A few days back I was out doing some photography for a project that my wife has taken up. This project is about making basic public services easily accessible for the physically challenged folks. My job was to go around and get pics of the public places that are near to the place where I live.
To give a brief background, even before starting this work I have been associated in empowering the physically challenged folks in one way or other. One instance was when I was a scribe in an examination for a visually-challenged person whom I had not known until the day before his examination. The point I want to make here is that it was not a new thing for me to do this sort of stuff.
Coming back to this project, I started to go around my neighborhood and began capturing pictures of places like parks, school, places of worship,restaurants,public toilets, bus stand and so on.
It took me a good deal of time to go around and in the process visited a number of each type of the above mentioned categories, and it was one eye-opener for me.
Imagine you going to your favorite restaurant for a meal. The restaurant is on the first floor. There is one small hurdle. There is only one way u can get to the first floor (no stairs, no elevator), a rope which hangs from the first floor. That would probably be the last time you ever went that side (to that restaurant). THAT is the level of accessibility that is available for the physically challenged folks in most of the places that I mentioned. Most of the places have steps, including most of the public parks and places of worship, which is a hindrance to the physically challenged person. Shockingly , some of the smaller health care centers are not equipped with easy access for physically challenged people.
There are rules and policies for each and everything to be "easy to access" , but most of the times these are on paper. In reality, its a dream come true.
There are lots of organisation doing good amount of work in their best possible capacity. But the need is for more hands to join to make a big difference.
What is the message that we are communicating without saying?? How do all of us look at people with physical challenges?
How would it be to make a difference to atleast 1 specially abled person (if not daily) atleast once a month? it could be doing anything that makes a difference, brings a smile to them.
Jaago!
To give a brief background, even before starting this work I have been associated in empowering the physically challenged folks in one way or other. One instance was when I was a scribe in an examination for a visually-challenged person whom I had not known until the day before his examination. The point I want to make here is that it was not a new thing for me to do this sort of stuff.
Coming back to this project, I started to go around my neighborhood and began capturing pictures of places like parks, school, places of worship,restaurants,public toilets, bus stand and so on.
It took me a good deal of time to go around and in the process visited a number of each type of the above mentioned categories, and it was one eye-opener for me.
Imagine you going to your favorite restaurant for a meal. The restaurant is on the first floor. There is one small hurdle. There is only one way u can get to the first floor (no stairs, no elevator), a rope which hangs from the first floor. That would probably be the last time you ever went that side (to that restaurant). THAT is the level of accessibility that is available for the physically challenged folks in most of the places that I mentioned. Most of the places have steps, including most of the public parks and places of worship, which is a hindrance to the physically challenged person. Shockingly , some of the smaller health care centers are not equipped with easy access for physically challenged people.
There are rules and policies for each and everything to be "easy to access" , but most of the times these are on paper. In reality, its a dream come true.
There are lots of organisation doing good amount of work in their best possible capacity. But the need is for more hands to join to make a big difference.
What is the message that we are communicating without saying?? How do all of us look at people with physical challenges?
How would it be to make a difference to atleast 1 specially abled person (if not daily) atleast once a month? it could be doing anything that makes a difference, brings a smile to them.
Jaago!
nice post... btw, ithu enna pudhu blog???
ReplyDeleteAppreciate it!!Will make sure I give it a shot ...
ReplyDeleteI don't know when in India we can reach it. We have so much trouble and hardly are able to take our cousin out because of all that you mentioned - there is simply apathy everywhere. May be it should be govt driven - right from parking lots to sidewalks - I see so much of thought has gone in here in US!
ReplyDelete