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Disability groups demand user-friendly
transport
Whether
going to a movie, visiting friends, getting to school or work or seeing the
doctor, riding the bus or train
is a daily necessity. Everyone, regardless of their abilities and disabilities,
has the right to use public transport with dignity and independence. But the
disabled often get a raw deal when travelling.
Many
countries have special features built in to their public transport systems to
meet the needs of disabled and other travelers such as pregnant women, elderly
people and those carrying small children. With rapid urbanization and expansion
of public transport, disability activists are working with government and
private companies to help
India
follow suit.
ActionAid
is part of the Karnataka Initiative on Disability and Development - a network of
organizations working on disability issues – that is organising
training
for disabled activists, state officials and technical experts.
Nithila
Baskaran at ActionAid explains: “We
promote the concept of universal design: We believe that public services and
utilities should be accessible to all, including persons with disabilities.
Accessibility is not an issue exclusive to people with disabilities.”
Future
designs
As
part of the training, transport department officials were taken to assess
Shivajinagar bus stand – a major transport hub in
Bangalore
– so they could see for themselves the challenges disabled users face.
Television
channels filmed the visit and caught on camera a pledge from Bangalore Metro to
make their service user-friendly.
"We
will transmit what we have learnt to our in-house engineers and consultants who
are in the process of designing our subways, our elevated rail systems as well
as elevated platforms,"
states Jitender Nag, the chief of corporate communications for Bangalore Metro.
Activists
hope such practical training will bring about a visible change in the perception
of transport officials.
“We
feel encouraged that three major state transport corporations have now been
sensitized to the issue of inaccessible public services and have given a
commitment to change existing services,”
says Victor Cordeiro of ActionAid’s disability unit.
Access
for all
The
aim the training is to build a cadre of ‘access auditors’ both in transport
departments and disabled people’s organisations
to help the government monitor design standards in public transport and ensure
user friendly services.
Participants
from Karnataka
State Rural Transport Corporation,
Bangalore
’s Metro Rail Corporation and disabled people’s organisations
from Karnataka,
Delhi
and Jharkhand are among those working to develop the
necessary attitude, knowledge and skills.
“Universal
design simply means that whatever you produce, manufacture, or design should be
in a way that all people can use it. So, the objective of this training is to
make the environment barrier free," adds
Cordeiro.
Partners
for success
This training programme was funded entirely by Christoffel-Blindenmission. ActionAid’s partners in this venture also include the Association of Italian Felerio Organisation and Leonard Cheshire International as well as
Samarthya India , the organisation that helped to make Delhi Metro one of the world’s most accessible public transport
systems.
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