Calling all parents of children with Intellectual and developmental disabilities to Act now !!

Calling all parents of children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities :

Act fast, join the campaign :

Back ground :

National Trust Act came into existence because of the hard struggle put up by the parents of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities under the banner of Parivaar. It was Parivaar  leaders who played a very important role in drafting the National Trust Act and when the National Trust Act was passed by the Parliament at the end of the 20th century, we the parents of persons with these disabilities hailed it as the "Gift of the Millennium".

How was the National Trust Act enacted?

 It was brought in to serve the specific needs of the four disabilities covered by this Act. Hence, in principle it is a “service Act”. It serves the specific needs of these disabilities. Following are the objectives of the NT Act:


to enable and empower persons with (intellectual and developmental disabilities) to live as independently and as fully as possible within and as close to the community to which they belong;


to strengthen facilities to provide support to persons with (these) disability to live within their own families;

to extend support to the registered organizations to provide need based services during period of crisis in the family of persons with (these) disability;

to deal with problems a persons with (these) disability who do not have family support;

to promote measures for the care and protection of persons with (these) disability in the event of death of their parent or guardian;

to evolve procedure for appointment of guardians and trustees for persons with (these) disability requiring such protection;

to facilitate the realization of equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation of persons with (these) disability.

With these laudable objectives the National Trust has been working and during the last decade of its existence it has launched lot of programmes and schemes which has brought much needed relief to persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. But above all the National Trust Act has provided an answer to the most worrying question of the parents “After us What?”

The objectives of National Trust has brought much needed assurance to the parents and families of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities that their children’s future is secure under the provisions of the National Trust Act.

By repealing such an important Act will bring disastrous consequences for the persons with these disabilities, their parents and families.


NT act is basically a service Act providing the services needed by persons with disabilities namely Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and multiple disabilities.

The NT Act is dear to parents because it is the parents' own creation. It is true that the NT Act as it exists today is not perfect. In the changed circumstances it is necessary to revise it and certainly it should be brought in consonance with the provisions of UNCRPD. However, we parents firmly believe that the basic objectives of the NT Act are still very much valid even in these changed circumstances.

The objectives of the National Trust are very much valid even today and it is probably the only disability Act in India which is very progressive and comes very near to the ideals and provisions of the UNCRPD. It is therefore, necessary that the National Trust should be strengthened and its functioning is made more effective.

Repealing such an important Act will bring disastrous consequences for the persons with these disabilities, their parents and families.