svayam

November 3, 2015

A step towards accessibility -Mysuru Railway Station with Tactile Map & Braille Signage

Mysuru railway station is nation’s first visually impaired-friendly

November 3, 2015 17:31

With a view to facilitating visually impaired train passengers, tactile maps of the railway station and train schedules in Braille were unveiled at the Mysuru Railway station on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters after Mysuru MP Pratap Simha inaugurated the facility, Divisional Railway Manager Rajkumar Lal said Mysuru railway station has become the country’s first visually challenged friendly station in India.

Along with tactile maps of station describing the location and distance of entrance, platforms, counters, washrooms etc, schedule of trains, showing their arrival and departure time, the authorities have also put up 400 metal signages in Braille along the railings of the staircases leading various platforms.

The menu cards at the canteen and food plaza at the station will also be available in Braille now, a Railway official said.

Anuprayaas, an NGO assisted the railways in make Mysuru railway station blind-friendly.

Mysuru Railway station becomes country's first blind friendly station with the unveiling of the station's tactile map and train schedule in Braille. Source: The Hindu

August 21, 2015

Svayam Accessibility Awards 2015 at Lisbon, Portugal

Awards Background

Svayam Accessibility Awards were instituted on 25 October 2010 to promote and recognize the concept of Accessibility & Universal Design in all spheres of our lives to make way for livable communities – in both rural & urban scapes. The awards are conferred on the organizations in the TRANSED hosting nation, that have shown consistent commitment towards providing accessible infrastructure for all. These awards play a pivotal role in providing the right impetus to the development of inclusive infrastructure, related policies & practices so that such initiatives are sustainable and meaningful.

Svayam Accessibility Awards 2015 ceremony were held on 30 July 2015 at Lisbon, Portugal on the sidelines of 14th International Conference on Mobility & Transportation for the Elderly and Disabled Persons (TRANSED Conference, 2015). The Awards were given away by Ms. Sminu Jindal, Founder – Svayam during the official Gala Dinner ceremony of TRANSED 2015.

Jury/ Award Committee 2015

Ms. Ann Frye, Director, Ann Frye Ltd., U.K. and Member, International Activities Sub Committee of ABE 60, TRB
Prof. (Ms.) Anabela Simões, Ergonomics Department, Technical University of Lisbon Portugal and Member, Research Sub Committee of ABE(60) TRB
Mr. Anuj Malhotra Chief Executive Officer, Centre For Green Mobility, India
Mr. Amit Bhatt, Strategy Head, Urban Transport, EMBARQ India
Dr. Billie Louise [Beezy] Bentzen, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, Accessible Design for the Blind
Prof. (Ms.) Rosario Macario, Associate Professor of Transportation with Habilitation, University of Lisbon, Portugal & Chair- Organizing Committee, TRANSED 2015 Lisbon
Mr. Russell Thatcher, Sr. Transportation Planner, TranSystems Corporation, Boston, USA and Member & Former Co-Chair, ABE 60 Committee of TRB
Prof. (Ms.) Lalita Sen, Professor, Texas Southern University, Co-Chair, ABE 60 of TRB
Ms. Nina Frid, Director General, Canadian Transportation Authority, Canada & Co-Chair of the TRB International Committee.

Recipients of Svayam Accessibility Awards 2015

Porto City Hall, Portugal – Best Practice by a Municipality for their Project ‘Accessible Itinerary System (SIA)’ . The award was received by Arch. Ms. Lia Ferreira, Ombudswoman of Porto Municipality.

Architect Ms. Lia Ferreira, Ombudswoman of Porto Municipality receiving Svayam Accessibility Award 2015 from Ms. Sminu Jindal, Founder Svayam

Citation:

Porto City Hall, through its Municipal Ombudsman for Citizens with Disabilities, successfully implemented this ‘Best Practice’ project titled ‘Accessible Itineraries System (SIA) Porto’ – portal that comes to help all the citizens, specially the ones with reduced mobility, optimizing itineraries that meet their needs.

