“Human dignity is indivisible. Young and old, weak and strong, the human family is held together by its common dignity and the inviolability that stems from it.”
Nigel M. de S. Cameron, Ph.D.
CBC Executive Chairman
Historically, disabled people have been a invisible lot, dependency forced upon them socially (many a times ostracised for various religions reasons), economically and psychologically, with no say of their own, labelled, and taken care of often with the best intentions yet always were tucked away in the backroom of the house.
However, the early years of the 20th-century, the post world war developments saw a sudden growth in the population of injured and disabled war veterans. There were wars fought previously but there were mere skirmishes of bickering countries but this magnitude was unprecedented. Society could not suddenly abandon so many patriots just because they had lost a limb or two. Therefore rehabilitation was the buzzword.
The early fifties saw the struggles of African Americans, the feminist movement. This sowed the first inklings of a disability rights movement as persons with disability for the first time realised that they like Afro-Americans and women had confronted numerous stereotypes, exclusion in public affairs, and were denied the right to live. This movement set deep roots in the eighties and nineties. The first taste of victories for people with disabilities was the Salamanca report and the subsequent passing of disability acts in various countries. India in 1995 passed the Persons with disability Act, a landmark act in the history of our republic. This Act as law is comprehensive and addresses various issues, but ironically lacks teeth for its prompt implementation.
With this brief introduction of the disability movement I move on to Access and Technology. Both these words are very commonly used, yet their true sense is lost to the user. A glance at a dictionary would reveal that access means “the ability, right to approach, enter, speak with, or use ”. This precisely is or rather the lack of it is a one word history of disability or for that matter the history of every marginalized group be it the Afro-Americans or the Dalits nearer home: the present is the quest of achieving these very ideals for a better and inclusive future. Technology means much more than a gizmo or a sophisticated thingummy, it is “use of technical means and their inter-relation with life, society and environment”. With most marginalized groups technology does (may) not play an important role; but to a person it is of utmost importance. If Change in Attitude, getting reservations, enacting special laws are the latter part of the definition of access, then technology is the ability. It is what gives disability an ability.
An individual may use assistive technology to travel about, communicate with others, engage in recreational and social activities, learn, work, control the immediate environment, and increase his or her independence in daily living skills.
Devices to control the environment are important to people whose ability to move about and to turn electrical appliances on or off is limited. Switches that respond to slight pressure, motorized lifts can aid in getting in or out of bed or a bathtub, automated doors means easy passage within and outside of buildings and rails and grab bars can make movement easier.
Technology is the key to levelling of ability and ