For the first time in India a beach festival in Goa will give wheelchair users an uninhibited taste of the sun, sand and surf.
A five-day event beginning on April 5 on Candolim beach has been organised by UMOJA, an online travel platform, NGOs ADAPT and Disability Rights Association, Goa (DRAG), Silversands Hotel and Drishti Lifesaving, which provides professional lifeguard services on Goa beaches.
Around 60 persons with disabilities from all over India, including 20 from Goa, will take part in Beachfest 2017. A part of the beach will be covered by special mats for free movement of wheelchairs. On the edge of the water, they will be shifted to beach wheelchairs to help them float. “The organisers will put up participants in disable-friendly hotels and arrange for their transportation to the beach,” says Sunita Sancheti, an entrepreneur and disability rights activist. “There will be several activities for entertainment such as kite-flying, sand-castle-building competition and parasailing,” says the member of ADAPT, who is also a motivational speaker. The package ranges between Rs10,000 and Rs19,000 for two people, including a caregiver, for 3 nights and four days.
Sunita Sancheti, entrepreneur and disability rights activist enjoys the sounds and sights of the beach
Tapping into a recourse pool
“The idea is to inspire the Goa government to turn at least one beach disable -friendly,” says Yeshwant Holkar, co-founder and CEO of UMOJA, the primary organiser. “By conservative estimate, there are nearly 90 lakh wheelchair users in India and yet the country can't boast of a single beach that takes care of their needs,” rues Holkar. The driving force behind this effort is to make travel inclusive. “In December last year we had published a digital guide marking the hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions in Goa that are wheel-chair friendly. The enthusiastic response to the guide inspired us to launch an online petition to the Prime Minister's Office, Accessibility India Campaign and Ministry of Tourism, Goa, recently,” says Holkar.
The inclusion theory
It is not only a matter of human rights, but also a revenue-drainer. The government should realise that a huge disability population, not just in India but worldwide, can boost tourism if Indian beaches and other tourist spots are made accessible.
Holkar wants to create an ideal beach model that can be replicated elsewhere in India. The beachfest is the first step in that journey. “We need to build an entire ecosystem, which should include restaurants with disable-friendly toilets on the beach and mats over the sand along with transportation in accessible vehicles and disable-friendly hotels and cottages,” he says.
First hand recall
The current infrastructure is not only inadequate but in most cases faulty. In 2011, when Sancheti criss-crossed the country in 84 days covering 19,200 kms with three friends on wheelchairs, she found most places inaccessible.
On the road, she had suffered too because of paucity of disable-friendly toilets. “We found only a few petrol pumps in Bihar, Punjab and Haryana run by Bharat Petroleum, which are conducive,” says the 46-year-old activist, who has been to UK, Singapore and Dubai where she could manage with minimum support.
How to be a part of the festival
For more information on the event, log on to
umoja.in
The only silver lining is rising awareness in India about disability rights and facilities. But to achieve a disabled-friendly environment appears to be a far cry at this point.
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 "Entrepreneur and disability rights activist Sunita Sancheti")
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