Disabled Left Behind in the Race of Cars

Disabled Left Behind in the Race of Cars

If wishes were cars, most of us would have a fleet of the most desirable cars of the world in our garage—Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Ferrari and Bugatti Veyron. Sadly, wishes are not cars and most of us have to do with lesser cars or no cars at all.

The automotive market in India has opened up and we have various types of cars now. If one studies the market, it shows more than just cars or two-wheelers. It tells the story of a country changing so quickly through the kinds of cars available that one could actually tell where its people stand and where India is headed for?

The cheapest car in the country, or anywhere in the world, is Tata Nano. Ratan Tata has single-handedly made the dreams of millions of lower class and rural Indians of owning a car possible. Aimed at the aam aadmi, it is nano-sized and nano-priced.

However, contrary to expectations, its positioning as a cheap car proved to be its undoing, and it is struggling to find a foothold in the auto sector. It goes to show the rising aspirations of the common person for whom a car is not just a vehicle of mobility, but also a statement of one’s position in society.

At the other end of the spectrum are designer cars that have been added flourishes by people like Dilip Chhabria, to make them stand apart. The cost is no bar, one boasting a `4-crore price tag. They are for ones who go for the snob value of a product, and want something exclusive.

A very different vehicular segment, largely ignored, is for those among us who are less visible and not considered as market for cars; the un-factored but huge segment of people with disabilities, who number about 7 to 10 crores.

With public transport not being disabled-friendly, this section remains largely cooped up in their homes, not because of physical handicap but because they do not have a viable means of travelling around independently. Hence, they remain deprived of education, employment, entertainment and other activities. So, instead of becoming a contributing and productive segment, they become a liability to society.

On the positive side, one vehicle has been designed for people with disabilities. Called Plexus (Personal Vehicle for Transporting Wheelchairs), it is a vehicle in which a wheelchair can be wheeled in directly for the user.

If India wants to accelerate its sluggish pace of development, all of its people need to be mobile, independent and on the go. This is a vast market for technical products that manufacturers are not tapping into. With the assistance of such customised products, a new wave of workforce that is being left behind can enter the job market. This can only enhance our economy.

Now, if someone from the government throws a dinner and brings together such revolutionary people who think off the beaten track, leave them in a room for 30 minutes and then see, what emerges out of that extempore boardroom meeting! I have a feeling it would be a vehicle of progress with the body aesthetics of a DC, the mind of a Tata and the spirit of a professor.

Source : http://www.newindianexpress.com/opinion/Disabled-Left-Behind-in-the-Race-of-Cars/2013/12/18/article1950758.ece

'Accessible' transport for disabled sought in West Bengal

'Accessible' transport for Disabled sought in West Bengal

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Blaming government apathy for the harassment they are forced to face while availing public conveyance, people with disabilities in West Bengal Saturday demanded an "accessible transport system".

Despite the existence of legislation as well as guidelines from the Calcutta High Court prohibiting harassment, commuting for people with disabilities has become a nightmare, they said.

Earlier this week, a disabled woman who runs an NGO to fight for social equality was treated inhumanly, while she was travelling with her minor daughter in a mini-bus.

The woman claimed her right to travel free on a pass because of her disability, and also showed her identity card, but was shoved around, taunted, and confined in the bus by its conductor and driver.

Highlighting their plight, the Sruti Disability Rights Centre and Human Rights Law Network, non-governmental organisations working for human rights, said they would meet representatives of the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government seeking implementation of the provisions of the Persons With Disability Act, 1995 as well as the court's guidelines seeking to facilitate easy commuting of disabled people.

"Hearing a public interest litigation, the high court in June had laid down guidelines prohibiting harassment, asking for installation of auditory signals and reservation of seats in buses. Unfortunately, the state government has not implemented even one percent of those guidelines," Debashis Banerjee, a lawyer, said.

Visually challenged Sourav Bose, an insurance agent, described daily commuting as a nightmare.

"While commuting is a nightmare, the apathy toward us is reflected by the fact that most government buildings don't have ramps or lifts fitted with voice-announcements of the different floors, making it difficult for us to access them. The irony is, the office of the disability commissioner here too falls under the same category of buildings," Bose said.

