The lack of access to basic infrastructure such as buildings, roads, transport and websites prevents a person with disability from being truly ‘independent’ in this country.
For the last three years, on August 14, on eve of the Independence Day, an award is making an attempt to acknowledge the efforts of individuals and organisations doing exemplary work for the cause of accessibility and, thus, ensuring a life of equality and dignity for people with disabilities.
The National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), in association with AccessAbility and BarrierBreak and supported by MphasiS, instituted the NCPEDP-MphasiS Universal Design Awards in 2010 to spread awareness on Universal Design and popularise the concept.
Accessibility not only means access to physical spaces but also access to information, technology, transport, services, aids and appliances, Only a handful of Indian websites are accessible to people with visual disabilities. And most television programming is not accessible to hearing-impaired people.
Some of the previous awardees include Arvind Prabhoo, who runs an accessible cab service in Mumbai and distributes self-learning technologies for free; Dipendra Manocha, who is fighting to make the right to read real for blind persons; and IIM Bangalore, the first IIM to have adopted a clear-cut strategy to become a truly disabled-friendly institute. Other notable awardees include Microsoft, Wipro and lemon Tree Hotels, etc. These awards are given in three categories: People with disabilities; working professionals and corporates or organisations.