Moving to India with a disability

Well, so far, this is what I have with one year of experience of living in India.  I am a US citizen, so I have disability income from the gov't.  Fortunately, I have the right kind and not the USSA version (SSI), which is about as draconian as about anything devised by the former USSR.  You can only be abroad for 30 days, and past that, risk losing your SSI until you get it back after coming back to the US.

If you are deaf, language is going to be a sizeable barrier.  Get your pen and paper out, because there's hardly any sign language interpreters.  It is best that you start to learn to read at least one Indic language (You might want to learn Hindī) plus a regional language, so that you can at least read important signs on the roads and buildings.  It is a sizeable barrier especially with drivers, veg/fruit vendors, and maids.

In spite of what you may have heard or experienced in India, do NOT even think of driving anything, especially in the cities because you can't echo-locate car honking, which is important to a degree in determining where people are around your vehicle.  I leave the driving entirely up to someone else.  People are undisciplined as drivers compared to places like the US, so you will find them weaving lanes together, driving the wrong way on BOTH sides, and cutting each other off.  It is important to have 100% awareness of where everyone else is around you.

Install Uber, Jugnoo, and Ola on your phone so that you can book rides without struggling to tell them exactly where you're going.  HOWEVER, there are still major issues with drivers in the country...  It seems the drivers have so little confidence in themselves that they second-guess their map reading skills.  Even though they have the phone's map blue-lining where they are going, they still ask me, "Turn here?"  Another thing is they want to call you before they even come to pick you up.  I've had to tell them, "Call me, no" and point at my hearing aids.

Regarding phones.  You must have a friend here in India, as you cannot get a SIM card nor a mobile phone service plan (as you don't have aadhaar card, PAN card, birth certificate with an Indian stamp, proof of residence, and/or a passport when you get here).  Your friend will have to do that for you so that you can go to the shop on a regular basis to recharge your mobile account.  A way around this is am employment visa.  If you have a checkered employment history like I do, you'll want to volunteer for an NGO and eliminate the $25,000/year income requirement for the employment visa (as that is upper-class income for Indians, believe it or not).  Expect your phone to not work in India and be ready to buy a new phone or at least a wi-fi dongle so that your phone can connect with the Internet.  I have both Indian mobile service and wi-fi dongle service from different companies for coverage overlap.  I state this because not all phones are able to pick up on the frequencies used in India.  My Android phone from the US is blind here, so I have to help it with a wi-fi dongle.

Regarding mobility impairments - a lot of India is simply not built to accommodate people with disabilities.  Most shop complexes don't have a way to get into the complex safely and often times have ramps that are simply too steep for wheel-chair users to climb unless you are Olympia material.  This means that if your residence is like that, then you have to arrange for assistance or leave/come back during the time when help is available.  A lot of times, the elevators don't work.  I see a lot of people with a very different kind of wheel-chair, which is really for outdoor use on the streets themselves.  There's almost no sidewalks except maybe in developed smart cities, which I have not been to yet.

It is a challenge here, but with planning with friends here, it can be done.  It is much cheaper to live in India than in the US.  If you get disability like I do, it is totally doable here.  A Tier-II city in India is 1/4 the cost of living in Houston, Texas.  You are actually able to build a small retirement on that.