The United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities is observed on December 3 to focus on issues that affect people with disabilities worldwide. The aim of the day is to encourage a better understanding of people affected by a disability together with helping to make people more aware of the rights, dignity and welfare of disabled people. This year’s theme is ‘Empowering persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality.’
As per the 2011 Census, the total disabled population in Odisha is 12,44,402. Among them, 21.20% are reported in the category of Seeing, 19.11% in Hearing, 5.51% in Speech, 20.89% in Movement, 5.82% in Mental Retardation, 13.9% in Any Other category and 10.14% in Multiple Disability.
It is revealed from the data that the highest percentage of disabled persons in Odisha is found in the age group 10-19 years(15.09%) followed by the age group 20-29 (13.34) while 4.03% of the disabled persons are reported in the age group 0-4, 6.69% in the age group of 5-9, 12.22% in the age group 30-39, 11.75% in the age group 50-59, 12.69% in the age group 60-69, 9.28% in the age group 70-79, 3.54% in the age group 80-89 and 0.88% in the age group of 90+.
A disable person should be able to commute between home, work and other destinations. The houses, schools and other public places need to be designed as barrier free. To safeguard the interests of the disadvantaged sections of the Society, the Constitution guarantees that no person will be denied ‘equality’ before the law (Article 14). The Government of India formulated the National Policy for Persons with Disabilities in 2006 which deals with physical, educational and economic rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. In addition the policy also focuses upon rehabilitation of women and children with disabilities, barrier free environment, social security etc. The Odisha State Government has enacted Persons with Disabilities (Equal opportunities, Protection of right and full participation) Odisha Rules, 2003.
As per the rules, the buildings, places, transportation systems for public use will be made barrier free. Under Section 42-Barrier-free access for the physically challenged person under Planning and
Building standard regulation of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority mentions, “Adequate provision for facilitating easy access of physically challenged persons shall be made in all public buildings in accordance with the provisions of National Building Code of India including the minimum facility to reach the staircase/lift without any barrier.” The lack of architectural access affects many people with different kinds of disabilities. There should be proper Architectural accessibility to and from the built environment, from a parking lot, a bus stop or the street.
All public buildings, public places and all connecting routes should be designed to allow barrier-free access and mobility for the disabled. It is highly recommended to implement the policies that will help the persons with disability to move and work in a safe environment. The barrier free city map can be prepared and available in the Internet and people with disabilities can use it to plan their own barrier-free route for reaching their desired destination quickly and safely.
The Government of India has launched Accessible India Campaign, a flagship programme to create barrier free environment for Persons with Disabilities on December 3, 2015. The campaign targets creation of physical infrastructure truly accessible and inclusive for the persons with disabilities and for making public buildings, transport system and information communications technology accessible on a wide scale. With a view to make all Government buildings accessible, the Government of India has issued harmonized guidelines and space standards for barrier free environment for persons with disabilities and elderly persons. All the mandatory provisions are being followed in all new projects post issuance of these guidelines.
Model Building byelaws have also been revised. The revised byelaws were released on March 18, 2016 which contains separate provision for differently –abled, elderly and children which are applicable to all buildings and facilities used by public such as educational, institutional, Assembly, commercial, group housing etc. It has also ensured engagement of Access Audit Consultants for all existing buildings under Central Government for retrofitting to make them barrier free.
The persons with disabilities need special care in the society. Withrequired assistance they can contribute to the wellbeing of a nation in several ways. Though there have been improvements in our country over the last few years, disabled people and their families confront isolation and exclusion and remain on the fringes of society.
Disabled persons encounter many obstacles that prevent them from moving about freely and safely. Despite legislation in India making it mandatory for all public buildings to be accessible to the disabled, hardly any have ramps or lifts that accommodate wheelchairs, signs in Braille, audio commands at traffic signals, or toilets that wheelchair-bound people can use. Therefore, while designing the built environment; adequate space should be allocated for persons using mobility devices, wheelchairs, crutches and walkers, as well as those walking with the assistance of other persons.
(Dr Praharaj teaches at Department of Architecture, College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar)
