Abstract:
Many activities have been taking place in promoting the living standard of
differently able persons all over the world. It has been widely accepted that the
differently able persons should be treated with fair and dignity as with others in
the society. When describing the activities related to persons with disabilities, the
WHO in 1980, has adopted an international classification of the terms
“Impairment”, “Disability”, and “Handicap”. Impairment is any loss or
abnormality physiological or anatomical structure or function. It can be
temporary or permanent. A disability is any restriction or lack of ability to
perform an activity within the range considered normal for a human being. This
may also be temporary or permanent. Further, handicap results from impairment
or a disability and limits or prevents the fulfillment of a function that is
considered normal for human beings. The standard of living in different countries
is frequently compared based on annual per capita income and on an individual
level; the standard of living is a measure of the quality of life in such areas as
housing, food, education, clothing, transportation and employment opportunities.
It is the easy by which people living in a time or place are able to satisfy their
wants. Palamunai and Oluvil in the Addalaichenai Divisional Secretariat
division were selected as the sample location for this research. The area is mostly
populated with Tamil speaking Muslims. The survey and interview were used as
the technique to collect the data. The total population in the above division is
43,499 and 9,236 in Palamunai and 8,590 in Oluvil respectively. The total
differently able persons are 1.1% of total population in Palamunai and 1.6% of
total population in Oluvil as in 2008. Out of these differently able persons, 24%
of legs impairment, 20% of hands impairment, 13% of vision impairment, and
other 43% of other impairments in Oluvil and 27% of legs impairment, 9% of
Journal of Social Review
Volume 5 (1)
June 2018
Department of
Social Sciences
hands impairment, 8% of vision impairment, and other 56% of other impairment
in Palamunai. These people undergo severe hardships in meeting their living
means and their main livelihood are sewing (4%), poultry farming (8%), fishing
(5%), weaving mats (5%) small business (20%) and begging (5%). Moreover,
most of them depend on others (53%). Further, this research identified various
problems faced by the differently able persons in the above division and
appropriate recommendations for promoting the living standard of the same have
been proposed. This would in turn help the Government, INGOs, Politicians, and
well wishers to find appropriated strategies to promote their living standards.
