A disability is any continuing condition that restricts everyday activities.

RPwD Act Definition: Person with disability means a person with long term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment which, in interaction with barriers, hinders his full and effective participation in society equally with others.

WHO Definition: Disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. Disability is thus not just a health problem. It is a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives.

Persons with disabilities means a person with long term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment, which in interaction with barriers hinders his full and effective participation in society equally with others.

A person with benchmark disability” means a person with not less than forty percent (40%) of a specified disability where specified disability has not been defined immeasurable terms and includes a person with disability where specified disability has been defined in measurable terms, as certified by the certifying authority.

A person with disability having high support needs means a person with benchmark disability certified under clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 58 who needs high support.

There are 21 categories of disabilities in RPWD Act 2016. They include (alphabetically): Acid Attack victim, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Blindness, Cerebral Palsy, Chronic Neurological conditions, Dwarfism, Hearing Impairment (deaf and hard of hearing), Haemophilia, Intellectual Disability, Leprosy Cured persons, Locomotor Disability, Low-vision, Mental Illness, Multiple Disabilities including deaf blindness, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Parkinson's disease, Sickle Cell disease, Specific Learning Disabilities, Speech and Language disability and Thalassemia.

As per severity, disabilities are categorized into;

1. Person with disability means a person with long term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment which, in interaction with barriers, hinders his full and effective participation in society equally with others.

2. Person with benchmark disability means a person with not less than 40% of a specified disability whether defined in measurable terms or not.

3. Person with disability having high support needs, means a person with benchmark disability certified under clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 58 who needs high support.

Locomotor, Visual, Hearing impairments and Speech and Language pathology.

Locomotor disability causes a limitation on a person's physical functioning,

mobility, dexterity or stamina. It includes:

1. Leprosy cured person means a person who has been cured of leprosy but is suffering from

1.1 Loss of sensation in hands or feet as well as loss of sensation and paresis in the eye and eye-lid but with no manifest deformity;

1.2 Manifest deformity and paresis but having sufficient mobility in their hands and feet to enable them to engage in normal economic activity

1.3 Extreme physical deformity as well as advanced age which prevents him/her from undertaking any gainful occupation, and the expression "leprosy cured" shall construed accordingly;

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

3. Dwarfism means a medical or genetic condition resulting in an adult height of 4 feet 10 inches (147 centimeters) or less

4. Muscular dystrophy means a group of hereditary genetic muscle disease that weakens the muscles that move the human body and persons with multiple dystrophy have incorrect and missing information in their genes, which prevents them from making the proteins they need for healthy muscles. It is characterised by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue.

5. Acid attack victims means a person disfigured due to violent assaults by throwing acid or similar corrosive substance.

Visual impairments means:

1. Blindness means a condition where a person has any of the following conditions, after best correction

1.1 Total absence of sight; or

1.2 Visual acuity less than 3/60 or less than 10/200 (Snellen) in the better eye with best possible correction; or

1.3 Limitation of the field of vision subtending an angle of less than 10 degree.

2. Low-vision means a condition where a person has any of the following conditions, namely:

2.1 Visual acuity not exceeding 6/18 or less than 20/60 upto 3/60 or upto 10/200 (Snellen) in the better eye with best possible corrections; or

2.2 Limitation of the field of vision subtending an angle of less than 40 degree up to 10 degree.

Hearing Impairment means:

1. Deaf means persons having 70 DB hearing loss in speech frequencies in both ears;

2. Hard of hearing means person having 60 DB to 70 DB hearing loss in speech frequencies in both ears.

Speech and language disability means a permanent disability arising out of conditions such as laryngectomy or aphasia affecting one or more components of speech and language due to organic or neurological causes.

Intellectual Disability is a condition characterised by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning (rasoning, learning, problem solving) and in adaptive behaviour which covers a range of everyday, social and practical skills. It includes specific learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorders.

Specific learning disabilities means a heterogeneous group of conditions where in 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 perceptual disabilities, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia and developmental aphasia.

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.

Mental illness means a substantial disorder of thinking, mood, perception, orientation or memory that grossly impairs judgment, behaviour, capacity to recognise reality or ability to meet ordinary demands of life, but does not include retardation which is characterised by sub normality of intelligence.

Chronic neurological conditions are caused by a dysfunction in part of the brain or nervous system, resulting in physical and/or psychological symptoms.

Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic neurological condition which means inflammatory, nervous system disease, in which myelin sheaths around the axons of nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, affecting ability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to communicate with each other.

Parkinson’s disease means a progressive disease of the nervous system marked by tremor, muscular rigidity, and slow, imprecise movement, chiefly affecting middle-aged and elderly people.

A blood disorder is any condition that impacts one or more parts of the blood, usually interfering with its ability to work correctly. Many blood disorders take their name from the component of the blood they impact.

1. Haemophilia means an inheritable disease, usually affecting only male, characterised by loss or impairment of normal clotting ability of blood, so a minor cut may result in fatal bleeding.

2. Thalassemia means a group of inherited disorders characterised by reduced or absent amounts of haemoglobin.

3. Sickle cell disease" means a haemolytic disorder characterised by chronic anaemia, painful events, and various complications due to associated tissue and organ damage.

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.

Initially, She was a part of the Santa Memorial Rehabilitation Center before she stepped into Red Cross.Years back she lost a hand after going through a major accident. She has been an active part of Swabhiman since long and is one of the most inspirational governing bodies at Swabhiman as she strives to ensure that sincerity and cooperation persists among all the volunteers and higher authorities working at Swabhiman.

He has been associated with Swabhiman since the year 2011 and has a lot to say about how he came across Dr. Sruti Mohapatra and got introduced to Swabhiman. He believes that Dr. Sruti is an iconic personality and an inspiration to thousands of specially abled children all over Odisha and has always taught them to live life with dignity. He has immense trust on the entire organisation and motive behind it. After having met with an accident in the year 2007, that disabled him ) Spinal Cord Injury), he met Ma'am in the year 2011. He then visited the Swabhiman office with an intention to help. A year later, he was awarded the Anjali International Award for Bravery. Ever since then, he sets an example for every human being out there to stay strong and not let anything destroy their will and spirit to live and do something better in life.

"Mr. Saswat K. Acharya is an Advocate practicing primarily in the State of Odisha. He has graduated as a BBA, LL.B. (Hons) from the Symbiosis Law School, Pune in the year 2009.

Thereafter, aided by his varied exposure during internships at several prestigious law offices at Delhi, he started his practice at Delhi as an Advocate at the office of Mr. P. S. Patwalia, Senior Advocate. He has gained considerable deftness in handling matters related to various fields of law. He specializes in Insolvency & Company laws, Direct & Indirect Taxation matters, Arbitration, Mining and Money-laundering Laws. He has been specially appointed as an Amicus Curiae by the Hon'ble Orissa High Court in a matter to bring about reforms in the inhuman conditions of prisons across the State of Odisha. He has also taken up pro-bono cases relating to societal issues before the Hon’ble Orissa High Court.

He has been regularly appearing as an arguing counsel before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, Hon'ble Orissa High Court, NCLAT, NCLT, Direct & Indirect Tax Tribunals, and such other quasi-judicial bodies. He has an experience of 11 years in the legal profession."