Sharing a similar ordeal, physically challenged Bubai Bag - a research scholar - said: "The government has reserved a train compartment for the disabled, but has never given a thought to how a man like me would eventually reach that compartment".

"Just by reserving two seats in a bus or train, the government cannot wash its hands of its responsibilities. Who will sensitise people who operate the buses? While commuting, we realise how unacceptable we are to society," Bag said.

With the state government yet to implement the high court guidelines, lawyer Banerjee said the organisations were planning to file contempt proceedings.

"While the plans to file contempt proceedings are afoot, we don't want to rush things. Rather, we would like to meet government representatives, especially the state transport minister, to discuss things.

"While the government has shown its intent, it's the transport operators who have been creating hurdles. They neither implement the court guidelines nor do they come to the discussion table," legal counsel Banerjee said.

Source : http://in.news.yahoo.com/39-accessible-39-transport-disabled-sought-west-bengal-143404983.html

Discrimination against disabled

Discrimination against disabled

Jeeja Ghosh, a teacher from Kolkata, has been a regular at India’s largest conference on Inclusive Education — ‘the North South Dialogue’. This year’s 4th edition in Goa was no different — Jeeja had been invited to address delegates from 22 countries for one of the sessions.

But she was in for a rude shock on February 20, 2012. She was comfortably seated after boarding SpiceJet flight SG305 when she noticed some commotion. Flight attendants requested her boarding pass and asked her to accompany them. Jeeja was deplaned, and sent back in a car to the terminal without any explanation.

There, an already anxious Jeeja learned to her further agitation that the captain of the flight was refusing to have her on the aircraft as he felt she was not fit to travel. Jeeja’s indignant assertion that she was a frequent flyer, flying alone nationally and internationally, could not convince the airline authorities who pleaded their inability to persuade pilot Captain Utprabh Tiwari who assumed that Jeeja had a mental health problem and thus could not be allowed to fly unaccompanied.

Who is Jeeja Ghosh?

Jeeja Ghosh, 42, completed her schooling from La Martiniere for Girls and graduated from Presidency College with honours in Sociology. She also has a Masters in Social Work from Delhi University and a degree in Disability Studies from Leeds University in the UK. While studying in the UK, Jeeja lived independently.

Jeeja was born with cerebral palsy but as is evident from her academic achievements has not let her disability come in the way of her work. Despite having some difficulties with speech and balance, she is the sole bread-winner of her family and with some help from her sister Anindita, Jeeja supports their mother Jayshree. Jeeja also appeared on a popular TV game show called Didi No 1 and won – all the other competitors were able-bodied.

She has worked with the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy for more than a decade and has become the face of rights advocacy in India and abroad. She is a recipient of the Late N D Diwan Memorial Award 2007 from the National Society for Equal Opportunities for the Handicapped in Mumbai.

What is cerebral palsy?

Cerebral palsy is a disabling condition that affects thousands of babies and children every year.  While some persons with CP use wheelchairs, others are able to walk with the help of crutches or braces; some people may not be able to speak at all while others may have speech which is affected. In simple terms, a person with CP has trouble controlling muscles. This is because Cerebral Palsy affects the brain which is the organ that controls the movement in our bodies, telling the body what to do and when to do it. Depending on which part of the brain is affected, a person with CP might not be able to walk, talk or eat the way persons without CP are able to.

Clipped wings

Jeeja is not the first person with a disability to be discriminated against when it comes to air travel in India.

In October 2006, actor Prithvi Raj’s 11-year-old autistic son was prevented from boarding a flight to Chennai. Security staff for Air Deccan at the Bangalore airport prevented him from boarding on the grounds that he looked “different”, “mentally unstable” and would pose a danger to other passengers. His parents argued with the staff for 30 minutes before being allowed to board with him.

Rajiv Rajan, a human rights activist who also has cerebral palsy, brought this grave injustice to light in June 2007 when Air Sahara (now Jetlite) refused to let him board a flight in Chennai on the grounds that he did not have an escort. He was also asked to produce a fit-to-fly certificate. When Rajiv refused to do so, the airline called the police and Rajiv missed his flight to Delhi. Ironically he was on his way to attend a meeting on disability at the invitation of the Government of India! The incident and action by the airline was roundly condemned and as a result the Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) framed guidelines for disabled passengers after consulting disabled persons and airlines which came into effect in May 2009. Guidelines had only covered medically ill persons.