The project maps the city, identifies the barriers to seamless & accessible mobility on city routes and addresses them with active citizen’s participation. In short, the project allows online consultation of optimized routes for accessibility (through map consultation), digitally calculated between two previously chosen points giving information not only about paths but also intermodal transportation connectivity, accessibility of important public buildings & spaces.

The project has been implemented with active partners like Associação de Surdos do Porto (ASP), Associação de Cegos e Amblíopes do Porto (ACAPO), Associação do Porto de Paralisia Cerebral (APPC) and Associação dos Deficientes das Forças Armadas (ADFA), plus Porto’s Metro and FEUP (Porto’s Engineering University).

Congratulations Porto City Hall! For more photos, visit Facebook

2. Municipality of Lisbon, Portugal – Best Practice by a Municipality for their Project ‘Lisbon Accessible Pedestrian Plan’ . The award was received by Mr. João Afonso, Deputy Mayor for Social Rights, Lisbon Municipality.

Mr. João Afonso Deputy Mayor for Social Rights, Lisbon Municipality, receiving Svayam Accessibility Award 2015 from Ms. Sminu Jindal, Founder- Svayam — Mr. João Afonso, Deputy Mayor for Social Rights, Lisbon Municipality, receiving Svayam Accessibility Award 2015 from Ms. Sminu Jindal, Founder- Svayam

Citation

Municipality of Lisbon implemented the ‘Best Practice’ Project – titled ‘Pedestrian Accessibility Plan’ after its approval by the City’s Assembly, in February 2014, and is expected to be completed in 2017. The project follows a participatory approach throughout the Plan’s implementation, in the development and dissemination of data and tools, definition of priorities, and uptake of guidelines and solutions.

A key goal for the Plan is to change the way the City administration works. Therefore, while the majority of plan’s actions are being executed by several city departments, a special task force ‘The Pedestrian Accessibility Plan Team’ has been formed which is responsible for coordination, monitoring, technical support and a few very specialized actions. Mr. Pedro Homem de Gouveia, Architect is coordinator of Pedestrian Accessibility Plan Team.

The Plan has three overarching goals:

Prevent the creation of new barriers;
Progressively adapt existing buildings;
Mobilize the community to create a city for everyone.

Instead of budgeting & addressing all infrastructural barriers in one go, the Plan defines an effort rate. Every year the City will invest 3% of public works budget in the adaptation of public spaces (e.g. sidewalks, crosswalks, bus stops, etc.) and public buildings (elementary schools, museums and libraries, public markets, etc.). And it hopes to address most barriers by 2017 as per the current plan.

Community participation is considered as a key. A high value is put on the collection of quantitative and qualitative data on the needs, difficulties and preferences of persons with disabilities and the elderly population. This project creates a safe, accessible and free of obstacles route for all pedestrians.

Congratulations Municipality of Lisbon! For More photos visit : Facebook

3. Association Salvador, Lisbon, Portugal – Best Practice by an NGO for promoting inclusive tourism through their website www.portugalacessivel.com. The award was being received by Mr. Salvador Mendes de Almeida, the Founder of Association Salvador.

Mr. Salvador Mendes de Almeida, Founder- Association Salvador receiving Svayam Accessibility Award 2015 from Ms. Sminu Jindal, Founder- Svayam

Citation

Association Salvador is a nonprofit organization founded in 2003 by Salvador Mendes de Almeida that is dedicated to social integration and improving the quality of life of people with reduced mobility (especially those in wheelchairs).

The website portugalaccessivel.com is today a national reference guide in providing information about the physical accessibility in different types of spaces in Portugal, also proposing accessible itineraries and enabling interaction and exchange of experiences between community of people with motor disabilities.

It counts with almost 5000 audited spaces. At the same time, it is a tool to raise awareness among public and private entities to promote the importance of accessibility. In addition to the website, the Association has also created a mobile application available for iOS, Android and Windows Phones.

