# Disability Assessment Guidelines > Disability assessment guidelines for NEET-PG PSM: RPwD Act 2016, 21 disabilities, 40% benchmark, 2018 certification rules and IQ percentage bands. - Canonical URL: https://prepelephant.com/topics/neet-pg/community-medicine/disability-assessment-guidelines - Exam / course: NEET-PG · Subject: Community Medicine - Publisher: PrepElephant (https://prepelephant.com) — Prepared and reviewed by the PrepElephant Academic Review Team - First published: 2026-10-02 - Last updated: 2026-10-02 - How to cite: "Disability Assessment Guidelines", PrepElephant, https://prepelephant.com/topics/neet-pg/community-medicine/disability-assessment-guidelines ## Direct answer "Benchmark disability" is the phrase that unlocks every entitlement: under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 — in force from April 2017, replacing the 1995 Act — a person with a specified disability certified at 40% or more becomes eligible for reservation (4% in government posts, 5% in higher education), free education between 6 and 18 years, and scheme benefits. The Act recognises 21 specified disabilities (up from 7 in the 1995 Act), including intellectual disability, autism, thalassaemia, haemophilia, acid-attack victims and Parkinson's disease. Assessment follows the Guidelines for Evaluation of Specified Disabilities notified in 2018, which prescribe the test, the tool and the percentage formula for each condition — for intellectual disability, IQ bands map to certification percentages (mild, IQ 50-69, commonly certified at 50%; moderate 35-49 at 75%; severe 20-34 at 90%; profound below 20 at 100%). Certification is issued by a medical board or designated medical authority using the standard format, with permanent disabilities certified as lifelong and variable conditions flagged for review. ## What you must remember - **Legal spine:** RPwD Act 2016 (force 19 April 2017), replacing the Persons with Disabilities Act 1995. - **21 specified disabilities:** the 1995 list of 7 expanded to 21 — adding intellectual disability, autism, specific learning disability, acid-attack victims, Parkinson's, thalassaemia, haemophilia and others. - **Benchmark disability:** 40% or more, certified by the competent authority — the single number the chapter hangs on. - **2018 guidelines:** the notified evaluation guidelines give each disability its objective test and percentage — intellectual disability by IQ and adaptive behaviour (mild 50-69, moderate 35-49, severe 20-34, profound below 20); blindness by presenting visual acuity below 3/60 or visual field under 10 degrees. - **Reservation entitlements:** 4% in government employment (identified posts) and 5% in government higher-education institutions for benchmark-disability candidates. - **Other entitlements:** free education 6-18 years in neighbourhood or special schools, legal capacity with reasonable accommodation, non-discrimination mandates. - **Certification machinery:** medical board or notified medical authority with condition-relevant specialists; certificates lifelong for permanent conditions, reviewable for variable ones. - **Institutional ecosystem:** Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat, 3 December 2015) for built environment, transport and ICT; ADIP scheme for assistive devices; chief and state commissioners. ## How a percentage is fixed: the certification pathway A seven-year-old's school flags learning difficulty; the district medical board's clinical psychologist administers an IQ test (an Indian-adapted scale such as Malin's) and assesses adaptive behaviour. IQ 42 with significant adaptive impairment places the child in the moderate band; per the 2018 guidelines the certificate states intellectual disability, moderate, 75%. The guidelines build in review during developmental years, so the board may call the child back. With that certificate the family unlocks the entitlement stack: reservation norms, free education, travel concessions, ADIP aids, and state disability pension eligibility. A man with best-corrected acuity below 3/60 in the better eye qualifies as blind; low-vision grading runs from 40% for milder impairment to 100% for no light perception, with field loss under 10 degrees certified at the blindness end. Haemophilia is graded on bleeding frequency and factor levels; acid-attack victims on facial and functional involvement. The design principle examiners want named: percentage certification converts a clinical diagnosis into an administrative key, so the guidelines pursue objective, repeatable criteria rather than descriptive labels. Two safeguards follow — certification at the nearby district board, and appeal through the designated authority hierarchy. ## The 40 per cent line Numbers: 2016 Act in force 2017, 21 disabilities, 40% benchmark, 4% job and 5% education reservation, the 1995 Act's 7 disabilities as contrast. Definitions: blindness at presenting visual acuity below 3/60 or field under 10 degrees; intellectual disability bands by IQ (50-69 mild, 35-49 moderate, 20-34 severe, below 20 profound) with their commonly quoted certification percentages of 50, 75, 90 and 100. Concept traps: "disability" versus "benchmark disability" (40% or more) — stems swap them; certification is by medical board, not any single treating doctor; and the guidelines are 2018, the Act 2016. Current-affairs hooks: Accessible India Campaign from 3 December 2015, and the RPwD Act's rights-based shift from the 1995 welfare model. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is benchmark disability under the RPwD Act 2016? A specified disability certified at 40% or more by the competent medical authority — the threshold unlocking reservation, free education and welfare entitlements. ### How many specified disabilities does the 2016 Act recognise and what did it add? Twenty-one, up from seven in the 1995 Act, adding intellectual disability, autism, specific learning disability, acid-attack victims, thalassaemia, haemophilia and Parkinson's disease among others. ### How is intellectual disability percentage certified per the 2018 guidelines? By IQ band with adaptive-behaviour assessment — mild (IQ 50-69) commonly 50%, moderate (35-49) 75%, severe (20-34) 90% and profound (below 20) 100%, issued by a medical board. ### What reservations flow from benchmark disability certification? Four per cent in identified government posts and five per cent in government higher-education institutions, alongside free education from 6 to 18 years. ### Who certifies disability and for how long is a certificate valid? A medical board or notified medical authority with condition-relevant specialists; permanent disabilities are certified lifelong, while variable conditions and childhood intellectual disability carry review intervals.