessible water sources for toilet flushing may have. Thus a person with a physical impairment in the case of pour-flush toilets, and for may face significantly more difficulties in using a showering, bathing and hand washing. hand pump or an outdoor latrine, a person who is This is noticeable point that many of the deaf or who has an intellectual disability may have technical barriers faced by persons with no physical difficulty in walking to a community disabilities are also faced by pregnant women, latrine, but be teased or abused and thus find such a the elderly, children and others. facility inaccessible