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Accessible India Campaign isn’t just for 2% of the population. Let’s all make it work.

By Ms. Sminu Jindal, Founder Svayam & MD, Jindal SAW Ltd. 05 Feb 2016

Often one fails to realise how “disability” is related to one’s environment. Isn’t it amazing that with enabling infrastructure, disability vanishes? Even those who are “able-bodied” may not be so continuously, which makes it all the more surprising that we give accessibility such little importance. If you’ve ever accompanied an elderly person to a public building without a ramp, or given a hand to a pregnant lady who may need to hop off a bus, you’ll know what I am talking about. This is something I’ve been all too familiar with since the time I became a wheelchair user at age 11. My father got a ramp built in my school so that I could attend my school like anybody else.

Today, while inclusive education is a legal mandate, lack of enforcement still keeps schools and colleges inaccessible to students and teachers with reduced mobility. Can we not see the opportunities lost to a nation when we keep back people from realising their full potential? How many Stephen Hawkings and Helen Kellers might we be setting back?

Isn’t it amazing that with enabling infrastructure, disability vanishes?

Even those of you who have not faced disability may have experienced the barriers of an inaccessible environment at some point in your lives. A fracture, sickness, age or just being in the family way can make anyone realise the significance of barrier-free infrastructure. Civilisation is all about making life safe, easier and dignified for everyone. This is why accessibility is a matter of grave concern for the public at large, and not just for the purported 2% of the population who are “disabled”.

Despite India having won its freedom in 1947, many Indians, sadly, continue to be denied the dignity and freedom of mobility. In America, it took a Vietnam War for the entire country to be made disabled friendly. Our brave soldiers who fought several wars and terror attacks and lost their limbs in the process are still waiting to be mainstreamed due to lack of accessible infrastructure.

It is vital that anyone with limited mobility — temporary or permanent — be assured a normal life. In India the human spirit of adjustment has been stretched to absurd limits, so much so that the family of a disabled person is ready to adjust rather than verbalise the need for access. Also, the lack of sensitivity towards people with mobility challenges stems from a deep-rooted fatalistic belief-system in which a handicap is viewed as a result of bad karma in past births!

A fracture, sickness, age or just being in the family way can make anyone realise the significance of barrier-free infrastructure.

In this light, the announcement of the Accessible India Campaign has been a breakthrough for all of us. This campaign seeks to make a significant number of public buildings, transportation systems, ICT, accessible to persons with disabilities. I applaud this initiative, as besides setting defined timelines and requisite funds, it demonstrates the government’s will for the first time.

However, there are challenges ahead. Given the huge number of buildings to be access audited, there is a dearth of trained auditors. To move in a systematic fashion, the government must ensure that a good number of access auditors are trained by a pre-qualified team of master trainers. Along with this, the government must direct changes in the curricula of architecture and engineering courses to integrate universal design and accessibility. Similarly, accessibility should be a non-negotiable parameter for permitting any new building plan.

I also feel the most important aspect for making this campaign a success is raising awareness in the larger community that accessibility just doesn’t enable the elderly or disabled but raises the quality of life for everyone.

Currently, we are working in the islands of accessibility. The Metro is accessible yet last mile connectivity from people’s home is missing. Lack of information on accessible routes, inaccessible hospitals, inaccessible public toilet units, one disabled-friendly bogey a train, flouting norms of disability access even in five star hotels makes us feel there is a stronger need for stricter enforcement. Therefore, the campaign must also look at creating mechanisms for strict enforcement and introduce heavier penalties in cases of non-compliance and misuse.

We hope that this campaign doesn’t remain confined to Smart Cities or only urban areas, but that it reaches rural India too.

I believe in the goodness and sensitivity of our citizens and I hope that there’ll soon come a time when accessible pedestrian pathways will not be encroached on or misused for driving bikes. That the citizens will appreciate kerb cuts, right gradient ramps, tactile paving, pedestrian crossings and will also report broken or non-working facilities to the concerned authority — for rights come with duties!

We hope that this campaign doesn’t remain confined to Smart Cities or only urban areas, but that it reaches rural India too. For the Accessible India Campaign to be a success, it must become a movement first. And each of us must embrace it because, at some point in our lives, we all stand to benefit from it. Let’s leave hope in our wake for our future world.