Still in May 2010, a 37-year-old man named Rizwan with a mental disability, travelling with his mother and sister, was refused a boarding pass by IndiGo airlines. Rizwan’s sister Nusrat Fatima Jafri was told that he was a threat to other passengers, even though the family was carrying a medical certificate. Such incidents occur every year.

Reactions to Jeeja incident

Jeeja’s co-passengers supported her when she protested being made to deplane but to no avail. The next morning the airport police asked Jeeja if she wanted to lodge a complaint. Meanwhile, representatives of the disability sector and citizens in general were outraged at the airline’s move. Javed Abidi, convener of India’s oldest advocacy group Disabled Rights Group (DRG), called for an “exemplary punishment of levying a hefty fine on SpiceJet and demanded the suspension of the pilot who discriminated against Jeeja.

For its part the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment called for an immediate inquiry into the incident and asked that the person(s) found guilty be punished. The chief commissioner for persons with disabilities issued notices to the DGCA and the airline, SpiceJet, asking what action had been taken by them to compensate Ghosh. The airline claimed that the incident was “totally inadvertent” and triggered by “some miscommunication”. It says it has launched an inquiry into the conduct of the pilot and other staff involved in the incident and promised action if they were found guilty of discrimination against Jeeja. In fact a representative from the airline visited Jeeja the day after the incident with an apology and an offer to escort her to the airport for another flight to Goa but she had taken ill after the humiliation and was not able to take the flight. .

Dignity of the disabled

Jeeja had never let her disability come in the way of her achievements — she had lived and travelled alone nationally and internationally for years before this incident took place. While on Didi No 1, Jeeja said she had won because she wanted to change the way the world judged people — by their appearance instead of by their ability.

What the law says

India has four laws pertaining to persons with disability:

*Mental Health Act of 1987

* Rehabilitation Council of India Act of 1992

*The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995

* The National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation, and Multiple Disabilities Act of 1999.

India is also a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (UNCRPD).

While progress has been made in changing attitudes in India with regards to disability, India still has some archaic laws.

In the case of air travel, the villain is Section 24A of the Aircraft Rules of 1937 which states, “No person shall knowingly carry or permit to be carried, or connive at the carriage of, a person suffering from any mental disorder or epilepsy in any aircraft.”

However activists say the UNCRPD overrides such laws. Further civil aviation laws and DGCA rules protect and aim to facilitate air travel of the disabled. The civil aviation law says airlines should not discriminate against disabled persons and “should provide them assistance so that they can travel with dignity and comfort”.

Airlines also cannot refuse seats to persons with “disability or reduced mobility and their assistive aids/devices, escorts and guide dogs, including their presence in the cabin...”

Indian Railways and Disability Rights, Need a Separate Railway Bill for Traveler with Special Needs

Railways and Disability Rights

The European Union’s legislation on passenger rights that became effective in December 2009 sets out minimum quality standards that have to be guaranteed to rail passengers. Inter alia, it lays down the right to transport for passengers with reduced mobility and is a major step in ensuring that these passengers can travel in a way that is comparable to other citizens. Railway companies have been mandated to provide them assistance on board as well as during boarding and disembarking from a train, free of charge. The stated objective of this legislation is to safeguard users’ rights for passengers and to improve the quality and effectiveness of rail passenger services in order to help increase the share of rail transport in relation to other modes of transport.

In some European countries, there are commercial agreements between the station manager and the railway undertaking to help passengers in boarding and alighting from trains. In several others, information about the meeting place and the type of disability is sent by email, and the station staff then waits for the passenger at the agreed location. In Sweden, the ministry of transport has decided that such assistance should be provided by a neutral body accessible to all operators. The company contracted for this work takes charge of bringing the customer to the platform and the train, and thereafter the train operator’s staff helps the passenger to board the train. In Italy, passengers with reduced mobility can notify their need for assistance to the dedicated service centres set up by the infrastructure manager; specialised ground staff, dedicated to supporting persons with reduced mobility then help those who have asked for assistance to board or alight from trains. In Slovenia, special lifts have been purchased to enable wheelchair users to board trains at major stations. And, in the Netherlands, all the trains managed by Arriva — the largest private operator in the country — have a sliding step that enables disabled persons to get on and off trains without assistance.

