Published Paper Details:

Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering the systems through which disability is identified, accommodated, treated and governed. It powers screen readers, speech recognition, alternative communication, navigation, rehabilitation and personalised learning. At the same time, it is increasingly used to screen job applicants, monitor workers, assess students, prioritise patients and determine access to public benefits. So necessarily the legal question is not whether AI is beneficial or harmful, but whether AI helps in addressing the issues of disabled community and convert disability into a condition that has to be managed by institutions. Using India as the principal jurisdiction, the article examines the Constitution, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 and leading disability-rights judgments. It draws comparative lessons from the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act and the United States disability-discrimination framework. A detailed attention is provided to employment because algorithmic hiring and workplace surveillance expose the central tension between efficiency and reasonable accommodation. It concludes that India needs a disability-centred AI governance framework built around participatory design, accessibility, impact assessment, data minimisation, meaningful human review, vendor accountability and effective remedies. AI should assist a person in exercising choices; it should not silently decide which persons are worthy of opportunity, care or public support.