I posted a piece called `my comfort zones' some three years ago, which was primarily about the various steps taken by the then director to render our institute campus accessible to my wheelchair. And I have been boasting to all and sundry about this oasis of accessibility in Indian academia. But chinks are now appearing in this cocoon of protection that has sheltered me all these years. What set off this eruption - after a period of simmering discontent - was the fact that I had a nasty fall in the institute bathroom on Thursday. Fortunately, there were no serious consequences, but it is just a matter of time before one is not so lucky.
I want to list some of my grievances, if only to ask my other sister institutions of research/education to see which of these grievances they can confidently say are not applicable to their institutions. I wrote about my old school last week, and even the faculty toilet had serious problems of access; I dread to think of students' toilets!
Before we go into my list, I must repeat a favourite gripe of mine about calling some place accessible, when there is `only one step'. It is this totally unwarranted assumption that wheelchair users can negotiate a terrain if it entails only taking one step. This assumption is what led to my getting a gash in my head which required some five stitches being put in. (I am fine but for being bruised in spirit and in the head!) Every day I use a toilet some three or four times a day in the institute; and every time, I drive up to the door of the toilet, then get up, open the bathroom door briskly (lest somebody pull the door from the inside at the same time and causes me to lose my balance and fall inside), walk some six or seven steps, climb the inevitable step before getting to use the urinal, and reverse my steps. It was in briskly pushing open the door that I really lost my balance on Thursday and took an impressive toss inside.
Only after my protesting (for at least a year or two!) at the absence of a single handicapped-friendly toilet on campus that one, and later a second, came up, but my laziness at going all that far makes me use the one on my floor where I had the fall last Friday.
And there is not a single bedroom in the guest house, where a wheelchair-user can use the toilet. I am tired of repeating the fact that many wheel-chair users are simply incapable of climbing that `only one step' or walking a few steps!
In spite of all the appreciative noises I have made in the past about the extent of accessibility of my institute, I even started wondering if I should sue the institute or MSJE, in the hope that such accidents will not recur. An American would do it without second thoughts; while I am held back by feelings of gratitude and loyalty!
In India, people's solution is `we will provide all help needed' which may mean some person(s) bodily lifting up your wheelchair with you, a `solution' simultaneously dangerous, scary and embarrassing! In case you do not know what the UNCRPD is, look it up. It strives to reach a state where people with disabilities can function efficiently and independently in a society which extends them reasonable accommodation. Let me conclude with the two final paragraphs of Section 2 on Definitions in the UNCRPD whose sense and spirit need to be dinned into our collective conscioussness:
“Discrimination on the basis of disability” means any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability which has the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. It includes all forms of discrimination, including denial of reasonable accommodation;
“Persons with disabilities” include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
I want to list some of my grievances, if only to ask my other sister institutions of research/education to see which of these grievances they can confidently say are not applicable to their institutions. I wrote about my old school last week, and even the faculty toilet had serious problems of access; I dread to think of students' toilets!
Before we go into my list, I must repeat a favourite gripe of mine about calling some place accessible, when there is `only one step'. It is this totally unwarranted assumption that wheelchair users can negotiate a terrain if it entails only taking one step. This assumption is what led to my getting a gash in my head which required some five stitches being put in. (I am fine but for being bruised in spirit and in the head!) Every day I use a toilet some three or four times a day in the institute; and every time, I drive up to the door of the toilet, then get up, open the bathroom door briskly (lest somebody pull the door from the inside at the same time and causes me to lose my balance and fall inside), walk some six or seven steps, climb the inevitable step before getting to use the urinal, and reverse my steps. It was in briskly pushing open the door that I really lost my balance on Thursday and took an impressive toss inside.
Only after my protesting (for at least a year or two!) at the absence of a single handicapped-friendly toilet on campus that one, and later a second, came up, but my laziness at going all that far makes me use the one on my floor where I had the fall last Friday.
And there is not a single bedroom in the guest house, where a wheelchair-user can use the toilet. I am tired of repeating the fact that many wheel-chair users are simply incapable of climbing that `only one step' or walking a few steps!
In spite of all the appreciative noises I have made in the past about the extent of accessibility of my institute, I even started wondering if I should sue the institute or MSJE, in the hope that such accidents will not recur. An American would do it without second thoughts; while I am held back by feelings of gratitude and loyalty!
In India, people's solution is `we will provide all help needed' which may mean some person(s) bodily lifting up your wheelchair with you, a `solution' simultaneously dangerous, scary and embarrassing! In case you do not know what the UNCRPD is, look it up. It strives to reach a state where people with disabilities can function efficiently and independently in a society which extends them reasonable accommodation. Let me conclude with the two final paragraphs of Section 2 on Definitions in the UNCRPD whose sense and spirit need to be dinned into our collective conscioussness:
“Discrimination on the basis of disability” means any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability which has the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. It includes all forms of discrimination, including denial of reasonable accommodation;
“Persons with disabilities” include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
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