timelines and will use IT and social media for spreading awareness about the campaign and
      seeking commitment/engagement of various stakeholders. The Department has asked various
      states to identify about 50 to 100 public buildings in big cities and also identify citizen centric
      public websites, which if made fully accessible would have the highest impact on the lives of
      PwDs. Once identified “Access Audit” of these buildings and websites will be conducted by
      professional agencies. As per the audit findings, retrofitting and conversion of buildings,
      transport and websites would be undertaken by various government departments. This will be
      supported by the Scheme of Implementation of Persons with Disabilities Act (SIPDA), an
      umbrella scheme run by the DEPwD for implementing various initiatives for social and
      economic empowerment of PwDs.
           The Department is collaborating with Ministry of Home, Ministry of Health and Family
      Welfare and Ministry of Tourism for creating “accessible police station”, “accessible hospitals”
      and “accessible tourism” respectively across the country. The Department is also coordinating
      with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for enhancing accessibility of television
      programmes by incorporating features like captioning, text to speech and audio description.
      DEPwD is also in the process of creating a mobile app, along with a web portal for crowd
      sourcing the request regarding inaccessible places. With the app, downloaded on his/her mobile
      phone, any person would be able to click a photograph or video of an inaccessible public place
      (like a school, hospital, government office etc.) and upload the same to the Accessible India
      portal. The portal will process the request for access audit, financial sanction and find retrofitting
      of the building to make it completely accessible.
      Persons with Disability
           Section 2 (t) of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and
      Full Participation) Act, 1995, defines a person suffering from not less than 40 per cent of any
      disability as certified by a medical authority. The disability being blindness (b) low vision (c)
      leprosy cured (d) hearing impairment (e) loco-motor disability (f ) mental illness (g) mental
      retardation (h) autism (i) cerebral palsy or (j) a combination of any two or more of (g), (h) and (i)
      (Section 2 (i) of the PwD Act, 1995 read along with Section 2(j) of The National Trust for
      Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities
      Act, 1999).
      Mental Health Act
           Mental illness has been recognized as one of the disabilities under the Persons with
      Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. The
      treatment and care of the mentally ill persons are governed by the Mental Health Act, 1987. The
      Act is administered by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
      Persons with Disabilities Act
           A comprehensive law, namely, the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities,
      Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 was enacted and enforced in 1996. The
      law deals with both prevention and promotion aspects of the rehabilitation such as education,
      employment and vocational training, creation of barrier-free environment, provision of
      rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities, institutional services and supportive social
      security measures like unemployment allowance and grievance redressal machinery both at the
      central and state level. National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy,