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Congratulations to ESG and BITS Pilani for their successful efforts in making Film Festival Venue Accessible

Dear Friends,

Congratulations to Enertainment Society of Goa to have made the venue of Annual Internal Film Festival disabled friendly and also to those who facilitated and handholded the process.

News Source: Net Indian, Appended below is the detailed news.

regards,

Svayam Team

ESG honoured for making IFFI venue disabled-friendly

February 15, 2010

The Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) was honoured here recently for making the venue of the annual International Film Festival of India (IFFI) disabled friendly. The honour was bestowed on the ESG at the We Care Film Festival on Disability here by its organisers, the BITS Pilani Goa Campus, Brotherhood, the National Trust, United Nation Information Centre, UNESCO, and Asian Academy of Film and Television of India (AAFT) in association with the local organizations Sangath and Disability Rights Association, Goa .

The recognition was received on behalf of ESG by its General Manager Venancio Furtado, who appreciated the objectives of the We Care Film Fest and its participatory rating process. He gave an assurance that the ESG would be happy to associate with the We Care Film Fest in the near future.

The festival, which travels to educational institutions to create greater acceptance of the differently-abled as part of mainstream society, witnessed the screening of 32 documentary and short films on various forms of disability from India and overseas. The festival is travelling to around 15 venues in the country over the next three months. It has introduced a participatory rating process in which the students and the audiences rate each film and an indepent jury judges the films on the basis of these ratings.

BITS Pilani Goa Campus Director K E Raman appealed to the students to think about the various issues of persons with disabilities and make use of their knowledge to promote their rights as set out in the various acts like PWD Act, the National Trust Act and UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disability which came into force on May 3, 2009. He said BITS had been organizing various national-level cultural and other educational events in its Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad and Dubai centres, but it was the first time that it had organized a festival on disability issues. He promised that BITS would continue to support the We Care Filmfest and take it to other centres of BITS as well.

Mr. Avelino D’Sa, President of the Disability Rights Association of Goa, welcomed the holding of the We Care Fimfest in the state and said the event would be taken to various corporates, State Government departments and owners of shopping malls to sensitize them on disability issues.

Mr. Vishram Gupta, Chairperson of Sangath Goa, said short films are very effective in sensitizing general public, students, children and persons with disability and their parents. He said the festival would be taken to schools and other educational institutions of Goa .

We Care Filmfest founder Director Satish Kapoor said: “a world that truly embraces diversity is one where the rights, dignity, and well-being of individuals are realized regardless of differences in race, faith, gender – or ability. People living with disabilities often surprise us with their abilities, with what they can do rather than what they cannot do, but not many tell their stories.” He said the festival was an opportunity for all students to develop their understanding and perspectives relating to disability issues besides contributing to the process of participatory rating. This would help the students whenever they plan to make short films/documentaries on disability. It would also help sensitise the general audience on various issues of disability, he said.

Source: http://netindian.in/news/2010/02/15/0005343/esg-honoured-making-iffi-venue-disabled-friendly

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Access in public infrastructure remains neglected

Dear Friends,

Inaccesss to built infrastructure, roads, pedestrian infrastructure  and public transportation are becoming tools of oppression, discrimination and marginalisation when it comes to disabled and the seniors.

India needs to gear up to the needs of the elderly and the disabled in terms of its infrastructure at the earliest if it doesn’t want to loose out on tourism opportunities, hosting international events of any kind and above all if it wants to escape bashing by activists due to its lackadiasical attitude towards monitoring implementation of access in the infrastructural projects in the present scenario.

India is at the thresh hold of development. Major cities are grappling with the problems of managing public transportation. Sustainability and accessibility can go hand in hand if State thinks in inclusive terms for all its citizens.

It was evident from the recent difficulties faced by international athletes who  were here in Bangalore to participate in “International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports World Games” that India is hosting. The athletes faced problems bnt in track and field, but in gaining access to the stadiums, hotels, transport systems and public places around Bangalore. 

The answer lies in ensuring that all properties, infrastructure and  transporation system that are created henceforth is accessible and inclusive to all to avoid such embarrassment to the nation. This will also make the country more equitable and inclusive to the elderly and the disabled citizens.

