By Shruti Pushkarna
The Delhi weather has been delightful for the past couple of days. It’s what prompts you to go for a drive on an impulse. Or grab a sumptuous meal at your favourite restaurant. Or head out for a staycation at one of the boutique resorts on the outskirts of the capital.
Well, the sudden change in temperatures also brings in unexpected bouts of illnesses and before you can do all the fun things, you are waiting in a doctor’s clinic or a pathology lab for a diagnosis.
Whether you follow the heart or a more logical path, either way you get where you have to be, without thinking too much. I’m talking of a restaurant, hotel, or a hospital. But not everyone is as lucky as you are.
At least not persons with disability or chronic illness. Have you ever wondered that spontaneity is not an option in the barrier-ridden lives of millions of people? In fact, it’s worse. Not even careful planning can land them in some places because of sheer thoughtlessness that leads to inaccessibility.
When it comes to travel, medical healthcare, or amusement of any sorts, persons with disability and those living with chronic illness are left struggling because of the barriers in access to various places, products, and services.
Foremost, let’s understand how many people we are talking about here. As per Census 2011, out of the 1.23 billion population, over 21 million live with some form of disability. According to the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India, 55 per cent people above the age of 60 suffer from a chronic illness. And as per the last census, that’s 8.6 per cent of India’s population, so 103 million elderlies. And chronic illness is not limited to people above sixty years of age. In fact, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 recognises certain chronic conditions in the 21 types of disabilities, these can be genetic or acquired.
Notwithstanding the Census 2011 data is old and heavily undercounts persons with disabilities. It’s a large enough number for us, the government, the private sector, and the media to ignore.
As a primary caregiver to a parent with a chronic autoimmune disorder, I encounter various hurdles in all the areas mentioned above. The last time we had to go for an X-Ray and an Ultrasound, it took us an hour and several phone calls to determine a place where the wheelchair could enter the laboratory. Usually, our first choice is to go to a hospital but when that doesn’t work out for whatever reason, the inaccessibility of most neighbourhood pathology labs glares at us.
Anyway, once you have managed to enter a lab with wide enough doors for a wheelchair, the discomfort and lack of dignity is what you brace for, next. The patient with zero mobility is lifted up and down, pushed sideways by random strangers, who are dressed as attendants, but lack the knowledge, empathy, and training to handle complicated medical cases.
And good luck if you are in for a whole abdomen ultrasound, nursing a full bladder, desperate to ease yourself. Because fate is what you are counting on to find a large enough toilet built with access needs in mind.
Toilets are the same story in hotels and restaurants as well. Even big chain hotels which openly propagate their diversity goals to find a spot in the prevalent inclusion agenda, are non-compliant when it comes to infrastructural accessibility guidelines.
My mother and I were surprised at the shoddy access offerings at the most luxurious (and expensive) hotel in New Delhi in a more recent visit. Although I must add that the hotel staff were kind and eager to help. Before I knew it, someone took the wheelchair away from me and pushed her all the way inside the restaurant. It was only on our way out that the glorious display began to show some cracks. There wasn’t a separate accessible washroom. I couldn’t wheel her in the ladies’ room. After pestering the staff for some time, we discovered that the men’s toilet could be accessed. As we headed out, I pushed her down the ramp in my usual matter-of-fact way, except I almost lost balance because the slope was too steep!
Despite the rush of anger experienced in situations like these, one finds hope in national campaigns like ‘Accessible India’. Compliance maybe a problem, but the sentiment is right, and it has created awareness. The need of the hour is to propel the inclusion agenda with full thrust.
For those of you unfamiliar with the subject, the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry revised the Harmonised Guidelines and Standards for Universal Accessibility in 2021, to make India’s cities truly inclusive.
Then how do these places, institutions, businesses get away with it? Doesn’t the nation want to know? Doesn’t any daily want to highlight the brutal disregard for a population so large? Doesn’t any television news channel want to lend a bit of shrill during primetime to these voiceless masses?
So why are we publishing this column on an A&M site? Well, we strongly feel that the media can dramatically transform the world of persons with disabilities. And this series can help bring forth issues that the media must champion to create a truly inclusive and accessible India. To write this column, we invited Shruti Pushkarna, a former journalist who is now a disability inclusion advocate based in New Delhi. Her views here are personal. To access the archives of her 70-odd columns, please visit: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/ columns/shruti-pushkarna/
If you have a view on the issue or would like to align with MxMIndia on this cause, write to us at editor [at] mxmindia.com.
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