The disabled are still being shortchanged

The Delhi government has invited the HC’S ire for not conducting access audits

Celebrated British physicist Stephen Hawking, who died recently, once said: “People with disabilities are vulnerable because of the many barriers they face: attitudinal, physical, and financial. Addressing these barriers is within our reach ..... But most important, addressing these barriers will unlock the potential of so many people with so much to contribute to the world.” Hawking’s call for action is something which willfallby thewaysideheregiventheindifferencecreatedbyred tape and government agencies. Expressing displeasure with the sluggishness with which the Delhi government was acting with respect to carrying out audits of the disabled friendliness of buildings, parks, schools and other public places, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar said on Wednesday: “We don’t want lip service from government agencies... we want action.”

But Delhi isn’t the only offender when it comes to inaction on matters that affect the lives of 26.8 million physically challenged people in the country. One of the recommendations of the Disabilities Bill was setting a deadline for the creation of barrier-free access to buildings and transport systems. As part of the Accessible India Campaign, the flagship national programme to make public buildings and transport less hostile for the physically challenged, 50% of all of these were to be made fully disabled friendly by July 2018. But more than two years after the launch of the campaign, only 3% of buildings have become accessible.

It isn’t just buildings, the Centre’s target of making at least 25% of public transport disabled-friendly has also not been met. For a day, try boarding a train, going to school, watching a movie or operating an ATM in a wheelchair. It may help you realise why access means so much to the disabled.