Community Disability Inclusion in India

India has more children with developmental disabilities than any other country, and this is compounded by the growing number of disabilities arising from the non-communicable diseases epidemic. As the demographic of India changes, and people live longer, the ageing population will also contribute to this high rate of disability prevalence.

The number of doctors and therapists is (and will be) inadequate to meet the disability care and services needs of this situation, which constitutes a “human-resources-for-health crisis”. Currently, the shortage of allied health practitioners in India is estimated to be 1.6 million. This creates an urgent need for governments, NGOs and the private sector to work together to operationalise agreed solutions.

One solution is the recruitment, effective training, and deployment of many more Community-Disability Inclusion (CDI) workers – local people equipped to respond to the rehabilitation and inclusion needs of their community members with disabilities.

This project will commence Phase I of a larger project to develop a new short course called Community Disability Inclusion.

The proposed overall project, occurring over four phases from 2019 and 2022, is a research collaboration between the University of Melbourne’s Nossal Institute for Global Heath, the Graduate School of Education (MGSE) and partners in India, including the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) of the Government of India.

This partnership will produce, trial and evaluate a best-practice Community Disability Inclusion (CDI) Diploma course.

Research Team:
Associate Professor Nathan Grills (DPHIL, DPH, MBBS, MPH) Public Health Physician (FAFPHM), Nossal Institute for Global Health, School of Population and Global Health University of Melbourne

Dr Lindsay Gale, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne

Professor Anand Zacharia, CMC Vellore

Mr GS Pandey, Rehabilitation Council of India, Chairman

Secretary Shakuntala Gamlin, Department of Empowerment of People with Disability, Government of India

Professor Lorraine Graham, Professor of Learning Intervention, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne

Professor Field Rickards, Dean, Melbourne Graduate School of Education

Research Outcomes

Determining the vocational competencies required to deliver community-based rehabilitation and inclusive development services in India, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09638288.2021.1907622

The Pioneer
OZ DELEGATION MEETS THAAWARCHAND GEHLOT
A five-member Australian delegation led by Duncan Maskell, VC, University of Melbourne on Monday met the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Thaawarchand Gehlot here to discuss activities like curriculum designing of the community-based inclusive development programme, leadership training and research in disability sector. 

Dev Discourse
Australian Delegation appreciates India's efforts in disability sector
The Minister expressed his desire to understand the experience of the Australian side for the empowerment of persons with disabilities especially in the area of early intervention, community participation, etc

News on Air
Australian delegation Meets Thaawar chand Gehlot to take forward implementation of MoU signed in disability sector
Australian delegation Meets Thaawar chand Gehlot to take forward implementation of MoU signed in disability sector PIB India An Australian delegation today met Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Thawarchand Gehlot in New Delhi to take forward the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding MoU signed between India and Australia in the areas in the disability sector.