In India, the government enacted the People with Disabilities, Equal Opportunities and Protection of Rights Act in 1995 that provides for equal opportunities and facilities for the physically challenged. Subsequently, comprehensive instructions were issued by Indian Railways in 2007 for setting up various facilities at stations and in the trains for the disabled.

Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha in 2010, the minister of railways had stated that  specially designed Second class Luggage-cum-Guard coaches, known as SLRD, had been declared as unreserved coaches, fully earmarked for physically handicapped persons in all mail/express trains (except fully reserved trains). She had further elaborated that about 680 pairs of mail/express trains except special type trains (Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Jan Shatabdi, AC Special and Duronto) had been provided with one SLRD coach, and that all Garib Rath trains had been provided with coach having accommodation for physically handicapped persons.

Unfortunately, even today, the assistance provided to a wheelchair-bound passenger is only minimal. The problems encountered by persons with restricted mobility while travelling by train are many and call for urgent remedial measures. The coaches for the disabled are reported to be two feet high and over one foot away from the platform without a ramp. The coaches are also generally unreserved and a disabled person would rarely prefer travelling unreserved as it may compromise with his safety and convenience.

Inter-platform transfer continues to be a major irritant. In the words of an aggrieved passenger, “the basic issue of inter-platform transfer seems to have been entirely ignored. I have always been taken as a luggage over the railway tracks by a coolie, putting me as a passenger at a higher risk of accidents than anybody else”. Another passenger laments that at a station in Delhi there was no arrangement for any wheelchair and he had to be transported on a luggage cart across the tracks through a dimly lighted area that was risky and dangerous.

It is to be regretted that the booklet “Trains at a Glance” containing the timetable and other information for rail travelers makes only a passing mention of the assistance available to passengers with reduced mobility. It merely states that 150 ‘A’ class stations have been identified for providing booths for making assistance available to the physically challenged. Had the Indian Railways cared enough, it should have given the names of all the stations where such facilities have been provided, with detailed information about the availability of ramps, accessible toilets, services at stations, and the meeting points where the disabled passenger can meet the station staff before joining the train. This would have been extremely helpful not only to the domestic but also to the foreign travelers who visit India to experience the romance of rail journeys.

It is not that Indian Railways are unmindful of the requirements of travelers with special needs, but what is lacking is the proper implementation, supervision and monitoring of the facilities that have been provided so far, and a well-formulated plan for upgrading these to international standards. One fails to see the seriousness of railways’ intent in reaching out to the disabled, and assuring them that they are no less privileged than its other customers. As things stand today, the procedures for getting wheelchairs at the stations have not been streamlined, there is absence of trained staff to escort disabled passengers to the train, and the ramps over which wheelchairs can be moved from the platform to the coach have not been made available. Concessions in train fares are not sufficient to incentivise the disabled to travel by train. They must also be made to feel that they are not being discriminated against.

Perhaps there is a strong case for bringing out a separate Railway Disabled Passenger Rights Act so that access to special facilities at railway stations and trains can be demanded by passengers as a matter of right, enforceable by law, and with penalties on the transporter in the event these are not made available. To begin with, the Act may cover only the major railway stations, and later be extended to other stations in a planned, phased and time-bound manner.

The author is a former MD of Railway Finance Corporation.

E-mail: mathur.surendra@gmail.com

Source : http://www.newindianexpress.com/opinion/Railways-and-Disability-Rights/2013/06/24/article1649343.ece

Have Wheelchair, Will Travel

Have wheelchair, will travel

Inclusive travel is one of those tides that washes into public consciousness each time news breaks of a voyager in a wheelchair, only to recede from collective memory when the deed is done. The challenged itinerant is left to deal with problems like fitting through a hotel room door, boarding a plane or finding a toilet. Lately, however, several initiatives have been introduced that could have the disabled out and about in greater numbers. 

