An initiative of the S.J. Charitable Trust, Svayam was founded in 2000 to help make the world accessible and dignified for the people with reduced mobility.
Svayam is India's leading Accessibility organisation, dedicated towards informing the people, working with the government and bringing all stakeholders on a single platform to create a barrier-free, inclusive world. Svayam believes that providing accessible and barrier-free public infrastructure can help people with reduced mobility to live an active, safe, dignified life as contributing members of the nation while enjoying their world.
Svayam also helps different government departments as well as corporate houses to incorporate accessibility as a non-negotiable component in their infrastructure and services. Svayam has contributed to the preparation of many guidelines i.e. the Harmonised Guidelines & Space Standards for Barrier Free Built Environment for Persons with Disability and Elderly Persons, the National Building Code 2016, and the Civil Aviation Requirements for Carriage of Persons with Disabilities by Air, among others.
Svayam?s incessant efforts to make public places accessible for the people with reduced mobility have borne fruit in many sectors. For instance in tourism alone, Svayam helped to make accessible the World Heritage Sites of Qutub Minar, Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, and the Fatehpur Sikri Monuments. These sites are now not only accessible, but many of them have won national awards for being the most accessible heritage sites.
Svayam is a member of many prestigious bodies/committees in India including:
- Core Committee on Accessible Tourism (Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India)
- Committee on Functional Requirements in Buildings of Bureau of Indian Standards, Govt. of India
- Core Committee for Harmonized Guidelines on Accessibility
- Svayam is also on the RDSO (Railway Board) Panel for Accessibility in Rail Transportation
On the international front, Svayam is a member of the Standing Committee on Accessible Transport & Mobility (ABE60) by the Transport Research Board (TRB) of National Academics, USA. Svayam is the Permanent Secretariat of TRANSED series of conferences that are held every three years in different parts of the world under the aegis of TRB. Svayam is a regular participant at the International Transport Forum (ITF), which acts as a think tank for transport policies and organises the Annual Summit of transport ministers from different countries.
Svayam's perseverance and dedication to the cause has not only given accessibility the right impetus but also influenced the Government to frame the right policies and laws to meet the rising demand of #Accessibility4All.