Questionnaire Text

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15. Physical/mental disability, if any:
If the person is physically/mentally disabled, give the appropriate code number from the list below. Otherwise enter a dash (-)


b. After birth

[] 1 In seeing
[] 2 In speech
[] 3 In hearing
[] 4 In movement
[] 5 Mental

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Column 15: Physical/Mental Disability, if any

97. This question is a sensitive one and should be canvassed without offending the feelings of the respondent. The purpose of this question is to elicit the information of whether the respondent has any physical/mental disability. If he/she has no such disability put (0) in the two sub-columns. The five types of disabilities identified for census purpose are given below:

97.1 In Seeing: A person who cannot see at all (has no perception of light) or has blurred vision even with the help of glasses or contact lenses will be considered as having disability in "Seeing" or visually disabled, and Code 1 will be entered under this question. A person with proper vision only in one eye will also be treated as visually disabled. You may come across a situation where a person may have blurred vision and had no occasion to test whether his/her eye-sight would improve by using spectacles. Such persons would be treated as visually disabled.

97.2 In Speech: A person will be recorded as having speech disability if he/she is mute. Similarly, for a person whose speech is not understood by a listener of normal comprehension and hearing, he/she will be treated as having speech disability and Code 2 will be entered. Persons who stammer but whose speech is comprehensible will not be classified as disabled by speech.

97.3 In Hearing: A person who cannot hear at all (deaf) or can hear only loud sounds will be considered as having hearing disability and in such cases Code 3 will be entered. A person who is able to hear, using a hearing aid will not be considered as disabled under this category. If a person cannot hear through one ear but his/her other ear is functioning normally, he/she should be considered as having hearing disability.

97.4 In Movement: A person who lacks limbs or is unable to use the limbs normally will be considered having movement disability and Code 4 will be entered here. Absence of a part of a limb like a finger or a toe will not be considered as disability. However, absence of all the fingers or toes or a thumb will make a person disabled by movement. If any part of the body is deformed, the person will also be treated as disabled and covered under this category. A person who cannot move herself/himself or without the aid of another person or without the aid of a stick, wheelchair, etc., will be treated as disabled under this category. Similarly, a person would be

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treated as disabled in movement if he/she is unable to move or lift or pick up any small article placed near him/her. A person who may not be able to move normally because of problems of joints like arthritis, and has to invariably limp while moving, will also be considered to have movement disability.

97.5 Mental: A person who lacks comprehension appropriate to his/her age will be considered as mentally disabled. This would not mean that if a person is not able to comprehend his/her studies appropriate to his/her age and is failing his/her quality examination is mentally disabled. Mentally retarded and insane persons would be treated as mentally disabled. A mentally disabled person may generally depend on his/her family members for performing daily routines. It should be left to the respondent to report whether the member of the household is mentally disabled and no tests are required to be applied by you to judge the member's disability.

97.6 If a person is disabled, enter only one of the five disabilities for that person, in codes, as given below:

1: In Seeing
2: In Speech
3: In Hearing
4: In Movement
5: Mental


97.7 Please note that a person may have two or more types of disability but only one of these is to be recorded. In such cases you will have to leave it to the respondent to decide as to the type of disability he/she wants the member of his/her household to be classified into. The disability of a person will be decided with reference to the date of enumeration. Persons with temporary disability on the date of enumeration will not be considered as disabled. For example, when a person's movement may have been restricted because of some temporary injury and he/she is likely to return to his normal state after sometime, such a person will not be treated as disabled.

97.8 The code has to be given in Column 15 (a) "Since birth" if the person has the disability from his/her birth. In other words, he/she was born with this disability. If the person got this disability after birth enter the disability code in Column 15 (b) "After birth".