Varun Jain, a 29-year-old paraplegic from Rishikesh, is an inveterate traveller who launched his inclusive travel company two years ago. Travel My Way aims to reach out to wheelchair-confined travellers. "Having travelled often I recognized the need for travel companies and travel assistance providers for the differently abled," says Jain, who set about auditing hospitality and transport providers in the hills, and listing locally available caregivers. He also sensitized taxi drivers about how to interact with travellers with special needs. A camp operator near Mussoorie went so far as to make his campsite obstacle-free for the wheelchair-bound. "They may not partake in adventure sports but they should have the opportunity to enjoy the camaraderie at a campsite," Jain believes. 

About a year before Jain floated his pennant, a socially-oriented company called Travel Another India (TAI) and a disability advocacy collective from Ladakh called PAGIR embarked on a project to make Leh wheelchair-accessible through Himalaya on Wheels. They identified monuments, hotels and lodges, assistive facilities and itineraries that catered to those in wheelchairs. "Hotel owners built larger rooms so people in wheelchairs could navigate more freely. Even the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council promised to act on our recommendations for accessible pavements," says Gouthami founder of TAI. 

Further south, in Bangalore, Vidhya Ramasubban started a taxi service called Kickstart when she realized that the unavailability of adapted vehicles could curtail the mobility of the disabled (and also the elderly and infirm). Her fleet of modified cars has front seats that swivel out and ramps. The three-month-old service currently has more pensioners as clients than people with disabilities, but she hopes that will change. "As more of the disabled get jobs in the corporate sector they'll want to travel more," she predicts. 

However, despite best efforts, such enterprises are not making the expected numbers, even though the estimated number of people in India with disabilities is 21.9 million. Even the ministry of tourism has lately woken up to their potential to contribute to domestic tourism and has identified Accessible Tourism as a new vertical to be developed. They've started by issuing guidelines to make tourist facilities, hotels and monuments barrier-free, and instituted an award for the Most Barrier-Free Monument/Tourist Attraction. 

The problem is that people with disabilities have little or no faith in Indian establishments going beyond the brief. "I know that in India one can't depend on public transport. Even some hotels that claim to be accessible on sites like TripAdvisor are not really," says Shivani Gupta, founder of the consultancy AccessAbility. Gupta, a PG in inclusive environments, is often called to weigh in on structural modifications in buildings to render them disability-compliant. "While the ministry of tourism has issued star ratings for accessible hotels, and the Archeological Survey of India has committed to making historical sites accessible, much of the change is only on paper. Moreover, a wide range of disabilities demands a wide range of adaptive interventions, which are not comprehensively made," she points out. 

Prof K Raghuraman, who teaches English at the Government Arts College in Chennai, suggests braille maps and city guides to help visually impaired people like himself find their bearings. "Museums should have tactile instructions navigational cards or audio guides," he adds. "When I went to a museum in Mys ore with my parents, they were too exhausted to explain all the exhibits to me What about guides trained in sign language for the deaf-mute?" 

Neenu Kewlani, who has scoliosis and polio, points out that specialised travel is the prerogative of the rich, who can afford to travel by air or in their modified vehicles and stay in pricey barrier-free rooms In 2011, Kewlani and three of her wheel chair-bound friends, Arvind Prabhoo Nishant Khade and Sunita Sancheti, set off on a 84-day tour of 28 state capitals They experienced first-hand the inadequacies of the road and pointed these out to state governments and non-profits. "When more disabled people are visible on the streets, it will encourage others to come out too," says Kewlani, who travelled with a portable shower chair and bedpans as public toilets make no room for wheel chairs. However, the disabled won't venture out until provisions are in place to guarantee their safety and comfort away from home — an admittedly daunting task in India where in classic cart-before-horse logic, hotels want to see the numbers before they make structural changes. 

Change will be slow in coming but it will arrive, entrepreneurs like Piya Bose are confident. The founder of Girls on The Go, a travel company exclusively for wom en, is planning to set up a travel vertical for the disabled. She's beginning with a series of recces to holiday spots, starting with Goa (which entails identifying an accessible beach). "People need to under stand the business potential of this segment," she says, "Even countries in East Asia and Africa are ahead of us in this regard." Bose wants to eventually customize tours for travellers with different kinds of disabilities, no doubt the beginning of a long and promising journey. 

