I restrict my travel due to lack of loos: Priti Shetty

For Priti Shetty, a 32-year-old digital marketing head with a financial firm, who suffers from Spinal Cord Muscular Atrophy, travelling anywhere in the city means planning her routine well in advance to ensure that she would not require using a public loo.

"Mumbai completely lacks well designed and properly equipped public toilets for the differently-abled of all kinds. There might be just a few of them. This leaves most of us with no options but to either depend on adult diapers or, like in my, case developing a routine in which I travel but only for few hours," says Shetty who is also the co-founder of Wills On Wheels (WOW).

She states that the condition of people from lower income groups staying in slums, where they depend completely on public toilets, is even worse.

"Lack of toilets, no proper ramps to access public places and several other basic accessibility issues are one of the biggest reasons for several people with disabilities being petrified of even leaving their houses, which is very disappointing, given the fact that even our Prime Minister has been pushing the Accessible India Campaign. It is important that these basic facilities be provided by the BMC," Shetty said, adding that more importantly, authorities should also keep in mind the fact that the toilets should not just have a ramp, which will make it disabled-friendly, but all salient features that are prescribed in protocols and guidelines related to the differently-abled.