Source: Huffingtonpost 

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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

(c) Chennai

(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

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Svayam conducts Access Workshop for Disabled community leaders at Aarth Astha

New Delhi : 16 March 2012

Svayam Team conducted a Training Workshop on “Accessibility in Community Infrastructure” at the invitation of Astha India (NGO) for the disabled community leaders of Lal Kuan and Govind Puri slums.   The community leaders with disabilities have come together under the umbrella of “Viklang Ekta Manch”. Several parents, family members and members of Astha staff were also present in the training session.

The whole exercise was facilitated by Aarth Astha and coordinated by Mr. Binod – himself a person with disability and the community lead for Astha. The leaders were also briefed on conducting access audits and approaching the right authorities for making things happen.

The inputs from Pradeep, Punam and several others regarding the ground conditions in their residential colonies were eye openers for many of us! The training was followed by a Question and Answer session which brought out several issues from attitude of drivers of Delhi Transport Corporation towards the disabled people to inaccessibility from the house to the nearest bus stop / metro station and of admissions in the university under the disability quota to lack of accessible and affordable public transportation to attend college.

It came out that several disabled members despite being very bright and interested to pursue education could not attend colleges /work due to lack of seamless access from their houses/dwellings to the nearest bus stop. Also due to lack of direct accessible transport options, many could not purse regular education. Various government schools in the vicinity were not accessible to children with disabilities and children, especially girls did not go to the school because of lack of accessible and hygenic toilets in the  school.

“Astha’s mandate is to empower persons with disabilities in communities to take up their issues themselves. We are thankful to Svayam Team for agreeing to conduct this workshop for our disabled community leaders at such a short notice. Inaccessibility in the residential dwellings especially in the slums where Astha work has been a big barrier for the children to come out and avail the rehabilitation facilities and options of education and vocation. Disabled community leaders like Pradeep and Poonam are taking this lead and I am sure this workshop will equip them with necessary knowledge to take up their fight against inaccessibility in their colonies to its logical conclusion”, said Ms. Sudha Vohra, Executive Director- Astha.

It is proposed to take this forward by active advocacy for the accessibility rights by the members of the Self Help Group – Viklang Ekta Manch with support from Svayam and Aarth Astha.

Some visuals from the workshop:

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Project Arrow should include mandatory component of Access during renovation of Post Offices

727 more post offices to be upgraded

Dear Friends,

Department of Post is undertaking this exercise of renovating major post office as part of its Project Arrow and we were extremely happy that this renovation will provide opportunity to the the Deportment of Post, Govt. of India to make their Post offices being upgraded under this project accessible to diversity of users including those with reduced mobility and those with disabilities.

However, our recent experience indicates otherwise. A survey of the Post Office at Parliament Street in the heart of Delhi recently upgraded under project Arrow brings out that perhaps the component of access has not been given the priority that it deserved in light of legal mandate of Accessibility in Public Infrastructure. We are taking up this issue with the Department, so that it is addressed now before it is too late.

However, it would be a good economic sense to adhere to the Guidelines on Accessible and Barrier Free Infrastructure at the time of undertaking renovation projects of this magnitude  so that the need of retrofitting at a future date is nipped in the bud and financial resources are used judiciously.

regards

Svayam Team

Click here to read from source

India Post is giving a corporate look to 727 more post offices as part of its “Project Arrow  

New Delhi: After upgrading 1,000 post offices across the country, India Post is giving a corporate look to 727 more with better services under one roof as part of its “Project Arrow”, Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot says.

“The look and feel of these post offices will be different and these offices will be fully computerised with additional features like electronic funds transfer, instant money order and computerised banking services,” Pilot said.

“We picked some 1,000 post offices in 500 districts over the past year and spent Rs 160-odd crore. The look and feel, the aesthetics, the uniform have all changed. They are like a one-stop shop for people looking at a host of services,” he said.

“Once the atmosphere is more welcoming, footfalls will increase. And once the footfalls increase, more revenue will come in. And once more revenue comes in, it motivates our employees,” he added, reports IANS.

“We have started getting results as well. In the last quarter of 2009, these 1,000 post offices saw a 23-per cent jump in revenue,” the Minister said.

The government has around 150,000 post offices across the country and more than 450,000 people working out of them. The idea is to make these offices find ways to counter the loss of revenues on account of telecom, Internet and courier businesses.