Access to training and employment is a “sine qua non” condition for the socio-economic integration of person with disabilities. Training and employment are an important means to promote the dignity, independence and self reliance of persons with disabilities.

Conscious of this fact, Government enacted the Training and Employment of Disabled Persons Act in 1996 to enhance the training and employment opportunities for person with disabilities.

It is under this Act that the Training and Employment of Disabled Person Board has been set up and its main objective is to provide training to persons with disabilities and assist them in finding suitable employment. The Act also provides for the workforce of all employers having 35 or more ​employees to include 3% of persons with disabilities. To reinforce the legislation on employment of persons with disabilities, the Training and Employment of Disabled Persons Board (TEDPB) Act was amended in 2012.

With the enactment of the TEDPB (Amendment) Act, the Training and Employment of Disabled Persons Act, 1996 was amended with a view to:
(i) align its provisions with the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities;
(ii) make better provision for the promotion of the access of person with disabilities to employment;
(iii) give more clout to the Training and Employment of Disabled Person Board to facilitate the integration of person with disabilities in the world of work; and
(iv) to set up a mechanism (the Hearing Committee) for the effective enforcement of the legislation relating to the recruitment by employers of 3% of person with disabilities.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities (UNCRPD) has brought an important paradigm shift. Today, access to training and employment is a matter of rights, not a question of charity. Emphasis is not on the disability of the person but on skills, competencies ​and abilities of persons with disabilities. They too have their contribution to make to society.