Indians with disabilities advocate for improved accessibility in Delhi

From The Hindu:

NEW DELHI -- As the political parties come out with a bagful of promises to woo voters before the Delhi assembly polls, the differently abled people have a simple demand -- the city be made more "accessible" to them.

Education and employment are key issues too, but the main problem area is the lack of disabled-friendly infrastructure like ramps to help the needy access public buildings, transport system, schools and colleges, say the disabled people and the organisations working for them.

"The most important thing is accessibility. A disabled person should be able to step out of his or her house, take a bus to college or office, visit a shopping complex or any other public building, like the others do," Javed Abidi, the head of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) said.

"Whowever comes to power in Delhi, we will expect that a firm law will be brought to ensure that all future public buildings are disabled-friendly, there are ramps, direction in sign language," Abidi, who himself is wheelchair-bound, said.

While low-floor buses are facilitating the disabled, the number of such vehicles are very less. The approaches to most of the bus stations in the city are not disabled-friendly, Anjlee Agarwal of NGO 'Samarthyam' said.

From the point of view of a disabled person, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor is a welcome change, but a lot of work is still needed to be done to make the transport system in Delhi easily accessible for the physically challenged, they said.