Congratulations Association Salvador! For more photos, visit : Facebook

August 13, 2015

Ms. Sminu Jindal’s Radio Talk on FM Portugal during TRANSED2015

Ms. Sminu Jindal was invited for a radio talk by FM Portugal in their Swagatam programme while she was in Lisbon to speak at 14th International Conference on Mobility & Transport for the Elderly and Disabled Persons (TRANSED 2015), Lisbon, Portugal & to give away Svayam Accessibility Awards 2015.

The talk was relayed on 02nd August 2015 wherein Ms. Jindal spoke about Svayam, TRANSED Conferences and her mission of promoting accessibility for persons with reduced mobility.

The audience of this programme are Asians and Indians settled in Portugal. The programme is in Gujarati while Ms. Jindal’s responses are in Hindi. You can listen to the recording on SoundCloud here:

RADIO TALK on FM Portugal: Ms. Sminu Jindal, 02 Aug 15

August 12, 2015

GOI seeks partnership with Corporate sector for Accessible India Campaign

Government of India reaches out to the Corporate Sector seeking partnership in realising the dream of #AccessibleIndia. The corporates can take up a public buildings & spaces. The mobile app to give wings to this programme is likely to be launched towards the end of August 2015.

Here is the coverage in Economic Times:

Accessible India: Let’s make public buildings disabled friendly says government to India Inc
By NIDHI SHARMA, ET Bureau | 8 Aug, 2015, 04.00AM IST

NEW DELHI: Adopt a public building and make it disabled-friendly – this is what the government is telling companies. As part of its Sugamya Bharat or Accessible India initiative, the Centre is roping in big corporates and asking them to take up a school, hospital, park, mall or other public building in their city for this purpose.

The initiative will begin with the identification of public places that are inaccessible to the differently abled and need minor structural changes, including ramps for wheelchairs or tactile strips and braille signage for the visually challenged. The department of disability affairs in the ministry of social justice and empowerment is developing a mobile app in connection with this initiative. Using this, anyone can take a photograph of a public building and upload it, flagging how it’s not disabled friendly.

The department of disability affairs will draw up a list of buildings that need to be upgraded and send it to the states.

“The ministry or the states would not have the funds to make all these corrections,” a senior ministry official told ET. “But corporate players and private firms would have money under their corporate social responsibility schemes to undertake such initiatives.”

Even before the launch of the mobile app or the initiative, the disability division has started getting queries from the corporate sector. “A Bangalore-based firm has asked us how can they be of some help in this initiative,” the official said.

“A few other queries have come. As we formally launch the programme by the end of this month, we are confident the corporate players would come forward and adopt public buildings.”

Source: Economic Times

June 18, 2015

Govt. of India invites ideas/ proposals to conduct Access Audits 100 Most frequented Govt. Buildings

Dear Colleagues,

Under Accessible India Campaign, the Government of India wants you to express your choice of a Govt. building that is most frequented by public. The exercise is to identify 100 such Govt. buildings in your cities and then to take up the access improvement work in fast track to make them completely accessible within a time bound manner.

To give you a background, the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment had launched the “Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan)” as a nation-wide flagship campaign for achieving universal accessibility that will enable persons with disabilities to gain access for equal opportunity and live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life in an inclusive society. The campaign targets at enhancing the accessibility of built environment, transport system and Information & communication eco-System.

The campaign would initially be implemented on pilot basis in seven States, which include Delhi, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. A strategy paper of the nation-wide Accessible India Campaign with details of the campaign along with objectives, targets and deadlines has been prepared.

To access the strategy paper click here: Strategy Paper- Accessible India Campaign

One of the targets under the objective of enhancing the proportion of accessible government buildings is to conduct accessibility audit of 100 most important government buildings and converting them into fully accessible buildings by July, 2016 in the following cities:

(a) Delhi

(b) Ahmedabad

(d) Gurgaon

(e) Guwahati

(f) Jaipur

(g) Mumbai

DEPwD invites suggestions/ideas/proposals from individuals/NGOs/ Associations / Civic bodies to identify 100 pubic (government) buildings frequently used by persons with disabilities in the above cities to be converted into fully accessible buildings, which will make the greatest impact on achieving a barrier-free environment that allows free & safe movement, function and access for all, without obstacles, with dignity and with as much independence as possible.

