“We are nine siblings, and among us four—two sisters and two brothers—are visually impaired. My father is a government school teacher, and our entire household depends on his salary. We have tried our best to get treatment for my siblings within our limited means, traveling to Sadiqabad, Jacobabad, Quetta, and Karachi. We visited the Aga Khan Hospital Karachi. The treatment was expensive; they charged Rs 50,000 for just one blood test. After that, we could not continue their treatment because a government teacher’s salary is simply not enough to afford such costs.
Two of my brothers are also studying in Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, and paying their fees is a huge challenge for us because we have no other source of income. My sisters have reached the age of marriage, but due to their disability, they have not received any proposals.
I requested government letters for assistance from several influential political figures and some officials, but none of them responded.”
This story was told by Zafar Bugti. Zafar’s youth was spent advocating for treatment for his four disabled siblings.
His family is one among many facing financial challenges exacerbated by disabilities.
Abdul Ghaffar Kalper Bugti is another disabled person in Dera Bugti. He has struggled to secure equal rights for the last two decades. Two years ago, he made an organisation for people like himself, named Sahara Welfare Society.
He says, “when I opened my eyes and looked into my surroundings, I felt a slight change in the eyes of the people — like they were not treating me the same as other children. The children did not include me in their team. When I came as the last player, then they did a toss and took me. The only proper love I received was from my mother. She washed my clothes when they got dirty because of my dragging, as I could not walk properly. But I never stopped. I gathered people like me and told them, if we are not accepted properly in this society, why don’t we ask the government to make schools for us and to arrange income sources? Why don’t we ask the government for toilets and transport?”
The Sahara Welfare Society has 667 registered disabled persons from Dera Bugti alone. Bugti said that the 30,000-plus disabled people are to be found all over Balochistan.
“We the disabled people of Dera Bugti have been protesting for eight months. No government official properly addressed our issues. Their silence proves that disabled persons hold no status in the eyes of the powerful,” he says, echoing their views.
Furthermore, he says:
“In our district where the government recently filled 2,000 jobs and major gas companies hired hundreds more, not a single disabled person was employed. There exist institutions meant for relief like the Bait-ul-Mal. But we disabled people remain deprived of wheelchairs, financial aid, and basic support. No gas company or government department has established a single disability centre in Dera Bugti. No education, no medical treatment, no artificial limbs, no assistive devices, and no social protection facilities. Meanwhile, the Social Welfare Department in the district remains entirely non-functional, with policies limited to paperwork and budgets lost to corruption and weak implementation.”
This reflects patterns affecting millions of families across Pakistan. As Pakistan observed the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3, 2025, the country’s disability legislation—while progressive on paper—remains inadequately implemented. Pakistan has drafted commendable laws, made international commitments, and launched pilot programs, yet 6.4 million people within Pakistan remain systematically excluded from the very society that claims to protect them at the state level and in society level. The statistics tell a sobering story. According to Pakistan’s last Census, 3.1 percent of the population report a disability, while 9.6 percent experience functional limitations (People with Disabilities Network, Pakistan; Disability Rights Bulletin). The crisis is not statistical; it is structural.
If society is designed without disabled persons in mind, then disability becomes oppression. If barriers are eliminated, then disability becomes simply another aspect of human diversity
The country ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2011 (People with Disabilities Network, Pakistan). The ICT Rights of Persons with Disability Act (2020) was passed with fanfare, and similar legislation has followed in Balochistan (2017), Sindh (2018), and Punjab (2022) (OHCHR.org). The Government recently announced initiatives to digitalise disability certification and implement a 2 percent employment quota across federal departments (Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Human Rights announcement 2024-2025).
Yet implementation remains glacial. The disability certificate process, despite digitalisation announcements, remains cumbersome. The system is entirely manual and limited in scope to simple issuance of certificates. Persons with disabilities must navigate multiple departments, face repeated medical assessments, and endure months of delays—all to access benefits they already have a constitutional right to receive. While the government claims to implement the 2 percent quota, the ground reality is alarming. The quota has not been extended to BPS-16 and above positions, meaning persons with disabilities are systematically excluded from senior roles and decision-making levels.
Education
Pakistan’s special education infrastructure remains critically limited, with approximately 300-400 documented institutions. Research reveals that 22.71 percent of children with moderate to severe disabilities in Pakistan are out of school entirely (People with Disabilities Network, Pakistan). Among those who do attend, many are segregated in special institutions rather than mainstreamed with their peers.
