While delivering the seminal Vikash Kumar judgment in 2021, the Supreme Court envisaged creating an “RPwD (Rights of Persons with Disabilities) Generation” on the lines of the ADA Generation in the United States of America. This generation of disabled people, the Court envisioned,
“…regards as its birthright access to the full panoply of constitutional entitlements, robust statutory rights geared to meet their unique needs and conducive societal conditions needed for them to flourish and to truly become co-equal participants in all facets of life.”
However, since the passing of the RPwD Act, 2016 and the many progressive judgments since, there continues to remain many a slip between the cup and the lip for persons with disabilities in realizing and effectuating their rights. Their realities are starkly disconnected from statutes and judicial pronouncements, a reflection of the complacency that is deep-rooted in a system that considers shifting from the status quo as an act of benevolence rather than a step towards realisation of rights.
Source: Barandbench
