“Blatant violations of rights of passengers- meeting”

It was yesterday that I was retuning from Delhi to Hyderabad after attending a meeting chaired by the Joint Secretary Civil Aviation. The title of the meeting was “Blatant violations of rights of passengers- meeting” and the real agenda of the meeting is unknown to me but I believe after having attended it, that the agenda was to give patient one hour fifteen hearing to the disabled people to somewhere pacify the anger in the sector regarding denying air travel to Jeeja Ghosh very recently.

I came out of the meeting jubilated that we were heard. I must say did boost my hopes for a short while.

I took the last flight out of the Delhi airport to reach Hyderabad at 11:00pm. I waited patiently for my luggage that included my wheelchair to arrive when by about midnight the airline staff looked into my matter as I was the only person left. I was informed that my wheelchair and cushion was sent to Bangalore.

Exhausted after the long day my only reaction was to ask ‘now what?’ In high spirits the ground staff happily informed me that my wheelchair would be back by the first flight the next morning at 6:30am and delivered to me.

I couldn’t believe my ears and eyes. On one hand in reaction to his perkiness my rightful response should have been of illation and appreciation, but on the other hand the words I was hearing were unbelievable. The thing is my wheelchair can be equated to my legs, I cannot move without my wheelchair.

I tried explaining this to ground staff, for whom my wheelchair was equal to a suitcase or a bag. Without any apologies he with a straight face said that they couldn’t do anything now. I asked him to talk to his assistant manager. He too said there was nothing they could do.

Our argument could have continued all night without resolution, but something made me ask him for a written statement saying they couldn’t do anything to help me. Instantly he called his asst. manager again who in turn called the manager who finally said that I could carry one of their dilapidated wheelchair home with me and return it the next day after my wheelchair was returned. 

It was 1 am by now. Tired I didn’t want to discuss anything more and left leaving their wheelchair behind because I am one of the few lucky people who have a standby wheelchair at home.

Since then I cannot but help rethink about the pacifying meeting we had yesterday with the Joint Secretary. At the meeting there were no solid actionable points decided on. Throughout there was flagging of issues we voiced and saying that they would look into the matter. There was a talk of forming a small committee to work on the issue without clarity of any timeframes.  When asked specifically about what action would be taken against Spice Jet in Jeeja’s case the JS very vehemently said that he did not want to talk about it in ‘public’. Here I was feeling stupid, thinking that we had gone to discuss the Blatant Violations of rights of passengers.

I apologies if some feel that I am being pessimistic but really I am confused about what the real outcome of the meeting was. My pessimism is based on past experience when in 2008 after several meeting with the Director General Civil Aviation the Civil Aviation Requirement on carriage of disabled people was enacted…yet four year later almost everyday disabled people are being discriminated.

My only hope this time is that we shouldn’t be so excitement about getting a patient hearing from the Ministry of Civil Aviation.  We need to stop congratulating ourselves and realize we still have no idea yet if action will be taken against the airlines for discrimination. Our hands are still empty and nothing has changed or expected to change in the near future.  


Shivani Gupta 
Director AccessAbility

Impact on Airlines of the DGCA CAR Section - 3, Series - M, Part – 1

Civil Aviation Requirements on Carriage of disabled passengers - Its rightful Impact on the airlines

NON DISCRIMINATION

Airlines can NOT

·       Refuse to carry unescorted disabled passengers or their mobility aids and devices, even if they do not hold any disability certificate.

·       Require Medical clearance or special indemnity forms from persons with disabilities.

·       Require a disabled passenger to provide additional information once the ticket has been confirmed. In case of online booking, all requisite information regarding specific needs of the passengers must be collected during the online booking process.

·       Limit the numbers or types of disabled passengers on their flights.

·       Refuse to engage in Interline transactions for carriage of disabled passengers, or to commence/continue interline transportation of such passengers.

PROVISION OF ASSISTANCE

Airlines MUST

·       Provide necessary assistance to persons with disabilities who wish to travel alone without an escort.