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/stoi/Have-wheelchair-will-travel/articleshow/25532386.cms

Air India forces Disabled Passenger to Cancel Ticket : A Case of Mr. Md. Faizal Nawaz

Air India forces Disabled Passenger to Cancel Ticket

Mohammad Faizal Nawaz, a 30-year-old engineer with the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, says the choice between travelling by Air India and Indian Railways is like choosing between the devil and the deep sea. Hailing from Delhi, he has been taking trains to travel between Bangalore and Delhi since May after a traumatic experience with the Air India in April.

Two days prior to travel on April 12, Nawaz was made to cancel his tickets from Bangalore to Delhi and re-book it for April 19 as he was 'late' in informing authorities about his condition. Nawaz suffers from severe respiratory compromise, and has a life-long disability. Despite mailing his certificates to AI, he was asked to personally submit the certificates at their Bangalore and Delhi offices or risk another cancellation. A disability rights activist, he has suffered from kypho scoliosis (abnormal curvature of spine) and polio since childhood. A spinal surgery in 2012 forced him to use BiPap (portable ventilator) and oxygen support.

"I emailed my ticket details and medical certificates to AI reservation managers at Delhi and Bangalore," he says. "I was advised to cancel the tickets and submit a form along with certificates from my physician and AI physician," says Nawaz. He cancelled tickets, filled the medical assistance form, got it certified from his physician at Bangalore, and booked a return ticket from Delhi to Bangalore for May 9. A few days before the departure, he was asked to personally get his documents certified from the medical section of AI as the email copies were of low resolution.

He filled a new MEDA form and sent certified copies to AI's Delhi office two weeks before his return journey. "I got a call from AI saying my certificates were two weeks old and as my medical condition could have changed since then, I had to get myself physically examined again and submit new certificates, else I would have to cancel my tickets."

An AI official in Delhi said, "In case of respiratory conditions, the airline has to ensure the aircraft has enough oxygen cylinders. There is no specific time limit before which the passenger must inform about his or her requirements."

Source : http://www.indianexpress.com/news/air-india-forces-disabled-passenger-to-cancel-ticket/1146429

Fleet For Disabled Rolls Out

Fleet For Disabled Rolls Out

Close to World Disability Day (December 3), KickStart, a fleet of three disabled-friendly cabs, hit the road on Thursday.

It's designed to provide accessibility to persons with disabilities and senior citizens, and aims at making Bangalore transportation-friendly for all. The fleet comprises three cars re-modelled for the differently-abled.

"The concept is constructive and a much-required service which provides freedom, mobility and dignity to those who need support. Such an initiative will surely make the city more inclusive," said KS Rajanna, state disability commissioner.

The service providers plan to create employment for women and transgenders as cab drivers. Apart from training drivers to be sensitive to passengers, vehicles are being fitted with a GPS-tracking system. "Over the next five years, we expect to reach out to 5,000 persons with disabilities and the elderly. Though three is a very small number, it's not bad for a start. We hope to gradually scale up our fleet," said Vidya Kalyani Ramasubban, director, Wheels of Change.

It's an initiative of MphasiS with Wheels of Change (an NGO) as the partner.

The three vehicles

* First cab: Swivel-chair model where the front passenger seat comes halfway out of the door. This enables the passenger using crutches/ walking stick to stand up and sit down as in a regular chair. Transfer from seat and vice-versa is simple with this adaptation for wheelchair users too

* Second cab: Has ramp that opens out of the vehicle door, enabling the wheelchair user to get in through the ramp. Wheelchair is locked in the vehicle for a safe ride

* Third cab: Front passenger turns out like the first model. The wheelchair frame can be attached to the bottom of the turned-out seat. The whole seat can be brought out of the car and the car seat becomes a wheelchair as it comes out

Who benefits

According to the 2001 census, there are 6 lakh persons with disabilities and 7 lakh senior citizens in Bangalore

* Assuming about 10% of this population are potential cab-users, that number is 1.3 lakh

* 96% of people with disabilities who responded to a survey spoke about their need for accessible transport service

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Fleet-for-disabled-rolls-out/articleshow/26543102.cms