Social stigma, discrimination, documentation errors, and a lack of accessibility, job opportunities, healthcare benefits, and education are just a few of the many challenges faced by persons with disabilities. At the grassroots level, these issues are compounded by societal superstitions surrounding disability and limited access to basic services, leading to isolation of individuals and their families. Therefore, it is essential to address their needs, recognise their rights, and foster inclusion.
“When a person with a disability gets a job, it triggers a chain of mindset shifts—first at the family level and eventually at the village and block level. Families are often worried about how to care for their child, as medical bills, expensive assistive tech, and lack of support can strain their resources. However, an income source changes the belief that a person with disability cannot, and should not, be employed,” says Mohammad Shahed, programme manager at Youth4Jobs Foundation in Rajasthan’s Karauli district.
Youth4Jobs seeks to promote autonomy for persons with disabilities by focusing on their education and employment. At present, its Grassroot Academy programme specifically caters to youth with physical, visual, hearing, and speech disabilities in rural India. The organisation’s key areas of work include documentation support, economic empowerment, and leadership building.
Based on their experience, members of the Youth4Jobs team shared insights on how organisations can create meaningful programmes that address the challenges unique to persons with disabilities at the grassroots level.
By the disabled, for the disabled
To shift from a charity- and welfare-based approach to disability, the United Nations adopted the slogan ‘nothing about us without us’. This means that decisions, policies, or actions affecting the needs, welfare, and rights of persons with disabilities should not be made without their direct involvement and input, as no one understands these better than they do.
Persons with disabilities are often confined to their homes due to variety of reasons.
Meera Shenoy, founder of Youth4Jobs, shares that the Grassroot Academy programme follows the same principle. “We saw potential in enabling young persons with disabilities to lead the programme because they have a strong desire and aspiration to work for their community. We named them divyang mitra (friends of the disabled). This role is about not only offering support but also positioning these youth as companions and advocates for persons with disabilities in their village. They are best placed to present suggestions and solutions because they understand the lived realities of others with disabilities.”
Ingrained social norms are challenged by the presence of a divyang mitra. They come from and work in areas where persons with disabilities are often confined to their homes, with little to no investment in their education. This can be due to variety of reasons, such as the absence of a nearby school, accessibility challenges, a lack of specialised teachers, exclusion from civic participation, and more. There’s also a belief that they are incapable of working. Prahlad Beniwal, a divyang mitra, says, “We consistently hear remarks that affect our confidence, making us question whether we’re capable of working. But after I joined the programme, I realised that our voice is key to advocating for the rights of the disabled. Persons with disabilities in my village trust me and feel inspired to work when they see what I’m able to do.”
The voice of the community thus forms the programme’s foundation. Youth4Jobs’ experience of implementing the programme across six states and 25 districts has also given the organisation a few key principles for designing programmes for persons with disabilities:
1. Tailor the design on the basis of needs
Age and education level help in understanding the needs of persons with disabilities. Mehtab Singh, state head of the Grassroots Academy programme, explains, “We first conduct door-to-door surveys to identify all persons with disabilities in an area. If they are under 18 years of age, we assess how we can assist them with their education, linking up with schools in the area if needed. For those over 18, our primary focus is employment, based on the type of disability they have and the skills they can acquire through training.” For individuals with higher education, often the priority is securing an office job that matches their qualifications.
Shahed mentions that people are also connected to self-employment opportunities based on their interest. These include nano enterprises such as kirana stores, chakkis (mills), photography studios, boutiques, etc. This sets them on the entrepreneurial path, enabling them to grow their income over time. As part of this initiative, they are also introduced to government schemes that offer employment opportunities. Mehtab gives the example of a person with a locomotor disability whom the organisation helped acquire an e-rickshaw through a government scheme. The person rented it out to earn a steady income.
It is also possible that a person may not be interested in any of the options offered by the programme. In such cases, it is important to identify alternate ways to support them. Mehtab shares an example, “There was a young woman with a locomotor disability who was not interested in the jobs provided by the programme. But she was interested in sports, so we got in touch with the local athletics team. She was eventually able to join the state-level Paralympic team and won several awards.”
2. Connect to government schemes and administration
Besides employment or education, providing information about government schemes and helping individuals access them also helps Youth4Jobs build trust with the community. Often, information such as their name, address, father’s or husband’s name, and date of birth are inaccurately recorded in their Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, or other government documents. They may also face issues in correcting linked mobile numbers or email IDs. Shahed says that in his experience, many are unaware of the Unique Disability ID (UDID) card or disability certificate, which are critical to availing of the benefits of government schemes. The digitisation of the process for acquiring the UDID has added another layer of complexity for persons with disabilities. “We inform people about this and other government schemes and help them get their documents in order. We accompany the individual and a family member to the relevant centre and guide them through the process so they don’t face any issues in the future.”
