This is the national policy on disability for Sri Lanka, formulated and approved by the Cabinet in August 2003. The study indicates the level of poverty in which people who have disability must live their daily lives. There were some of the aspects of the social exclusion of people who have disability that were taken into account in the formulation of the National Policy on Disability. The policy formulation takes into account not only the social and economic marginalization of people who have disability, but even more importantly, the factors that caused this situation. Causes stem largely from the failure of our society to recognize and respect diversity and to appreciate the contribution it makes to the enrichment of our own communities. The policy casts aside the view that disability is synonymous with abnormality. It takes the current and global view of disability as being a situation in which people who have some kind of health impairment find themselves in, largely due to the attitudes of society. The policy attempts to bring about a change in our attitudes by looking at the abilities that people have and not at their disability and by regarding people who have disability as human beings of equal worth, as citizens of this country "who are equal before the law." This position of equity is embodied in the constitution of Sri Lanka and is, in fact, the first of five principles underlying the policy.