Recognition of Special Needs

A third principle of justice recognised by a society is that it should take into account the special needs of people while distributing rewards or duties — this too is considered a way of promoting social justice. In terms of their basic status and rights as members of society, justice may require that people be treated equally. But even non-discrimination between people, and rewarding them proportionately for their efforts, might not be enough to ensure that everyone genuinely enjoys equality in other aspects of their lives in society, nor that society as a whole is just. The principle of taking account of the special needs of people does not necessarily contradict the principle of equal treatment — rather, it extends it, because the principle of treating equals equally can itself imply that people who are not equal in certain important respects should, precisely for the sake of real equality, be treated somewhat differently.

People with special needs or disabilities could be considered unequal in some particular respect and therefore deserving of special help — though it is not always easy to reach agreement on exactly which inequalities among people should be recognised as grounds for such special treatment. Physical disabilities, age, or lack of access to good education or health care are among the factors considered grounds for special treatment in many countries. It is believed that if people who enjoy very different standards of living and opportunities are treated equally in all respects with those who have been deprived of even the basic minimum needed to live a healthy and productive life, the result is likely to be an unequal society, not an egalitarian and just one.

In our own country, a lack of access to good education or health care and other such facilities has often been found combined with social discrimination on the grounds of caste. The Constitution therefore allowed for reservation of government jobs and quotas for admission to educational institutions for people belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, as a way of recognising this genuine special disadvantage.

The real tension students often feel between impartial equal treatment and attention to special needs comes through in a familiar exchange between two students discussing why the statue of Justice is shown blindfolded. One student asks why the statue of justice is blindfolded; the other explains that she is blindfolded because she needs to be impartial. The first then wonders — but if she is blindfolded and cannot see, how then does she notice the special needs of people? This is precisely the puzzle the principle of recognising special needs is meant to resolve: being impartial (not favouring anyone) is not the same as being blind to genuine differences in people's circumstances. …