Details of such identified prominent government buildings in the above cities that you want converted into fully accessible buildings may be sent to the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, by e-mail at accessibleindiacampaign@gmail.com as early as possibel or by end of June 2015.

You may also post the photos etc of inaccessible buildings on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/svayam.india

June 15, 2015

Register for 14th International Conference on Mobility & Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons (TRANSED 2015) at Lisbon

Dear Colleagues,

The 14th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, from 28 to 31 July 2015.

The 14th TRANSED conference will be hosted by Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) at Universidade de Lisboa.

TRANSED 2015 will gather scholars, decision-makers, industry, and citizens with an interest in accessibility issues and how to improve it. TRANSED 2015 International Conference received the formal endorsement of representatives of all stakeholders, namely: Government, Public Administration, Foundation for Science and Technology, Universities, and Transport and Infrastructure Operators, who will support the conference in several aspects.

The conference is organized under the theme “Aim and manage to implement inclusive access for all”. Please visit the web site for the selection of topics.

TRANSED 2015 will be an excellent opportunity to gather and share knowledge on any sort of mobility restrictions/accessibility

Website: http://www.transed2015.com/

Registration:

https://pco.abreu.pt/CLIENTES/abreu/formularios/form_4731902542.php

Follow the TRANSED2015 on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/TRANSED-2015/487026641398455

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TRANSED2015

Download the mobile App:

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xtourmaker.transed

IOS: https://itunes.apple.com/pt/app/transed2015/id993138260?mt=8

CONFERENCE VENUE

TRANSED 2015 will be held at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
http://www.gulbenkian.pt

ABOUT LISBON

Lisbon is a melting pot of cultures, flavours and spices. Lisbon is built on hills looking over the River Tagus. Modern and cosmopolitan, it is a great centre of culture and tourism, and a pleasure to discover on foot. Add to that its cultural diversity, laid-back feel and architectural time warp, and you have one of the most enjoyable cities in Europe.

Clean skies and the softness of its light are an integral part of the charm of this city. Seen from the river – one of the city’s many great viewpoints – Lisbon is an impressionist picture of low-rise ochre and pastel, punctuated by church towers and domes.

Several neighbourhoods offer interesting shopping areas of local flavour. Large, modern shopping malls with wide opening hours and easy access by public transport are also very popular.

One of the traditional centres of Lisbon’s nightlife is Bairro Alto, with its fado houses, restaurants and dozens of bars and clubs. After the riverside area was remodelled for Expo98, night life in Lisbon gained a new dimension both on east and west fronts.

People who want to get away from the city centre, however, can go with modern railways to Sintra or to Estoril and Cascais, about 30km away, with beautiful landscapes, urban settings and nice restaurants and bars.

Lisbon is a city that receives yearly a large number of visitors, both in business and leisure. Its offer of hotels is very strong, in all price categories, including some charming traditional units as well as large ones from most international chains.

Public Transport in Lisbon has recently undergone great improvements and includes underground, suburban trains and ferries, low floor buses and light rail, while maintaining in operation a small set of old tramway lines, among which the famous line 28, one of the icons of the city.

Day and Multi-day passes are available to enjoy the full public transport network without hassle.

For more information about Lisbon and tips on what to see, please visit the Tourism Bureau website: http://www.visitlisboa.com/

TOPIC AREAS

Conference theme:

“Aim and manage to implement inclusive access for all”

STREAMS:

The conference is organized in two streams of intervention, being:

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Practice and Experience:

All conference topics are very open and can be approached from any of the two referred streams. For each topic a number of sub-topics are open from the outset but others can be created. In addition, special sessions can also be envisaged and participants interested in organizing it should contact the Conference Chair for that purpose.

