cover pros - IGNOU

3. NATIONAL CENTRE FOR DISABILITY STUDIES
(NCDS)
Disability is a perennial global phenomenon. More than 600 million population in the world are
affected by physical, mental or sensory impairments. More than 400 million persons with disabilities
are concentrated in rural and inaccessible parts of developing countries like India, amidst appalling
poverty, isolation and frustration. If this projection is accepted as a yardstick to ascertain the
quantum of persons incapacitated by various disabling situations in our country, the problem
seems, to be of colossal magnitude. Over 100 million are conservatively projected to have been
in the grip of disability in some or other ways.
Numerous persons with disabilities are faced with a vast array of problems and barriers in their
routine lives which include physical, architectural, educational, employment, social adjustment,
discrimination and unhealthy attitude.
Against this background and in order to achieve the goal of universalisation of education and also
higher education (i.e., teaching, training, research, extension and good governance, as specified
by the IGNOU Statute,.), the National Centre for Disability Studies was established to undertake
plethora of academic, research, extension and awareness activities for empowering the persons
with disabilities and create a society that is friendly for them.
Objectives
To offer academic and research programmes through distance mode of learning on
multitudinous aspects of disability with interdisciplinary perspectives;
To develop human and material resources for promotion of teaching and research in Disability
Studies and allied areas;
To facilitate empowerment of the persons with disabilities by promoting capacity- building,
entrepreneurship development and vocational rehabilitation services;
To serve as a repository of official publications and documents of Government of India,
State Governments and other governmental and non-governmental (national, regional and
international) organizations / agencies;
To organize conferences, seminars, symposia and training workshops at national, regional
and international levels on issues of contemporary significance for persons with disabilities
and people who matter to them;
To publish monographs, journals, research studies, teaching and self instructional materials
as well as an Indian encyclopaedia on diverse aspects of Disability.
To promote and co-ordinate the teaching, research and extension programs on Disability in the
universities, national institutes and academic institutions of higher education within India and in
neighbouring SAARC countries.
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