Why India’s 2026 Census could be a turning point for disability rights

In April 2026, India will conduct its long-overdue national Census — 14 years after the last one.

And for the first time ever, the Census will recognise all 21 categories of disabilities listed under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016.

A history of invisibility

When the last Census was held in 2011, the government only acknowledged 8 types of disabilities. As a result, millions of disabled people across India were effectively excluded from the official record.

And when you're not counted, you’re not planned for.

India has consistently maintained that only 2.2% of its population is disabled. But global estimates by the WHO and UN agencies suggest that closer to 16% of the world’s population lives with a disability.

The gap is massive. And it’s not just statistical — it's political, social, and deeply personal.

Why is our official number so low? The reasons are many:

– A limited definition of disability

– Social stigma and fear of disclosure

– Lack of awareness around invisible and intellectual disabilities

– The sheer inaccessibility of self-reporting tools, especially in rural areas

But the biggest reason? We haven’t designed systems that actually want to know the truth.

Why data matters

Over the last four years, we – Aditi & Aalap – have travelled across the country attending disability conclaves, public policy events, the Purple Fest in Goa, and countless inclusion panels.

At nearly every event, one word echoes louder than the rest: data.

Advocates, government officials, and corporate partners all agree — without accurate data, there can be no meaningful development.

When a community isn’t counted, it becomes easier to exclude them from policies, budgets, infrastructure, and everything else that defines full citizenship.

The private sector knows this well.

Corporations spend billions collecting data to determine what to make, how much to make, where to sell it, and to whom. When that kind of basic insight is missing for millions of disabled people in India, how can anything — access, employment schemes, therapy programs, public toilets — ever be built at scale?

Right now, the entire ecosystem runs on donations and goodwill. While that generosity deserves recognition, it’s simply not enough to sustain livelihoods for a population this size.

What we need is structured, state-supported, and scalable change — and that begins with knowing who we’re building for.

What’s changing in 2026

Here’s what’s new and significant about the 2026 Census:

• All 21 disabilities listed under the RPwD Act will be officially recognised

  
  

• Indian Sign Language (ISL) will be used as an official mode of communication during the Census

  
  

• Census Question No. 9 has been updated to be more inclusive of varied disabilities

  
  

• Government and NGO-led awareness drives will focus on increasing self-reporting and community-level participation

  
  

It still won’t be perfect.

Many disabilities like Bipolar disorder, ADHD, endometriosis, Fibromyalgia, Long COVID, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/ CFS), Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Lupus/ Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), among others remain outside the RPwD Act. And invisible disabilities continue to be misunderstood.

But it’s a start — a start that means today’s children with disabilities won’t have to grow up hearing the dehumanising ‘R-word’.

Until 2016, India’s official language for classifying intellectual disabilities included the term “mental retardation.”

This language wasn’t just outdated — it was deeply hurtful, rooted in colonial and medicalised frameworks that stripped people of dignity and personhood.

The RPwD Act of 2016 finally replaced this with more respectful and rights-based terminology: “intellectual disability” and “specific learning disabilities.”

This change wasn’t just symbolic. It set a new tone for how institutions — schools, hospitals, census departments — describe and relate to disabled people.

What this means for the next generation is powerful: children and families will no longer have to see that slur stamped on their identity papers, school records, or government forms. They won’t have to carry the burden of a word that for decades has been used to insult, isolate, and diminish.

More than numbers

At the end of the day, this is about people. It’s about the right to be seen and heard in the story of a nation.

Because how do you plan for a country when you don’t even know who lives in it?

The 2026 Census is our chance to change that. It’s an opportunity to give India’s disabled population something they’ve long been denied — not just visibility, but value.

Once we have the numbers, the picture will become harder to ignore. Budgets can be argued for. Laws can be passed. Cities can be designed. Lives can be improved.

Data is not the end goal. But it’s where the work begins.

And it’s high time India got to work.