LACK OF AWARENESS CAUSES BIG CONCERN

You know, we Indians and especially those living in Metros like Delhi are very funny people. When it comes to your ordinary day to day life, you as a citizen may actually care a damn about the law or the rules and regulations that you need to follow to prove yourself a good, educated and well-mannered citizens of the society, city or this country, but more than often, when it comes to helping and doing something for others, you suddenly remember these rules and regulations from no where. So, it means, when it comes to your own personal benefits, you may throw all the rules and regulations out of the window, but when it comes to doing the same for others, you somehow seem to show attitude and go to the extent of not understand or appreciating even the genuine problems faced by others.
This is precisely what happened with Komal Gupta, a 37 years old person with cerebral palsy who uses an automatic motor driven wheelchair to move about since he is unable to walk. It so happened that Komal, who owns a petrol pump in the Padpadgunj area of East Delhi, was sitting at the petrol pump, as he does everyday, when a young man came across to him and offered free coupons, which offered rebate at the new branch of Moti Mehal restaurant. Since Komal, despite his severe disability, loves going out and eating out, as he is fully independent on his wheelchair and has visited many malls and restaurants in the last couple of years, he decided to check out this restaurant as well. And with these free coupons in his pocket, Komal needed no further excuse to try out some delicious dishes at Moti Mehal
But here came a rude shock. As Komal reached the concerned mall, Komal was surprised to know that though it is a newly constructed site, there was neither a ramp nor a lift, which he could use to reach the restaurant, situated on the first floor of the mall. Though Komal was highly disappointed not to find a ramp, yet since he had already come to the mall and had to buy food in any case, if not from here, from somewhere else, Komal decided to send his driver cum helper along with the discount coupons to go and get the food packed for him.
This was one duty, which Komal’s driver had to undertake on a daily routine basis and as he stepped out to go to the restaurant, both Komal and his driver thought that today was no different.
But that wasn’t to be. To Komal’s disbelief, his helper came back and told him, “They are not ready to pack food. They say, if you want to make use of those discount coupons, you will first have to sit and have a bite in the restaurant itself and then they will pack the rest for home.”
Komal just couldn’t understand the logic behind this condition. “I sent back my helper explaining that I am physically challenge and lack of availability of either ramp or lift makes it practically impossible for me to reach the restaurant. But they refused to listen and said it is not possible for them to break the rule for one person only” he points out.
Continues Komal, “It wasn’t as if I was asking for a favor. When I am paying the cost of the food, what difference does it make if I have it at the restaurant or get it packed for home?” But with the restaurant not heeding to the request, Komal eventually had to throw away those discount coupons.
With society having no time to listen to their simple and basic needs, this is not a new experience for either Komal or other persons with disabilities, who face such problems on a day to day basis. But, on a closer look, you may realize that whereas the general public needs to be taken to task for the way persons with disabilities are being treated in this county, the persons with disabilities themselves and the so called pioneers of the disability movement are also equally responsible for this situation. Isn’t it sad when you note that whereas the pioneers hold regular dharna, meetings with planning commission and call for boycott of elections to raise the concerns of persons with disabilities, no one has time for incidents and issues like the one that took place with Komal that has the most direct impact on the daily lives of such persons?
Again, though those working in the sector have done a lot of hard work to sensitize the government and other officials, but unless the situation changes on the ground and the common man understands the issues and the problems of persons with disabilities, the steps taken by all these so called pioneers just mean nothing.
What discourages the persons with disabilities even further is the fact that though the required facilities are not available at most places, even where they are available, they can’t be used. Citing an example of this unfortunate situation Komal says, “I recently went to PVR in Saket’s Select City Mall in New Delhi, which screens films on the first floor of the mall. We had gone there since we had come to know about some electronic chair in that mall which can lift persons with disabilities. But on reaching, we were informed that it doesn’t work at all. My repeated requests to get it started failed and I had to be physically lifted to enter the hall causing great inconvenience to me. What’s the use of installing something which doesn’t even work?”
Agreed, since accessibility is a major problem for them, people with wheelchairs and other mobility problems face greater amount of difficulties, but does it mean that the attitude of general public towards the remaining persons with disabilities is very good? No, not really. Take this shocking incident, which Sonu Bhola, a young man with polio had to suffer sometime back. It so happened that during the recent strike of Indian Oil Corporation Employees, Sonu, a residence of East Delhi, had to rush to his office early in the morning and was there the whole day. As he stepped out of his office in the evening, he was disappointed to know that though he needed petrol to reach home, the strike still continued. Further, by the time Sonu reached Andrews Ganj he found he had no petrol in his scooter tank and had to unfortunately stop at a petrol pump in Andrews Ganj only. And, since it was not an Indian Oil petrol pump, Sonu thought he would easily get petrol over there. But that was not to be. Says Sonu, “I made repeated request first to the petrol pump employees and then to manager to help me on humanitarian grounds and even if the regular quota was finished, I would be grateful if they can give me some petrol from their personal reserved quota. But despite noticing that I was disabled and couldn’t walk properly, they didn’t help. Ultimately, with all the effort that it took, I had to drag my scooter to the next petrol pump and get the petrol.”
Of course, the solution to such problems lies in raising awareness both at an individual and social level. “To deal with the situation at an individual level” says Subhash Vashishth, a lawyer, who has worked in the field of disabilities and takes up disability related cases, “You can lodge a complaint with the Chief Commissioner of disabilities, who then will take quick and swift action on your complaint. Moreover, if you are an influential person in the disability sector and can get in touch with some like-minded people to organize a peaceful protest in front of the concerned person that may also help.”
“Further” says Saurabh Kumar, a person with Polio and a self-advocate, “For a long term solution, you need to create awareness, probably with help of the media. Persons with disabilities need to work in close connection with the Media to chalk out an effective long – term campaign in this regards.”
But Ms. Shukla Haldar, a mother of a young adult child with Cerebral Palsy disagrees to advocates like Subhash Vashishth and Saurabh Kumar insisting, “You look for an answer when you are actually experiencing a problem at given point of time What to do then and there is what matters and its when I don’t find immediate solution to my son’s problems, that it hurts the most” Yes, of course madam but may be Komal has an answer, He says, “The best you can do is to regard these as bad experiences and move on hoping for batter times ahead. That’s the best we can do. Isn’t it?”