Human rights organizations and activists representing the interests of people with disabilities have expressed serious concern regarding the system of categorizing persons with disabilities within the framework of the 2027 census. They emphasized that the existing nine-point structure does not align with the legal and social reality, which recognizes 21 types of disability according to legislation.
The statement, released by the National Platform for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and supported by 405 signatories, asserts that this procedure will lead to inaccurate data collection and render entire groups of people with disabilities invisible in official statistics, while also confusing enumerators.
Participants demanded that the 2027 census questionnaire include an option for individual accounting of all 21 types of disabilities enshrined in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act of 2016.
The statement notes that although the Appendix to the RPwD Act, 2016, recognizes 21 conditions as 'special disabilities,' the 2027 census will only account for disability across nine categories: vision, hearing, speech, mobility, intellectual disability, mental illness, victims of acid attacks, chronic neurological disease, and blood clotting disorders.
Signatories point out that, with the exception of changing the term 'mental retardation' to 'intellectual disability,' the first six categories were present in the 2011 census. The new additions are victims of acid attacks, chronic neurological diseases, and blood clotting disorders.
The list of 21 special disabilities recognized by the RPwD Act includes: physical disability; leprosy cured persons; cerebral palsy; dwarfism; muscular dystrophy; victims of acid attacks; blindness; low vision; deafness; hearing loss; speech and language impairment; intellectual disability; specific learning disabilities; autism spectrum disorder; mental illness; multiple sclerosis; Parkinson's disease; hemophilia; thalassemia; sickle cell anemia; and multiple disabilities, including deafness and blindness.
Organizations believe that the proposed nine-point system does not reflect the actual situation. They regret that conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, specific learning disabilities, dwarfism, leprosy cured persons, and multiple disabilities, including deafness and blindness, have not been listed separately.
Furthermore, they point out the inadmissibility of grouping conditions like cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease into broader categories, while three distinct disabilities—thalassemia, hemophilia, and sickle cell anemia—are lumped together under one category: 'blood clotting disorders.'
Among those who supported the statement were the Disability Rights Alliance, National Association for The Blind, Politics and Disability Forum, Sense International India, Muskan Foundation, Action for Autism, Autism Society for India, and Enable India.
The second phase of the 2027 census began on August 17, with online self-enumeration in Ladakh, the snowy regions of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. This early start allows coverage of remote mountainous areas before winter sets in. Door-to-door surveys are scheduled from September 1 to September 30, 2026, preceding other parts of India.