Key facts
- Experts demand a National Assistive Technology Policy for India
- Millions of Indians with disabilities lack access to assistive tools
- Current landscape marked by high costs and lack of domestic manufacturing
- Policy would drive standardisation, affordability, and public access
India urgently needs a National Assistive Technology Policy, experts have said, drawing attention to a critical gap in the country's approach to digital inclusion and disability rights. Without a dedicated policy framework, they argue, millions of Indians with visual, hearing, mobility, and cognitive impairments are being systematically excluded from the benefits of the country's rapid technological advancement.
Assistive technologies encompass a wide range of products and services — from screen-reading software and captioning tools for the visually and hearing impaired, to powered wheelchairs, prosthetics, and augmentative communication devices. In India, most of these remain either prohibitively expensive, unavailable through public health or education systems, or simply not manufactured domestically at scale. The result is that access is largely limited to those who can afford to import or privately purchase such devices.
Experts are pushing for a policy that would bring together standards, subsidies, domestic production incentives, and public procurement mandates to fundamentally change this equation. India has taken significant strides in digital infrastructure, but accessibility has lagged behind — a gap that a national framework could begin to address by embedding assistive technology requirements into government digital services, schools, and healthcare.
The call is timely given India's broader push toward a digitally inclusive economy and the obligations it has undertaken under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act. A formal national policy would signal that accessibility is not an afterthought but a core pillar of the country's technology ambitions.