My mother has been house-bound since this January. For the past couple of weeks, she has been thinking about venturing out. Somewhere. Anywhere. I'm happy. I hate it that she is confined to the house. But I'm also worried. Every place she goes, there would be steps to climb. The state I live in is extremely unfriendly to old people and to the physically disabled.
I know she would love to go to a bookshop, but all the good ones are on roads with uneven pavements. On MG Road, the pavements are a foot higher than the road and would involve strenuous effort on her part to climb them. An impossible feat, in fact. Visits to most hotels and restaurants are out of the question. Even if they are not on the first floor, at the top of a steep flight of stairs, we would still have the pavement obstacle to cross. I came across Paresh Palicha's blog on accessibility, which must have been started with the purpose of tackling this issue. It seems the author lost interest in it. I found it interesting, and the last post informative.
Paresh uses a wheel chair and it made me wonder how he negotiates this city that we both live in. It really strikes you just how unfriendly we are to the less than able when you go to the railway station. It's a nightmare, really. I worked away from home for a year, and my parents used to come visiting regularly. The railway stations at both Ernakulam and Trivandrum used to cause us nightmares. A journey used to involve climbing those overhead crossings that all railway stations in India are famous for. The steps are uneven, and worn smooth in places. You can actually lose your footing if you are not careful. The platforms are unevenly paved and if you do not watch out, you can trip and take a bad fall. The level of the platforms are so much lower than the bogey floor that you have to swing yourself upwards into the train while holding on the sidebar at the door. The toilets on the trains are so cramped and difficult.
Yes, I do want to encourage my mother to take a trip outside the house, but I just wish it was easier to deal with. I worry about it, and then i worry that if she senses my worry, it will have a detrimental effect on her confidence. As you can see, I am back to my favourite pastime - worrying.
There does not seem to be any public action in this regard. The Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities are comprehensive, but this seems like a distant dream in India. If any of you know any organisation which is involved in canvassing for increased accessibility in public places for the physically disabled, please do let me know.
6 comments:
As Paresh Palicha writes in his blog the renovated BTH is a really good place to go out to. I had written about the trip I took with my mother in Jan--just a couple of weeks before she passed away--to Kochi. She had no problem in BTH. What had excited her the most was that even the bathrooms were at a comfortable height. Do take your mom there as a first visit out.
Hey, i dunno much bout geography of your town, but d probs r same in pretty much all cities....
wud ur mom like gardens? couple of hrs of fresh air does something nice to any1.
hope this trip works out well
makes sense......when i first came to america, i used to laugh, because even a single storied building had an elevator that would take you to the basement or attic....i laughed at it saying that these americans were fat-asses who prefered not to climb. but as i worked here more and more, I realize that these facilities are meant for the physically disabled...makes sense.. and who cares if everyone uses it....!! every public building here MUST be accessable to every individual..its the law....and yeaa i agree our country is not that friendly....recently our railways have special coaches alloted to the physically challenged.... it sounds like a good and thoughtful move....but..guess what....they are accomodated in the luggage van..and on AC trains like rajdhani and statabdi, they are in the generator coach...seems like railways is gonna make them deaf too.
I think the newer enterprises are making an attempt to be more considerate. The current branch I am at does have 'inclined planes' to help people who would have difficulty with stairs. But I havent seen this at all our offices..
@Mac- u serious abt the 'special coaches' being in the luggage van and ac generator room??? Atrocious isnt the word!
@hgm
i will. she is quite excited about this whole thing. we hope to be able to go there this weekend.
@mac
yes, i know. sometimes it seems as if the western world carries everything to extremes. but to make everything accessible to everyone - that is truly necessary.
Yes. I saw one of those coaches for the physically challenged. the intentions are good, but the fact that the physically challenged are not respected comes through so clearly. Since the coaches are at the back of the train, in the smaller stations, it would stop outside the platform sometimes. On the whole, there is vision but absolute lack of will in implementation.
@shain
What bothers me is when it is done just as a token. Thats when we have the special coaches next to the generators.
actually, 3inone, london is shockingly poor in the accesibility department. it's not very friendly towards people in wheelchairs.
they are trying to make amends though.
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