For Ponnamani Ramaswamy, 86, election day turned out to be a huge disappointment.
For Ponnamani Ramaswamy, 86, election day turned out to be a huge disappointment. The octogenarian had arranged a car to take her to the polling booth in Mulund (West). Unfortunately however, she could not cast her vote. Even though her allotted room was on the ground floor, there were five-odd steps leading to it. “I can longer walk without support and am incapable of climbing stairs. I don’t have a wheelchair. The school did not have a ramp,” rued Ramaswamy.
As per the 11th Five Year Plan, about 5-6% of Indians are disabled. And yet, addressing their needs has never been on the politicians’ or the government’s to-do list. “If this is what happened despite Supreme Court’s instructions to make the polls disabled-friendly, can you imagine how difficult day-to-day life is for the physically challenged?” asked Sayed Patel, a visually impaired 30-year-old who travels everyday from Andheri to CST.
Patel says he feels sorry for the wheelchair bound. “The most difficult area for a wheelchair-bound person to access is the toilet,” added a 32-year-old friend of Patel’s, who lost his legs in an accident.
“There is an acute lack of sensitivity when it comes to physically-challenged or special persons. Airports, for instance, have creaking wheelchairs. Another problem is the lack of ambi-lifts that are used to shift the wheelchair-bound passengers into the flight. Railways are completely inaccessible. Have you ever seen a wheelchair-bound person on a train?” he asked.
“There are various kinds of disabilities. The key is the identify the individual need and support them accordingly,” said Prof R Rangasayee, director, Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped.
It is not just the physically disabled who faced problems. “While the aged or those with heart ailments may have difficulties climbing stairs, even pregnant woman may not be able to move all that much,” he said.
Rangasayee offers a solution. “The electoral list should have details of persons with disability in that area. This will make it possible for the officers to plan around the needs of the disabled,” he suggests.
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