{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,27]],"date-time":"2026-08-27T15:23:01Z","timestamp":1787844181493,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,1]],"date-time":"2026-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767225600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["lww.com","ovid.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>\n                    A\n                    <jats:sc>BSTRACT<\/jats:sc>\n                  <\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Visual disability leads to functional impairment and limits an individual\u2019s activities of daily living, causing emotional, social, and economic hardship. The visual disability certificate issued by the Government of India is an important document through which social security services for persons with disability (PwDs) can be provided seamlessly. It ensures equal opportunities for PwDs and their full participation in nation building. New guidelines were formulated via \u201cThe Gazette of India,\u201d dated January 4, 2018 for disability certification. The purpose of the current review is to highlight the modifications in the 2018 and 2024 guidelines and compare the newer rules with those promulgated in 2001. The important changes in disability certification guidelines are increase in the number of disabilities from 7 to 21, increase in the visual disability categories from 6 to 10 and changes in the definition of blindness and low vision. The criteria for benchmark disability has been kept the same as 40%. The various benefits of having disability certificates are reservation of seats in government jobs for PwDs, right to free education for those aged 6\u201318 years, upper age relaxation of 5 years for admission in school and 10 years for government jobs, scholarships under various schemes, assistive devices under various schemes, free travel on buses, 50% concessions on air fare for blind, 75% concession for blind and their escort in Indian railways, income tax concessions, bank loans at 1% interest and so on. There is an urgent need to educate PwDs about these multiple social security benefits that they can avail based on a certificate of benchmark disability.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4103\/jfmpc.jfmpc_1923_24","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,6]],"date-time":"2026-02-06T10:00:15Z","timestamp":1770372015000},"page":"8-15","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1097\/lww.0000000000001000","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Newer disability certification guidelines for persons with visual disabilities in India: A review"],"prefix":"10.4103","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Souvik","family":"Manna","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Community Medicine, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Alwar, Rajasthan, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Praveen","family":"Vashist","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Community Ophthalmology, AIIMS, New Delhi, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sumit","family":"Grover","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, AIIMS, New Delhi, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amit","family":"Bhardwaj","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical Social Service Officer, Department of Community Ophthalmology, AIIMS, New Delhi, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"276","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"R2-20260206","first-page":"325","year":"2021","journal-title":"Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) in India-A Statistical Profile"},{"key":"R3-20260206","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"50","DOI":"10.47276\/lr.79.1.50","article-title":"Approaches and tools for measuring disability in low and middle-income countries","volume":"79","author":"Van Brakel","year":"2008","journal-title":"Lepr Rev"},{"key":"R4-20260206","first-page":"1","article-title":"United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)","year":"2016","journal-title":"UNDESA"},{"key":"R5-20260206","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1097\/00004356-200506000-00001","article-title":"The implementation of the international classification of functioning, disability and health in Germany: Experiences and problems","volume":"28","author":"Schuntermann","year":"2005","journal-title":"Int J Rehabil Res"},{"key":"R6-20260206","year":"2018","journal-title":"UN Disability and Development Report \u2013Realizing the SDGs by, for and with Persons with Disabilities"},{"key":"R7-20260206","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e489","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(20)30488-5","article-title":"The lancet global health commission on global eye health: Vision beyond 2020","volume":"9","author":"Burton","year":"2021","journal-title":"Lancet Glob Health"},{"key":"R8-20260206","first-page":"1","year":"2022","journal-title":"List of Approved Institutions (2022)"},{"key":"R9-20260206","first-page":"25","article-title":"The Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Act, 1995","year":"1995"},{"key":"R10-20260206","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.4103\/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_75_17","article-title":"The rights of persons with disabilities act, 2016: Does it address the needs of the persons with mental illness and their families","volume":"59","author":"Narayan","year":"2017","journal-title":"Indian J Psychiatry"},{"key":"R11-20260206","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"92","DOI":"10.4103\/ijo.IJO_869_16","article-title":"Definition of blindness under National programme for control of blindness: Do we need to revise it?","volume":"65","author":"Vashist","year":"2017","journal-title":"Indian J Ophthalmol"},{"key":"R12-20260206","year":"2018","journal-title":"Guidelines for Evaluation and Procedure for Certification of Various Specified Disabilities"},{"key":"R13-20260206","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"359","DOI":"10.1097\/ICO.0000000000000408","article-title":"Global consensus on keratoconus and ectatic diseases","volume":"34","author":"Gomes","year":"2015","journal-title":"Cornea"},{"key":"R14-20260206","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"65","DOI":"10.4236\/ojoph.2015.52011","article-title":"The corneal endothelium in children after congenital cataract surgery\u2014A comparison of pre- and post-operative results","volume":"5","author":"Porwik","year":"2015","journal-title":"Open J Ophthalmol"},{"key":"R15-20260206","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e855","DOI":"10.1097\/IJG.0000000000000471","article-title":"Corneal haze as prognostic indicator of intraocular pressure in primary congenital glaucoma","volume":"25","author":"Li","year":"2016","journal-title":"J Glaucoma"},{"key":"R16-20260206","first-page":"1","article-title":"Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. The Gazette of India","year":"2016"},{"key":"R17-20260206","first-page":"1","year":"2022","journal-title":"Setting Up of District Disability Rehabilitation Centres"},{"key":"R22-20260206","first-page":"1","year":"2022","journal-title":"List of Different Categories of Persons Granted Concession on Indian Railways"},{"key":"R24-20260206","first-page":"1","author":"Vashist","year":"2019","journal-title":"National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey, 2015-19: A Summary Report"},{"key":"R25-20260206","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0271736","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0271736","article-title":"Blindness and visual impairment and their causes in India: Results of a nationally representative survey","volume":"17","author":"Vashist","year":"2022","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"R26-20260206","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0159809","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0159809","article-title":"Disability divides in India: Evidence from the 2011 census","volume":"11","author":"Saikia","year":"2016","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"R27-20260206","first-page":"43","article-title":"Disability certificates in India: A challenge to health privacy","volume":"9","author":"Mishra","year":"2012","journal-title":"Indian J Med Ethics"},{"key":"R28-20260206","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3948","DOI":"10.4103\/jfmpc.jfmpc_961_21","article-title":"Digitization of disability certification using technology to curtail infringement of dignity","volume":"10","author":"Vasudeva","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Family Med Prim Care"},{"key":"R29-20260206","first-page":"301","article-title":"Visual field assessment in glaucoma: Comparative evaluation of manual kinetic Goldmann perimetry and automated static perimetry","volume":"48","author":"Agarwal","year":"2000","journal-title":"Indian J Ophthalmol"}],"container-title":["Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ovid.com\/10.4103\/jfmpc.jfmpc_1923_24","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,27]],"date-time":"2026-08-27T15:12:57Z","timestamp":1787843577000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ovid.com\/10.4103\/jfmpc.jfmpc_1923_24"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"references-count":23,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4103\/jfmpc.jfmpc_1923_24","relation":{},"ISSN":["2249-4863","2278-7135"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2249-4863","type":"print"},{"value":"2278-7135","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2024-11-25","name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2025-06-20","name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}