Topic A: Policy approaches for mobility needs and solutions for the ageing and disabled population
The demographic evolution of Society enables to foresee next decades with a substantial increase of ageing population with different degrees of disabilities. In addition, changes in patterns of living and more monoparental families are formed which represent users of temporary restrictions. Cities and regions must reflect in these changes and adjust their policies accordingly so that user needs are satisfied
Subtopics:
      A1 – Meeting the needs of people with disabilities in light of changing demographics;
      A2- The economic and social implications of living and coping with disabilities;
      A3– Cases in policy actions: turning legislation into action.

Topic B: Restricted accessibility as an integrated part of mobility management.
Restricted accessibility or reduced mobility (different parts of the world use different designations) should not be managed as an isolated segment. This approach has led to exclusion of these groups of users despite providing them with increase quality of service. This approach must be changed towards a full integration of restricted accessibility in mobility management enabling citizens with temporary or permanent mobility to benefit from a complete inclusion in society. Mobility and accessibility are instruments for that inclusion.
Subtopics:
B1 – Defining and measuring accessibility;
B2 – Creating accessible urban environments;
B3 – Restricted accessibility in urban transport: success stories;
B4 – Rural accessibility issues;
B5 – Transport contribution for inclusive tourism;
B6 – Ensuring joined approach to planning and delivery for door to door mobility;
B7 – Designing and delivering accessibility for major events (e.g. Olympics etc.).

Topic C – Finding solutions through innovation

Innovation is a wide encompassing concept with an extensive meaning that can go from organization of processes to invention of new technology. Today a major challenge in mobility management is to bridge from mass transit to the capillary needs of the different segments of users. Innovation is required to create new and flexible services that can complement the regular public transport and provide an effective seamless mobility chains for all users, with and without disabilities.

Subtopics
        C1 – New technologies and tools;
       C2 – Engaging with users for flexible mobility solutions;
        C3 – Case studies of innovative approaches to restricted accessibility;
        C4 – New impairment realities (e.g. young families, monoparental families, ageing impairment, etc)

June 8, 2015

Know your Rights and Duties during Air Travel from and within India

Dear Colleagues,

If you are a person with reduced mobility or a person living with disabilities, you are entitled to certain rights that you should be aware of. Svayam occasionally come across incidents where people with reduced mobility, suffer at the hands of airliners and the aerodrome operators merely because of their ignorance about their rights and duties.

This post is an attempt to orient them and empower them with the information that they may need, to undertake a hassle free air-travel from and within India. The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights & Full Participation) Act 1995 & The Constitution of India provides equal rights to those living with disabilities or with reduced mobility while travelling – be it travel by road, rail or air and prohibits discrimination on the grounds of disabilities.

The Civil Aviation Requirements on Carriage of Persons with Disabilities & persons with reduced mobility by Air (DGCA’ s CAR) on which Svayam along with several other stakeholders had worked so hard, is an important document for all flyers with disabilities. Therefore, you should always carry a copy, may be few extra sets to waive at those who try to discriminate with you out of ignorance or just negative attitude. The CAR guidelines apply to all Indian operators – for both domestic & international carriage, to all foreign carriers operating to and from India and all airport operators within India. You can download a copy of the CAR from the link below:

DGCA’s CAR on Carriage by Air of Persons with Disabilities and/or Persons with Reduced Mobility dated 28 February 2014

Your Rights while traveling by Air

(a) No airline can refuse to carry you and your assistive aids/devices, escorts, guide dogs in cabin etc if you inform them at the time of booking. Assistive aids/devices (up to 15 kg) are allowed free as additional baggage.

(b) Airlines & their travel agents can not discriminate against you in providing their services such as internet ticket, special/discounted fare, reservation on telephone or time limit for holding the booking etc.

(c) You can seek assistance to meet your particular needs to ensure seamless travel from terminal departure gate up to aircraft and from aircraft to arrival terminal gate without any additional expense.

