Wingz of Angelz seeks a smooth ride for Dubai’s wheelchairs
Campaign group’s Ramp Day on Saturday set to highlight areas that need better accessibility
The Wings of Angelz, and advocacy group, is rallying volunteers for its Ramp Day on Saturday evening.
Its goal is to get wheelchair access across Dubai’s public spaces, urging the city’s residents to join in the accessibility campaign.
The group’s Ramp Day is organised twice a year in the emirate to spread awareness of access for wheelchair users to public places.
Over the past four years, the group has been responsible for 750 ramps being built in Dubai.
“The more people who can join us the better because then more people will understand the challenges people in wheelchairs face,” said Shobhika Kalra, the founder of Wings of Angelz.
“People don’t have to be regular volunteers, they can just join us for a day to look around and find locations that don’t have ramps.”
In October last year, the previous Ramp Day, students and professionals joined in the campaign to raise awareness about the need for better accessibility.
Volunteers peeled off into groups to look for spots with high footpaths near public transport networks, parks, cinemas, residential areas, restaurants, hospitals and schools that needed dropped kerbs and ramps.
It’s not just a movement seeking easy access for people who use wheelchairs, but also the elderly and mothers using prams and pushchairs.
“We ask people who join us to take down details of the location where they feel a ramp will be useful. We fill this in our database and our regular volunteers will follow up with authorities and managers of private or government companies depending on who needs to be contacted,” said Ms Kalra, who suffers from Friedreich’s ataxia, a rare disorder that impairs muscle co-ordination.
The group is hoping to attract people to its cause of making Dubai one of the world’s most disability-friendly cities by 2020.
Under the Dubai Universal Design Code, all new buildings and transport systems must be designed, constructed and managed to ensure people with disabilities can independently use all facilities.
Advocacy groups and people with disabilities point out that while new residential zones and transport hubs have dropped kerbs and ramps, older buildings must construct ramps with gentle slopes that can be negotiated independently by wheelchair users.
“Sometimes the connecting section between two footpaths has a really high kerb. Some footpaths are so high that I need to ask for help from people near by to gently put the wheelchair on the path. It should be standard all over, then no one needs to ask anyone for help,” said Sherry D’mello on the challenges she faces when taking her daughter to meet friends in the Quasis and Al Nahda areas.
“When we point out places near the Metro or bus stops to the authorities, then action is taken and a ramp is built, but the older areas also need to change.”
The group has over the past four years approached local pharmacies, restaurants, supermarket chains and the Roads and Transport Authority to make the city more accessible. Experts say this co-operation will lead to much-needed independence for people with disabilities.
“The idea is that a person in a wheelchair or an elderly person should be able to travel on her own from their residence to workplace without requesting help from anybody,” Ms Kalra said.
“They should also be able to leave their work and go out with friends to any place without having someone pull up their wheelchair because the footpath is so high.”
Authorities have previously said that hotels, tourism centres and transport networks must join forces to position Dubai and the UAE as an accessible destination by listening to the issues raised by people with disabilities.
A unified public works approach with government departments being given the responsibility of inclusion is part of the goal leading to 2020.
Authorities have also announced plans to retrofit schools, hospitals and public areas that were built earlier to ensure access.
Volunteers can meet up to be part of Ramp Day, the first of this year, on Saturday at 5.30pm near the main entrance of Mercato Mall parking lot.
More details about the campaign are on the Wings-OfAngelz Facebook page.
A person in a wheelchair or an elderly person should be able to travel on her own from their residence to workplace without requesting help from anybody SHOBHIKA KALRA Founder, Wings of Angelz