Not every person with a disability needs the same level of support. Some individuals can manage daily life with minor accommodations – an accessible ramp, a screen reader, or a sign language interpreter. But for others, the challenges go much deeper. A person with severe cerebral palsy, deafblindness, or profound intellectual disability may require round-the-clock assistance just to eat, communicate, or move safely. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 recognizes this reality. It creates a dedicated legal category – “persons with disabilities having high support needs” – and puts in place a formal process to ensure they receive the intensive support they require. Understanding how this system works is essential for families, caregivers, educators, and disability rights advocates.
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What does “high support needs” mean under the RPwD Act?
Before understanding the process, it helps to be clear on who qualifies. The Act first distinguishes between two layers of disability classification. A “person with disability” is defined broadly as someone with a long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairment that, together with environmental barriers, prevents full and equal participation in society. Within this group, a “person with benchmark disability” is someone certified as having at least 40% of a specified disability – this threshold unlocks most of the Act’s reservations, entitlements, and protections.
The category relevant here is a step further. Section 2(t) of the RPwD Act defines a “person with disability having high support needs” as a person with benchmark disability who needs intensive support – physical, psychological, or otherwise – to carry out daily activities, to make independent and informed decisions, and to access facilities and participate in all areas of life. This is not a separate disability type. It is an acknowledgment that among those already certified with benchmark disability, some individuals need a qualitatively different and far greater level of care and assistance.
Think of a child with deafblindness who cannot communicate without a trained intervenor, or an adult with severe autism who requires constant supervision and cannot manage personal hygiene independently. Both may hold benchmark disability certificates, but their daily support requirements are incomparable to someone with a mild visual impairment. The Act’s high support framework exists precisely for these situations.
The legal basis: section 38 of the RPwD Act
Section 38 is the core provision governing high support for persons with disabilities. It places a statutory obligation on the appropriate government – either Central or State, depending on jurisdiction – to take steps to provide adequate support to persons with benchmark disabilities who require high support. This section works in conjunction with the RPwD Rules, 2017, which spell out the detailed procedures that must be followed – from application to assessment to provision of support. Together, they form the operational backbone of the high support framework.
It is important to note that the concept of “high support” under the RPwD Act 2016 is relatively new. As the NCPEDP-AIF Manual on the RPWD Act notes, concepts like high support, limited guardianship, and support arrangements are still being understood and applied across states, and implementation has been uneven.
Who can apply – and how
The RPwD Rules make the application process inclusive by design. Any person with a benchmark disability who needs high support, or any person or organization acting on their behalf, can apply to the appropriate government authority. This means a family member, a legal guardian, or even a registered disability organization can submit the application if the individual with disability is unable to do so themselves.
There is one key eligibility condition: only persons with benchmark disabilities holding a permanent certificate of disability are eligible to apply for high support. A temporary or provisional disability certificate does not meet this threshold. This requirement ensures that the application is grounded in a formally established and verified disability status before the process of assessing additional support needs begins.
Each State Government or Union Territory Administration is required to notify the authority to whom such applications must be submitted, as prescribed under Section 38(1) of the Act. In practice, this is typically a designated officer at the district level such as the District Social Welfare Officer. The application, once submitted, is then forwarded for a formal assessment.
The role of the assessment board
The heart of the high support determination process is the Assessment Board. State Governments are required to constitute Assessment Boards at the district or division level, depending on the number of persons with benchmark disabilities in the area. These boards are multi-disciplinary in composition and include:
- The District Chief Medical Officer, Civil Surgeon, or Medical Superintendent – who serves as Chairperson
- The District Social Welfare Officer – as Member
- Five rehabilitation specialists, including a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation or Orthopaedic specialist, an ENT specialist, an Ophthalmologist, a General Physician (for adults) or Pediatrician (for applicants below 18), and a Psychiatrist
- An Occupational Therapist and other relevant specialists as needed
This multi-expert structure is deliberate. High support needs are not purely medical – they span mobility, communication, psychology, and social functioning. Having specialists across these domains in a single board allows for a comprehensive, holistic assessment of what kind of support the person genuinely requires.
What does the assessment cover?