·       Provide seamless assistance from the departing airport terminal to the destination airport terminal.

·       Provide individual briefing on emergency procedures, cabin layout and the available specialised equipment to disabled passengers and their escorts.

·       Provide appropriate in-flight support including assisting passengers with impaired mobility to get to the onboard toilet.

ENSURING APPROPRIATE STAFF TRAINING

Airlines MUST ENSURE that

·       Staff assigned to handling disabled passengers, example Cabin Crew/Commercial Staff including Floor Walkers and Counter Staff etc., MUST be trained in:

o   Disability Awareness,

o   Assisting persons with reduced mobility (on-ground and during embarkation), and

o   Assisting Unaccompanied Passengers with Disabilities (In-flight).

·       Appropriate Training is provided to the loader staff to ensure proper storage and handling of mobility equipment.

·       Staff Training for assisting emergency evacuation of disabled passengers.

PROVISION OF REQUISITE EQUIPMENT

Airlines MUST ENSURE

·       Availability of wheelchairs at all stations without any extra charge.

·       Availability of boarding/alighting devices (such as ambulifts, aisle chairs etc.) and low floored accessible buses without any extra charge to the passengers.

·       Provision of narrow onboard wheelchairs to enable passengers with reduced mobility to access lavatory facilities.

·       In-flight availability of information in accessible formats such as Braille, Large Print etc.

ADAPTING POLICIES, PROCEDURES AND PRACTICES

Airlines MUST

·       Formulate and publish detailed procedures for:

o   Carriage of disabled persons,

o   Emergency evacuation of disabled passengers, and

o   Carriage of Service Dogs in Cabin.

o   Medical Clearances.

·      Ensure that when overnight accommodation is offered, e.g. during forced overnight halt, or when offloaded, Wheelchair users SHOULD be allocated accessible accommodation.

Complied by Shivani Gupta, Director AccessAbility

Indian Railways for the disabled

It was going to be a train trip for me soon after a long time. I was traveling to Puttaparthi by Karnataka Express for darashan of Sri Satya Sai Baba along with my father who is a staunch devotee.  For a number of people train travels were something to look forward to and enjoyable. In fact they were enjoyable for me to till I became severely disabled having to use a wheelchair. Since I became disabled I tried to avoid train travels as much as possible but considering that it was the most affordable means of travel I was forced to use it on occasions.

My father made the bookings well in advance. The railways gave a considerably large concession on the ticket for the disabled traveller and one escort traveling with them making the travel very cheap. We had heard about a ‘Handicapped Coach’ that the railways had introduced in every train. But it was an unreserved coach so a disabled passenger could not reserve it and as a matter of safety and convenience a disabled person would rarely travels unreserved, therefore this coach was useless for us as it still remains to be for most disabled travellers.

Coach for disabled about 2 feet high and a feet away
from the platform without a ramp

I was happy for not having access to this ‘Handicapped Coach’ that the Railways had so generously provided. Firstly the coach was a second-class coach and considering in the scorching heat in May we were going to travel air-conditioned. Secondly the design of the coach was not exceptionally accessible – boarding the train was still going to be difficult and using the toilet was still going to be impossible. The most important reason why I was happy not using this ‘special’ facility was because I did not want to be singled out along with my family and placed separately. I found the entire concept discriminatory. In my mind it was like the British Raj where Indians were not allowed in the same compartment as the British, here the disabled travellers being same as the Indians.

State of the toilet in the coach for disabled people

One of the main preparations for me before a train travel apart from packing was organise my bladder and bowel as the toilets in the train are inaccessible to a disabled person like me. Just because the Railways have designed their coaches to be so inaccessible to the disabled most people with disabilities are faced with this challenge. Considering it was a two-day journey, I needed to stop my intake of food and liquids nearly two days before commencing the journey. It is not easy to do so because as dehydration sets in one begins to feel weak. Needless to say I needed to keep the intake to bare minimum throughout the journey.

