India, Aug. 6 -- Ten years after the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD)Act, 2016, India has reason to acknowledge progress, but not yet to celebrate completion.

The Act marked a decisive shift from welfare to rights. It replaced the 1995 law, expanded recognised disabilities from seven to 21 categories, introduced the language of dignity, equality, non-discrimination, reasonable accommodation, accessibility, inclusive education, social security, and participation, and mandated reservations in education and government employment for persons with benchmark disabilities.

Its greatest achievement is conceptual. It gave disabled people a stronger legal vocabulary to assert that exclusion is not charity denied, but rights violated. Th...