New Delhi, India — The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in India has recently issued an order that exempts government personnel with children on the autism spectrum from routine transfers mandated by the Indian government. The order was released following requests by its employees who care for children with autism to exempt them from the mandate.
According to the DoPT:
“This demand has been made on the ground that a government employee raises a kind of support system for his or her disabled child over a period of time in the locality where he or she resides which helps them in the rehabilitation.”
A pre-existing exemption has already been in effect for employees who are parents to children with disabilities.
The DoPT further added that due to the fact that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder need constant caregiver support it is of importance that government employees are able to take care of their child on a continuous basis, and has therefore included ‘Autism’ in the term ‘disabled’.
“Upbringing and rehabilitation of disabled child requires financial support. Making the government employee to choose voluntary retirement on the pretext of routine transfer or rotation transfer would have adverse impact on the rehabilitation process of the child.”
“Therefore, a government servant who is also a caregiver of disabled child may be exempted from the routine exercise of transfer or rotational transfer subject to the administrative constraints.”
The original article on The Economic Times can be found here
Contributed by Althea Estrella Violeta