Overflowing drinking water facility

This I must point out is just the beginning of the difficulties to travel be train. The Railways is proud of making its large stations accessible to disabled people, but here again there is much to be done. During a visit to the New and Old Delhi railway stations recently, I was amazed at the bizarre on ground implementation of these access features. The low drinking water sink was blocked and overflowing with water. The accessible restroom was located in the ladies waiting room making me wonder where a disabled man was supposed to go.  As for the condition of the special waiting room the lesser said the better.

crossing over tracks

In this entire thread of thought while making stations more disabled friendly there is no concern for the safety of disabled passengers. The basic issue of inter-platform transfer seems to have been entirely ignored. For instance, whenever I’ve travelled by train, I have always been taken as luggage over the railway tracks by a coolie, putting me as a passenger at a higher risk of accidents than anybody else. What disheartens me most is when I often read in news papers that the Railways in its understanding is sanctioning money to install escalators in various stations for the benefit of disabled people while it’s a internationally recognised norm that people using wheelchairs are not allowed to use escalators. A rule followed by the Delhi Metro and the Airports in India but happily ignored by the Railways. This again is an indication towards poor safety concern for the disabled.

The anxiety of travel does not subside even after reaching the platform well in time to board the train. The coolies that was hired to bring me over the tracks till the platform was engaged on the condition that he was going to board me in the train and leave me on my berth. Of course the cost of this is high therefore as a disabled traveller while the railways was generous in its concessions but because of inaccessibility the added cost to hire two coolies to board and de-board me compensates for the concession availed.

Once the train arrived and the initial frenzy subsided two coolies lift me like a sack of potatoes (one grabbing me from under my shoulders and the other from under my knees) and carry me in. There is no point in my feeling awkward or angry at the way I am physically handled as there are no other options in any case.  Train is about 50 cm higher from the platform and carrying me up is difficult, but the real challenge is taking me in through the extra narrow and extra heavy door of the air-conditioned compartment. There is a jam caused my getting in blocking the way for the rest.  In between all the confusion that is created the coolies struggle to squeeze in in through the door. There are always a few scratches or red finger marks of the coolies hand that remain as a memory of this experience. I take a deep breath of relief as I settle on my berth finally. One third of the journey is completed for me at that moment.

As the train rolls forward I stay happily perched on my berth enjoying the scenery outside as feeling bad about the way I am treated as a disabled person is of no use as in so many years of being disabled I have reconciled to this differential treatment, it is not something specific only to the railways in any case. My berth was my spot for the next two days as I am going to be able to get down for some fresh air at any of the stations neither was I going to be able to access the sink or the toilet. With a restricted intake there was nothing more that I could do to avert something as natural as natures call. All I hoped for now was for an eventless journey.

As the train jolted to a halt at the Puttaparti Station where the stop was just for a couple of minutes, my father was already at the compartment door trying to hail to coolies to help us out. He had already spoken to the ticket conductor explaining him our problem in de-boarding the train and requesting him to ensure that the train didn’t move ahead without letting us off. The TC assured him and told him not to worry and get of comfortably. In spite of hurrying frantically to expedite our de-boarding, the train jolted ahead with me in the hands of two coolies with one of them on the platform and the other still in the train. I thought this was the end of me but my father ran forward and grab me and put me on the platform. From the moving train the coolies unloaded my wheelchair and other luggage, it was clear that the TC had not bothered to ensure my safety as he had promised to.

This was a journey that is etched in my mind forever. Today as I have become older and broader physically I know that there is no way I can make a train journey ever again. The only mode of travel available to me is to travel by air. Since it is not something that is very affordable to me I am very restricted in my travel not able to take as may holidays I would like to.  I am discriminated and excluded because of only one reason and that reason is ‘inaccessibility’. As a disabled person only the more expensive services are accessible to me such as air travel instead of rail travel, using taxis instead of public transport, five star hotels instead of cheaper guest houses. It is as though I am being charged a tax for being disabled!

