TIRUCHY: Six years have passed since the enactment of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 but its assurance of "full and effective participation and inclusion in society" for the disabled is yet to hold good in the State as persons with disabilities (PwDs) complain of a continuing struggle to access several public facilities and institutions. B Meenakshi, a person with mobility impairment and a member of the Disability Rights Alliance (DRA), said that public facilities like banks, parks, eateries, fair-price shops and convenience stores remain inaccessible to disabled people even today.
Referring to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, she said, "The Act came into force in Tamil Nadu in 2017, and it was mandated that accessibility to existing buildings should be enhanced for the PwDs within five years." "With the government failing to achieve it, it has started coming up with new facilities in recreational places like beaches, which is appreciable, but the existing buildings should be revisited for disability-friendly infrastructure," she added.
Smitha Sadasivan, another member of DRA who was instrumental in building a permanent ramp at Marina beach in Chennai, said the government has failed to monitor new buildings for disability-friendly infrastructure before granting approval. "The government is not paying attention to the voice of the PwDs, thinking of them as just accounting for 2.21% of the population and are ignoring the seriousness of the issues faced by them.
The universal design recommended by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) should be followed, which includes infrastructure for all," she added. "Disability-friendly infrastructure will also be helpful for those with reduced mobility - senior citizens, and pregnant women, and so expediting the work would enable such people to lead a life individually," she reasoned.
According to the Act, June 14, 2022 was the last day for the government to revamp the existing structures and make them disabled-friendly, she pointed out. I'm not sure if even 10% of the work was completed though, she said. Another programme by the Union government, 'Accessible India Campaign', which aimed to measure the design of disabled-friendly buildings, is not transparent in its work and its audit details are unavailable in the public domains, she added.
M Kamaraj, a person with mobility impairment in Tiruchy, said despite an RBI order to provide all banks and ATMs with necessary ramps and elevators, most have not cared to adhere to it. "This stays true for all the other privately-owned public facilities like shops, malls, schools and colleges," he added.
When contacted, Commissioner for the Welfare of the Differently Abled Jacintha Lazarus said, "Many public places come under the ambit of both the Union and the State government." According to the Act, work should be undertaken by both governments, she added. In the State, around 900 government buildings and tourist places have been earmarked for audit, and several departments have submitted their action plan. After confirming the budget, work to make them disabled-friendly would commence, she said.