Teachers lack training. Schools lack accessible infrastructure—ramps, tactile paths, accessible washrooms, and elevators with audio-visual indicators are mostly not available. The curriculum remains rigid and exclusionary.
Healthcare
Pakistan's health system suffers from structural barriers: inaccessible buildings, untrained healthcare workers who lack understanding of disability, financial barriers that exclude the poor, and inadequate assistive device provision.
Employment
The disability employment rate in Pakistan stands at approximately 29-37 percent, far below the non-disabled population. Balochistan records the lowest employment rates among persons with disabilities, reflecting both regional economic challenges and institutional neglect.
The government must: enforce the minimum 2 percent quota strictly, extending it to all BPS levels and senior positions; provide tax incentives to private companies hiring disabled workers; create vocational training centres tailored to different disabilities; and promote remote work and digital opportunities for them.
Social Protection: The disability allowance in Pakistan remains inadequate—ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 rupees monthly (Finance Division Circular, July 2023 and July 2025). This is insufficient for basic dignity, let alone for assistive devices, therapies, or transportation. Global benchmarks suggest disability stipends should range from 15,000 to 20,000 rupees monthly, with free or subsidised health insurance included. Pakistan's allocations remain a fraction of this.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal is meant to provide relief, but it is limited. The solution requires not merely increased allocations but transparent governance. Every rupee spent on disability support must be audited, accounted for, and verified through consultation with disabled persons organisations (DPOs).
Accessibility
“Words Without Walkways.” Pakistan adopted an Accessibility Code in 2006. Yet when we walk through main cities of Pakistan like Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, or Quetta, the reality becomes clear: most buildings remain inaccessible. Ramps are rare or broken. Tactile paths do not exist. Accessible washrooms are luxuries. Public transport remains hostile to wheelchair users.
The government must enforce the Accessibility Code through penalties and mandatory retrofitting timelines. They need to retrofit all government buildings, universities, hospitals, and markets within three years. Ensure all new construction conforms to universal accessibility standards and transform public transportation with low-floor buses and priority seating.
Representation
The UNCRPD principle—“Nothing About Us Without Us”—demands that policies affecting persons with disabilities be created with their meaningful participation, not for them. Currently, disabled persons remain marginalised in decision-making bodies. The Council on Rights of Persons with Disabilities includes representation, but this must extend to all policy forums even in the provincial assemblies.
The government also needs to mandate representation of persons with disabilities in all policy-making bodies; establish independent Disability Commissions with enforcement authority; conduct regular consultations with DPOs before implementing policies; and hold officials accountable for policy failures affecting disability inclusion.
The Certification Crisis
Recent announcements about digitalisation through the "Disability Person Management Information System" (DPMIS) offer hope. However, digitalisation must mean accessibility for all, not just those with internet access or technical literacy. Digitalisation should include: one-stop online application and tracking systems; integration with NADRA for seamless verification; real-time processing; elimination of repeated medical assessments; and automatic renewal without requiring individuals to re-apply annually.
For those without digital access, parallel manual processes must remain available.
The government needs to:
- Form a high-level task force on disability rights implementation.
- Set timelines for disability certificate digitalisation across all provinces.
- Audit the 2 percent employment quota implementation and identify gaps.
- Launch a transparency mechanism for Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal disability fund allocation.
- Extend the 2 percent quota to all BPS levels and senior positions.
- Begin retrofitting all government buildings for accessibility.
- Establish specialised disability wings in all major hospitals.
- Increase disability stipends to a minimum of 25,000 rupees monthly and launch nationwide anti-stigma campaigns.
- Make inclusive education mandatory in mainstream schools.
- Transform public transportation systems for accessibility.
- Establish an independent Disability Commission with enforcement authority.
- Conduct a comprehensive national disability census using WHO standards.
- Create vocational training for persons with disabilities.
Being a disabled person is not only a personal tragedy; it is a manifestation of how society is structured. If society is designed without disabled persons in mind, then disability becomes oppression. If barriers—physical, institutional, social—are eliminated, then disability becomes simply another aspect of human diversity. Pakistan's laws are adequate. Its resources exist. What remains lacking is political will and moral courage. This December 3, the government must decide: Will it continue the endless consultations without implementation while millions suffer? Or will it finally honour the commitments made to millions of its own citizens?
Disability rights are not special rights. They are human rights. They are constitutional rights.