The concession provided by the railways is useless unless they provide accessibility and providing accessibility is not rocket science, it only required that the railways consider inclusion, safety and comfort of disabled travellers as one of their main objectives and then work towards it in a phased and an inclusive manner. It is not charity that a disabled person needs in the form of concessions rather we want inclusion and the right to use the service with the same dignity and convenience as anybody else. 

Chiang Mai, Thailand in a wheelchair

I can describe Chiang Mai as a land of steep ramps. With steep ramps one may think that ravelling on a motorised wheelchair would be ideal, but mind you that public transport (tuk-tuk and songthaew) is not accessible and one needs to use regular saloon taxis to get around where carrying a motorised wheelchair may be a challenge.  Having said that there are a lot of very steep ramps and one would need constant assistance to negotiate them, I must add that the local Thai people are very helpful.

I stayed at the hotel Furama. The concept of an accessible guest room was new to them and the using the en-suite shower cum toilet is not easy. He the hotel is great but probably not the best choice if you are a wheelchair user.

Wat Doi Suthep – a temple probably built around the 1383 on a mountain top. There is popular saying that those who go to Chiang Mai without visiting Doi Suthep are no better than those who have never been to Chiang Mai at all.

The good news for all wheelchair users is that it has been made accessible.  There is an elevator from the road level that connect to the cable car that by-passes the 306 steps to reach the temple. Once in the temple site there are ramps (very steep) that connect the various levels in the temple.

Bad news is that the gradient of most the ramps is probably 1:4 and especially the one leading into the main temple seems extremely dangerous. I decided not to risk using it.

Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2011– This is a floral exposition organized yearly at the Royal Agricultural Research Center. It is spread over 80 hectares of land. There is a cart ride available that one can take to see the expo. There is a special wheelchair accessible vehicle also available at the same cost that the staff helps you with. The only thing that is not so good is that once you board the vehicle you cannot get off at different areas instead have to just drive past everything. People using the regular carts have the option to hope in and out though. So according to me the best option is to take the accessible vehicle till a point and then wheel the rest. 

Most of the Gardens of the King from different countries are inaccessible.

Ho Kham Royal Pavillion is accessible by a lift. Bad luck for me the lift was out of operation during my visit

Thai Tropical Garden and the Expo Plaza are accessible by steep ramps.

This is one place I missed my motorized wheelchair the most.

Night Bazaar is one of Chiang Mai’s must-sees on the city’s tourist trail. Every night thousands of tourists flock to this bizarre bazaar. It is famous throughout Thailand and is perhaps the best place in the Kingdom to stock up on souvenirs and tourist-friendly clothing and accessories. The stalls are all on the pavement and there are (steep) curb ramps to get on. At places the passage is very narrow and may be difficult to pass. There may be a step or two at some places. Definitely worth a visit even in a wheelchair. Remember to bargain!

Wat Chedi Luang – One of the most fascinating structures. Built sometime between 1385 and 1402, during the reign of King Saen Muang Ma, 7th ruler of the Mengrai dynasty, Wat Chedi Luang's massive chedi (pagoda) is a distinctive feature of the Chiang Mai skyline. At its peak, the chedi measured 60 metres across at the square base and 80 metres tall and was once the home of the Emerald Buddha, Thailand's most sacred religious relic.

Wheelchair access into the courtyard that houses this ancient pagoda is only from one corner. The temples inside this complex are not accessible, but yet just seeing the giant ancient pagoda is a treat.

Maesa Elephant Camp - In the lush tropical jungle of Chiang Mai's Maesa Valley , a big family of elephants lives side by side with their mahout caretakers. "Maea Elephant Camp" is home to one of the largest assembly of elephants in the north of Thailand.  The elephants put up a show twice a day and they have also been included in the Gunnies Book of World Records.

Probably like going into any natural forest – going on a wheelchair is difficult as the ground is uneven and leveled. They have tried to give wheelchair access by building a (very steep) ramp to get on till one of the machaan’s from where one get on to the elephant for a ride. I am sure adventurous wheelchair users (that does not include me L) will be able to take an elephant ride through the forest.

