If you are able to walk and see and are a determined pedestrian, Chennai’s apology for footpaths might still be negotiable. However, for those with disabilities, footpaths such as these are best avoided.
“For a disabled person, using the pavements in Chennai is a nightmarish experience,” says Rajiv Ranjan, member, Disability Rights Alliance (DRA).
A number people at the walk stressed the need for coordination among various civic agencies for better footpaths in Chennai
Visually-impaired R. Raja escaped death two months ago. On his way to university, the research scholar in Tamil Literature stumbled upon a political party’s hoarding on a footpath near Kannagi statue near Marina beach.
“I did not know there was a hoarding on the footpath. So I fell on the road. A bus came to a screeching halt a few inches beside me,” said Mr. Raja.
Right from architectural barriers in hospital buildings to inaccessible medical equipment, from insensitive doctors to negligent authorities, access to healthcare facilities for the huge invisible population of disabled people in the capital is abysmally difficult.
Low-rise urinals with grab bars. Doors with lever-action locks. Bright colour-bands on edges of stairs. Ramps with the right slope. This is part of the wish list for making access in hospitals easy for people with disabilities.
Coplyright:
Treaty to make copyrighted works available for visually impaired people – 90% of whom live in global south – coming up against film lobbyNegotiators from 186 countries are in Marrakech this week trying to hammer out the text of an international treaty that aims to make copyrighted works more readily available to the world's blind and visually impaired people, 90% of whom live in the global south.
Here' some interesting news for music connoisseurs. Ability of Disability- A Night of Melody will showcase performances by disabled artistes as well as various singers including Abhijeet Sawant.
A taxi driver was arrested in Puri on Saturday for allegedly raping and murdering a visually impaired minor girl, police said.
Banamali Barik, 35, who was arrested, is a drug edict and has a criminal record. He was a frequent visitor to the victim's house. He has confessed to the crime, District Superintendent of Police Anup Sahu told IANS.
The 15-year-old victim was a student of a blind school in the state capital Bhubaneswar, 60 km from Puri, and had gone to her village for her summer vacation.
People find it difficult to drive on city roads with their eyes wide open. But, 154 visually-impaired men and women have registered to take part in a rally to be held in the city on Sunday. The number is even likely to increase.
The rally titled FOReSIGHT 2013, is being jointly organised by the Association for the Blind, Bangalore Knights Round Table 174 and others.
Visual impairment has a very debilitating effect on the family and the economic condition of those suffering from it, President Pranab Mukherjee today said and called for use of latest technology to combat it.
He also said that the treatment should be made affordable for all while speaking after inauguration of an eye hospital started by the Swami Swaroopanand Charitable Trust in Narsinghpur district here.
Public places should be designed keeping in mind the convenience of those suffering from any impairment, the President said.
A 14-year-old blind girl was allegedly raped by her neighbour in Odhav area of the city, police said today.
The girl was asleep on the terrace of her house on Sunday night when Manish Parmar (25), the accused, forcibly took her to his terrace and raped her, police said.
Her elder sister approached the police yesterday.
"Parmar, was arrested late last night. He has confessed to his crime and has been sent to judicial custody," Odhav Police Inspector V D Brahmbhatt said.
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