Here is the report from Indian Expresss

Here is a different report form Times of India

regards

Subhash Chandra Vashishth

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Now another heritage site, Maquinez Palace, Panaji becomes accessible

Dear Friends,

Maquinez Palance, Panaji has become another Heritage site to become accessible, this time with the efforts of Goa Disability Rights Association and the Govt’s pro-active support to provide accessibility.

Congratulations to Mr. Avelino D’Sa, The President of DRAG and his team for their perseverence and achieving this success in making yet another site accessible to all!

Here is the coverage, To read from source click here.

regards

SC Vashishth, Program Coordinator, Svayam

Maquinez palace gets lift for disabled

PANAJI: Chief minister Digambar Kamat on Thursday inaugurated a special lift for specially challenged people at the Maquinez palace, Panaji.

The lift will help specially challenged people to view movies in the two theatres in the Maquinez palace during the upcoming International Film Festival of India.

Talking to the media after inaugurating the lift, Kamat said, “The facility will benefit disabled persons and specially challenged children to gain access to the theatres in the Maquinez palace. Specially challenged persons were demanding the installation of this lift and now they are satisfied. It will give them an opportunity to watch movies here.”

Avelino D’Sa, president of Disability Rights Association of Goa (DRAG), also expressed satisfaction at the installation of the lift. “We have been fighting for this for a long time. It is not only during IFFI that we come here, but we attend functions all through the year. INOX is also being made disabled friendly,” D’Sa said.

D’Sa said other government buildings, streets and buses are still not made disabled friendly and that DRAG was working to bring about changes there. Officials from Graand Prix elevators, who installed the special lift at a cost of Rs 19 lakh, said the lift is aesthetically better than normal lifts and can be installed without making any structural changes to the building. This was especially important in Maquinez palace as it is a heritage building.

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Disability Advocates demand access to Bus Depots in Gujarat

Gujrat has taken lead in developing socially inclusive infrastructure like BRT and Metro and the pace of growth is quite remarkable. However, it necessary that the existing bus Q shelters are also retrofitted with barrier free features to enable passengers experiencing disabilities to use these services on an equal basis with others. Also the existing fleet needs to be gradually replaced with accessible buses with proper access from Bus Depots and Q shelters.

Gujarat has set successful examples of Public private Partnership and there is no reason why PPP can be availed to improve accessibility at GRSTC BUS Depts!

regards

Subhash Chandra Vashishth

Click here to read from source

Funds crunch makes GRSTC bus depots disabled-unfriendly
29 Jun 2009, 0049 hrs IST, TNN

Gandhinagar : Of the 125 Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) bus depots in the state, facilities for the physically-challenged at 104 are missing. A slope which is mandatory at each bus stop to facilitate the differently-abled board the vehicle comfortably is not in place.

GSRTC officials say it is the dearth of funds which a big hurdle in providing such facilities.

The matter was taken up recently by the Disability Advocacy Group during a meeting with RM Patel, principal secretary, labour and employment department, who also holds the additional charge of disabled commissioner. The representatives of the group demanded that there should be an adequate arrangement for the physically-challenged to get into a bus easily and get down from them as well.

During the meeting, PK Patel, chief traffic & commercial manager, said there were slopes at 21 bus depots for the physically-challenged. He added at the remaining 104 depots, there was no provision for slopes and fund crunch was a big hindrance. The commissioner directed GSRTC to allocate funds and set a deadline for making slopes at all these depots.

Pradeep Anjaria, a commuter, said, “The buses are designed in such a manner that it becomes difficult for the physically-challenged to get inside them. The entrance of these buses are L-shaped and hence they cannot board the bus easily.”

He said in absence of a slope, one has to first lift the physically-challenged person and take him on the platform and then take his wheelchair in. They also find it difficult to get into a bus as there is no separate lane for them to board a bus.

Ranjit Gohil, who was present at the meeting, said, “The physically-challenged are provided host of facilities in many countries. But in India, laws are not enforced properly. One needs to ensure implementation of these laws without fail.”

Gohil said the situation of the railways is no better. He has filed a complaint against the railways stating that it does not have any facility for physically-challenged passengers to move from platform 1 to 12. He said there is a slope for entry to platform 1 only. The lifts which are installed at the platforms are mostly out of order, he pointed out.