The field team also has to communicate with public representatives such as district, block, and panchayat officials, along with ASHAs, Anganwadi workers, and local health workers. This makes it possible for them to reach out to persons with disabilities in any given area and help distribute assistive technology (for instance, wheelchairs and tablets).
3. Build sensitivity among stakeholders
The team working with persons with disabilities should be trained on issues specific to the community in order to effectively respond to challenges on the ground. Meera says, “In the first year of training, we incorporated modules that we found important. But soon enough, we began to see gaps in the content. Over the following year, we consulted the community and developed new training modules based on the needs that were identified. Today, the entire content has been revised through consultation with the people of the community.” An example of this is the incorporation content on the distinction between salaried work and daily wage labour. Since many of those they trained had not been formally employed before or had only worked in the unorganised sector, this content helped clarify aspects such as deductions for provident funds, benefits, and so on.
The work doesn’t end once a candidate is placed in a job.
For persons with disabilities who wish to join office work, it’s necessary to onboard the company and sensitise them. Shahed explains, “We have to speak with and sensitise the employers to whom we connect persons with disabilities. We constantly scan the local market and inform current and potential employers about our programmes.” The organisation thus acts as a mediator between the candidate with disability and the employer.
But the work doesn’t end once a candidate is placed in a job. Mehtab explains, “We had helped a hearing- and speech-impaired person secure a job at a petrol pump. When we did a performance review, we found that other employees would complain that he would disappear for a couple of hours during lunchtime without informing anyone. Upon further inquiry, we discovered that he was going elsewhere to offer prayers during this time. Once this was clarified, there were no further issues.” The employees needed to know what was going on, but because the person with disability communicates in a manner they aren’t familiar with, there was a misunderstanding. Bridging such gaps is an essential aspect of the organisation’s work.
4. Involve families within the programme
Families of persons with disabilities are often wary of programmes designed for them due to factors such as concern, prejudice, or the ineffectiveness of previous efforts. Women with disabilities are frequently not allowed to step out of the house—neither for education nor for employment. Prahlad explains, “Parents are worried about their daughters and ask what will happen if they face any difficulty. We connect them with other women with disabilities to share their stories. In some cases, we also help another member of their family secure employment in the same place so they can go along with them.”
Mehtab notes that sometimes women at disabilities are married at a young age. In such cases, the organisation looks for a way to provide employment for both the women and their husbands at the same place.
5. Adapt in the face of challenges
Running a programme for persons with disabilities, especially at the grassroots level and with a wide variety of stakeholders, is challenging. For instance, convincing employers to hire persons with disabilities can be difficult due to the prejudice that it might negatively impact the work. Meera reports that a solution to this challenge came from within the community. “At one of our meetings, a divyang mitra shared that he recorded testimonials from a local enterprise owner and one of his employees, a person with a disability. He then showed the recording to other potential employers in the area, who could then be more easily convinced to partner with us.” The other divyang mitras were able to apply this strategy in their respective areas as well.
The option of self-employment is crucial for persons with disabilities.
There are also barriers that can arise when attempting to facilitate fruitful interactions between communities and government representatives. In certain cases, approaching an official can be a time-consuming task, and rejections are a distinct possibility. In Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district, Amar Singh, a divyang mitra, was finding it difficult to secure entitlements for persons with disabilities under the Mukhyamantri Divyang Scooty Yojana. In response, he mobilised a large group of persons with disabilities from the district and organised a meeting with the state’s chief minister to present their needs. Ultimately, he not only managed to secure 50 scooters but was also nominated to the advisory committee for persons with disabilities in Rajasthan.
Matching individuals with appropriate employment opportunities based on their education can also present challenges. Shahed explains, “The level of education among persons with disabilities is a challenge in terms of employment, especially in rural areas. Villages may have primary schools, but high schools and universities are often located far away, where the inaccessibility of travel becomes a significant roadblock. However, employers generally want to hire people who have studied at least cleared class 10.” The option of self-employment is thus crucial for persons with disabilities. But it is also important to ensure that their modes of self-employment are not at odds with each other, such as two kirana stores in the same neighbourhood. To prevent such competition, similar stores are opened at a distance from each other. At the same time, the store is accessible to the person with disability and convenient for villagers to visit.
Meera underscores the importance of ensuring that organisations do not invest in areas where a lot of work is already being done. “It is also important to get compassionate funders, the government, and other stakeholders who believe in this work on board, as this leads to sustainability,” she says. Crucially, she emphasises the value of relying on the wisdom of the community: “The most important requirement [when working with persons with disabilities] is being clear that we are not the doers, but only facilitators. The real change-makers are the youth with disabilities in the community, whose capacities we need to invest in. Through our work, we’ve learned the value of the wisdom that rests in rural communities. We need to have humility to listen.”
Sidharth Bhatt contributed to this article.
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Know more
- Learn more about the life of an activist who fights for gender equality and disability rights in Rajasthan.
- Read this white paper that presents recommendations to policymakers on building a more inclusive future for persons with disabilities in India.