The Assessment Board examines the nature and extent of support needed – not just whether the applicant has a disability, but what specific daily activities they cannot perform independently, what kinds of physical or psychological assistance they require, and how intensive that assistance must be. The board evaluates the applicant’s ability to carry out daily activities, make decisions, access services, and participate in social and community life. Based on this, it certifies the nature and degree of high support required.
In Delhi, for instance, the Assessment Board is required to complete its enquiry within 90 days from receiving the referral, and the decision of the Assessment Board is treated as final. The assessment report is then uploaded on the relevant government portal and also maintained in hard copy for record and scrutiny purposes.
From assessment to action: how support is provided
Once the Assessment Board completes its evaluation and certifies the high support need, the responsibility shifts to the competent authority – the government body empowered to act on the assessment. The authority then takes steps to provide the necessary support in accordance with the assessment report. The exact nature and form of support is governed by the norms and schemes notified by the Central or State Government.
Support under this framework can take various forms. The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) oversees several schemes relevant to persons with high support needs. Financial assistance in the form of a caregiver allowance is one direct form of support – states can provide an allowance to persons certified as requiring high support, to help cover the cost of caregivers and other necessary assistance. Educational institutions are also mandated to provide transportation and attendant support to students with high support needs. In the sphere of access to justice, the Act specifically calls for support measures for persons with disabilities who are living outside the family and those requiring high support to exercise their legal rights.
Social security and caregiver support
The financial dimension of high support is addressed in the Act’s social security provisions. The government is expected to design schemes that include a caregiver allowance specifically for those certified with high support needs. The Deendayal Divyangjan Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS), implemented by DEPwD, provides grant-in-aid to NGOs running rehabilitation projects for persons with disabilities, part of which supports individuals requiring intensive ongoing care. Delhi’s Financial Assistance Scheme for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities having High Support Needs is an example of how states have translated the Act’s provisions into a concrete financial support programme for eligible persons and their caregivers.
Why this provision matters
Before the RPwD Act 2016, Indian disability law – primarily the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 – did not formally recognize the concept of high support needs at all. It covered seven categories of disability and took a predominantly welfare-based approach. The RPwD Act 2016 replaced the older law to bring India’s legal framework in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which India ratified in 2007. The UNCRPD explicitly requires state parties to ensure that persons with disabilities receive the support they need to live independently and participate fully in society – a mandate that directly gave rise to the high support provisions in the Act.
The shift is significant because it moves away from a one-size-fits-all model. Not all persons with disabilities have the same needs, and the law now formally acknowledges this. By creating a structured process – application, expert assessment, certification, and provision of support – the Act gives persons with the most complex disabilities a legal entitlement to support, not merely a discretionary benefit. This distinction matters enormously in practice, because an entitlement can be claimed, demanded, and if denied, challenged through appellate mechanisms and courts.
Challenges remain. Implementation of the high support framework is still uneven across states. Assessment Boards have not been constituted uniformly in all districts. Awareness among families – particularly in rural areas – about the right to apply for high support remains low. And the support schemes themselves are still being developed and refined. As legal experts and disability advocates have noted, the RPWD Act is only as good as its implementation – the framework exists, but its full potential is yet to be realized for the millions of persons across India who live with high support needs every day.
What do you think? With Assessment Boards still being constituted unevenly across districts, what can educators, schools, and community organisations do to help families of children with high support needs navigate the process of applying for support under the RPwD Act? And how should the government better measure whether the support provided after certification is actually meeting the individual’s needs on the ground?
References
- https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/15939/1/the_rights_of_persons_with_disabilities_act,_2016.pdf
- https://poshatwork.com/rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-under-rpwd-act-2016/
- https://www.disabilityrightsindia.com/p/the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities_27.html
- https://aif.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Manual-RPWD-Act-2016.pdf
- https://deafblindness.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/A-Z-of-RPWD-Act-2016-English.pdf
- https://www.indiangovtscheme.com/financial-assistance-scheme-for-persons-with-benchmark-disabilities-having-high-support-needs/
- https://depwd.gov.in/en/acts/
- https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2082717
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6482682/
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