Questions have been raised by disability activists about whether the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, which is more in the form of a social welfare legislation, is adequate to guarantee people with disabilities equal rights for participation in society as fully equal citizens. This question becomes important in the light of the recent United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which India has signed and ratified. This paper discusses two major aspects of the un Disabilities Convention: first, the intermingling of positive and negative obligations, and, second, the introduction of the social model of disability. It examines the manner in which the international treaty obligations have been borrowed and relied upon by Indian courts. It also emphasises the important concepts, which can be borrowed from the un Convention in order to strengthen disability law in India.