Staff of the camp are helpful and willing help to negotiate the wheelchair.

Accessible toilets – before I conclude my blog I must mention that all accessible toilets throughout Thailand seem to have fixed handrails on both sides making it nearly unusable by people who do a side transfer onto the WC.

Shivani Gupta

Director AccessAbility

Reservation without Accessibility?

How effective is inviting people with hearing impairments to a conference and not providing sign language interpreters or inviting people with vision impairments and not providing them with braille material. On a similar account how good is reservation for disabled people without simultaneously providing accessibility.

There is a much needed 3% reservation in educational institutes for disabled students but the benefit this reservation is yielding is not as overwhelming as it should be as the campuses remain inaccessible. Take for example the Delhi University has 1600 seats reserved for disabled students but only about 450 to 500 seats are filled, because disabled students cannot operate in inaccessible environments. So how good is the reservation?

Public Housing schemes have a reservation of 2-3% for disabled clients, which is definitely welcome but the impact of this reservation is questionable. The houses are not accessible therefore a disabled person would need to spend lots of money to make them accessible which put an undue burden on the disabled person and hence is discriminatory.

Then what would happen if one acquires a disability after shifting into a house on the second floor? Or what if there is a disabled child born to a couple occupying the first floor house? Because the designers and planners do not provide an option for disabled people to have basic access as even a visitor to all units in the housing complex, the person who acquires a disability later or is born with a disability on a upper floor house become a prisoner of there own house.

I can continue to discuss about all other existing reservations or concessions available to the disabled people, but without accessibility their envisaged positive impact on the lives of disabled people is questionable.  

Urban Planning and Disability in India

Introduction

Today I was invited to the steering committee meeting of Urban development and Poverty Alleviation for planning of the XII Five year plan. It was a success for the disability sector because in sixty years following tireless advocacy by the Disability Rights Group representation of disability was invited to the various committees. For sixty years we have lived with only Ministry of Social Justice being the sole ministry planning for disabled people.

I was excited about participating and prepared a paper well in advance stating the issues relating to Disability and Urbanisation. After all disability is such a cross cutting issue cutting across social, economic, ethnic, cultural, age, gender related issues. This surely requires a crosscutting approach in planning to bring about a positive change. All ministries without doubt need to address the issue of inclusion of disabled people and moreover there is already an allocated 3% of budget of all ministries for disability inclusion work, which they are at a loss of ideas on how to spend.

I went with great optimism and a lot of hope. Even though this was the last meeting before finalisation of the report, I was happy to be invited after all I guess it’s better late than never. All was good and the committee patiently listened to all my interjections and accepted my paper, but somewhere I saw a big gap and am worried about what may be the outcome of it. The gap that I mention is due to lack of understanding of disability issues.

Major Gap

Disability within the government setup and in the various reports prepared by the planning commission committees is considered as a ‘socially excluded’ or a ‘vulnerable’ section of society clubbed in along with the economically backward and other excluded sections of the society.

Yes disabled people are socially excluded and vulnerable but still requirements of disabled people for inclusion are unique and hence cannot be clubbed with other vulnerable groups. Reservations and concessions are not the answer of disability inclusion rather creating accessibility is. For example how good is it to have concessions for ticket and reserved seats in buses for the disabled if they cant travel by bus in the first place due to inaccessibility? Or how good is it to reserve 3% housing for disabled people if the houses are not accessible?

No where in the plan does one see ‘Accessibility’ given any importance in the scheme of things. There are big planning and number games in the report and in their wisdom issues of disabled people with urban development are addressed as being a part of the excluded group. I completely fail to understand that unless accessibility or universal design does not become a important part of all schemes, programmes, and planning how do they expect to include disabled people.

If one looks at the various programmes under the Ministry of Urban Development and Ministry of housing and poverty alleviation whether it be JRUNN, RAY, SJSRY etc. not even one of them addresses the accessibility need of the disabled. One of the results of this is the BRTS and low floor buses in Delhi --the so called accessible public transport systems for disabled but the reality is far from this. And what is distressing is that these programmes and designs will be replicated elsewhere.

