Even as the Government has started work on its ‘accessible India’ project, the disability right activists are demanding efficiency and a more focused approach towards making the physical and the communication environment barrier free.
The activists who met in the Capital for a two-day workshop to brainstorm ways and draw up a plan to make “Access for All” a basic right for all, agreed that the Centre needed to act fast if they did not want the 70 million population of disabled to continue suffering.
“India is home to over 70 million people with disabilities and another 90 million elderly people getting disabled with age but technically not counted among the disabled population,” said Javed Abidi, founder-director, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP).
“The infrastructure is completely hostile for the people with disabilities, be it the built up environment, products or communication services like websites, television or books. All these together creates obstacles in the way of people with disabilities in accessing their right to education, employment, entertainment, travel, commute, independence, health, legal rights and the list is endless,” said Abidi.
Abidi said that despite the Ministry Of Social Justice And Empowerment having embarked on its very ambitious ‘Sugamya Bharat’ or its Access for All project, the lack of dialogue and little coordination between various Ministries is not helping the cause.
“If the right arm and left arm of the Government work in tandem, half our problems will be resolved and future generations of people with disabilities will not be discriminated against,” said Abidi.
The NCPEDP is in talks with three Ministries - Railways, Urban Development, and Communication, Information and Technology to work out ways to transform the physical and communication environment.
“Our demands are simple we are not asking for the moon. We (disabled people) also want to have the right to live with dignity,” said Abidi.
Abidi who met up with Suresh Prabhu, Minister for railways, said that the latter announced the setting up of a high level group to look into NCPEDP’s demand of making railways accessible and to propose solutions to the issues raised by Abidi.
“The Indian Railways is one of the largest networks of railways in the world carrying over 23 million passengers a day. Yet, despite its best intentions, the infrastructure and facilities of the Indian Railways remain inaccessible to people with disabilities,” he said.
The NCPEDP has demanded accessible stations, accessible coaches, accessible reservation systems, and an accessible website (for people with visual disabilities).
“We are also asking the Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu to include the needs of the disabled when designing the plan for the smart cities,” said Abidi.