(d) If your wheelchair conforms to DPTAC UK specifications (Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee), you can user your wheelchair in the entire journey and can’t be forced to use their wheelchair.

(e) Airline can not insist on medical certificate or any special forms/ indemnity bonds etc even if you wish to travel without escort and only need assistance for embarking/disembarking & reasonable accommodation in flight.

(f) You have equal choice of seat allocation subject to safety requirements.

(g) You can ask for onboard narrow aisle chairs for internal transfer or to use lavatory at no extra cost.

Your Duties while traveling by Air

(a) Inform/ Notify the Airlines at the time of booking or at least 48 hours before the scheduled departure about your specific needs.

(b) Always carry your disability certificate/ ID Card.

(d) Ask for your rights, until you ask, the airline staff may not know about your requirements.

(e) Be courteous as the staff may be serving many other passengers at the same time.

(f) Speak up, if any discrimination happens with you and report it to concerned authorities viz. Grievance Redressal authority within Airlines, DGCA, Chief Commissioner-Disability and if required share the experiences also to the media/ advocacy organization like Svayam.

Post your experiences to Svayam

We encourage you to kindly post a copy of your grievances also with Svayam as it helps us take it forward with the concerned authorities. More the complaints brought to the notice of authorities, more the impact we can make on them. This will not only help them understand that it affects many more people but also find appropriate solutions. You may write to us at Editor@svayam.com / svayam.india@gmail.com and post the information also on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/svayam.india

After you have posted to us, it may be seem that we are taking little longer, but trust us, we are working on the issue flagged by you. We will update the progress here on the blog for your information.

Inclusive and Barrier free infrastructure & services is important for equal participation of all and when you write to us, our endeavor is to make sure authorities sit up and take notice.

—–

May 1, 2015

First Meeting of Steering Committee, Accessible India Campaign held

A meeting of the newly formed Steering Committee for the Accessible India Campaign {सुगम्य भारत अभियान) was held on 30 April 2015 at Paryavaran Bhavan chaired by Mr. Lov Verma, the Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and steered by the Joint Secretary Mr. Mukesh Jain.

This historic meeting was attended by representatives from national institutes (visual, hearing and physically handicapped) and office of chief commissioner for persons with disability. State government officials and representatives from Union ministries like Labour, Social Welfare, Health, Sports and Youth affairs, Urban Development, Civil Aviation, Rural Development, Culture (ASI), Delhi Metro and CPWD, were also present.

In a strong commitment to the UNCRPD “Nothing about us, without us”, the steering committee also had representation from disability sector which included National NGOs such as Svayam, Samarthyam, Enabling Unit of the University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi University and National Association for the Blind giving their critical inputs.

The DEPwD is creating a dedicated portal on Accessible India Campaign where they or any other person can directly will be able to upload pictures and status of accessibility of buildings and public spaces via an mobile app on the portal. this crowd sourcing of data on accessibility will then be gradually addressed by connecting the grievances to the concerned departments & MSJE for constant folow up and also funding linkages to implement accessibility mandate in a time bound manner. The portal will also have information about Access Guidelines on various areas, training modules, best practices, list of vendors for the access products etc.

The Centre’s ambitious Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) will start from seven states – Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Assam, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Haryana- from this year envisaging a nation-wide awareness campaign towards universal accessibility for all citizens including persons with disabilities.

According to senior officials of the ministry, it has created a dedicated program management unit, steering committee and other sub-committees in the ministry with representation of professionals and experts to create media strategy and media planning, conduct awareness workshops for sensitization of all key stakeholders as identified and creation and dissemination of educational booklets for spreading the awareness. The next stage is to sign MoU with various ministries and state government agencies for their role and responsibilities for the campaign. This nationwide flagship campaign is aimed at achieving universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).

While the plan is to achieve a barrier free environment for the PwDs in next five years, the initial impetus is on capacity building and awareness campaign.

Related Media Coverage: Times of India