Conclusion

·      Universal Design/accessible environments must become one of the key objectives of urban development and planning because everybody can use an accessible environment not just disabled people.

·      Disability should not be a part of vulnerable groups only because none of the solutions that are required for their inclusion are similar to other vulnerable sections of society.

·      Disability inclusion must become an important criteria for money sanctioning by the Central/State government for any projects.

·      There must be quality evaluation of the accessibility provided to see how many disabled people are really getting included.

I believe that while this is a good beginning but there is a very long road the disability sector needs to tread. We need to be better prepared with out facts and figures to quote to the planning commission and other government agencies to make our case and get change.

Heaven in Hell

Ubbu, my dog, was diagnosed with Tick Fever because of which her blood reports showed multi organ dysfunction. My stress levels were high. Being a disabled person with limited mobility always made me feel that I am not doing enough to comfort her and bring her back to health. People who have pets would understand my anxiety because they would know that Ubbu is my child.

Dr Prabhakar was treating her, a very experienced, kind and patient veterinarian who had visited Ubbu at home, but now that she was diagnosed with this dreadful disease he wanted Ubbu to visit him at Friendicoes. I had heard that Friendicoes was a dark, damp and cramped place under a flyover overflowing with suffering stray dogs. I expected the visit to be a nightmare and my initial reaction confirmed it, but it wasn’t long before I saw the heaven in this hell.

There was a repelling stench of animals that one couldn’t miss as one reached. I heard the painful yelping of a dog and as I turned I saw two stray dogs who had been rescued and were in a cage. One of them had bitten his tongue while the other seemed to have a lot pain in his back and couldn’t stand. It yelped aloud as the other dog stepped on him as the cage was being wheeled towards the clinic. I closed my ears as the yelps seemed to be piercing my heart, but I had to move ahead – for Ubbu.

As we reached closer there seemed to be a chaos.  There was much more and louder yelping, growling and fighting sounds coming from various dogs that were kept behind in the shelter. There was a dog with his head completely bandaged in a cage sitting in one corner. The two dogs that were wheeled in the cage were put on the two small stretchers outside the clinic

I parked my wheelchair is one corner to ensure I was out of the chaos and Ubbu sat under my chair as nervous as me waiting for our turn. Dr Prabhakar was in the clinic, in the shelter near the stretcher outside… he was everywhere so skillfully working with a trace of any stress. A number of assistants helped him. A man kept the area clean and everybody waited patiently. I was inspired by the teams dedication. If they could be there bring a positive change then so could I.

Suddenly I saw a huge majestic Great Dane came towards me. I froze with scare. I held Ubbu tight. I knew she had no chances in front of him. He came closer looked at us for a moment disinterestedly walked ahead and sat on the side very confidently. That is when I realised he was an abandoned dog who got shelter at Friendicoes who also looked for people to adopt abandoned animals. This could not be hell I thought. There were many more lovely dogs who had been abandoned left tied to a pole especially as they became older, unwell or disabled. I wondered if people abandoned their children or other family members too and really the fact is that they do. 

Just as I was feeling angry at people who were so cruel I saw a stay dog running very fast on his front legs with his hind legs trailing listless. At first I was completely taken aback to see him zip past not knowing how to react, but as I realised that he was a paraplegic who probably hurt his spine in an accident just like me I couldn’t help but feel very happy for him because he got a chance to live.

The obnoxious smells had nearly gone by now and the chaos seemed like harmony. Ubbu’s health my discomfort all seemed so insignificant in-between all that pain and suffering. I realised that this was not hell rather it was a heaven in the hellish world we live in so full of cruelty and capability to inflict pain. Dr Prakhakar and his team were like angels attending and soothing to those suffering the most.

 Thank you Friendicoes for all that you do. I really wish you more support and expansion to an area that is sunny and open. Where these animals can get a better chance.