The secretary general of the United Nations had pointed out last month that disability is not inability. India must have pretended not to hear. In this country, disability does amount to inability - to move around freely in public spaces, to get access to all levels of education, to receive promotion in higher levels of government jobs, and, so, to improve the economic conditions of living. The Supreme Court has partly addressed this gap by ruling that people with disabilities are entitled to reservation for promotion in government jobs. With this ruling, the court has also called the government's bluff. The latter has apparently been full of concern for differently-abled people, launching fancy campaigns such as Accessible India, debating whether they should be ascribed with divine powers, and changing the name of the department of empowerment of persons with disabilities to Divyangjan Sashaktikaran Vibhag (as if that matters). While the government's heart has been on display for all to admire, it has consistently been arguing in court that there should be no disability quota for promotion in A and B categories of jobs. The government's stubborn stance has often deprived differently-abled persons not only of the chance to advance in their careers but also of the confidence in themselves that a promotion could inspire.

It is not that the reaffirmation of a job quota will radically transform the lives of the people concerned. The government's attempt to drown the real problems faced by differently-abled people in rhetoric is symptomatic of the general attitude. No positive change will come about unless everyone accepts the 'difference' of differently-abled persons and allows them their space. No Indian city seems to have been planned and built with the requirements of disabled people in mind. The differently-abled person is, of course, entitled to job quotas. But they are also entitled, at a more basic level, to spaces that acknowledge their existence by shaping themselves around their needs.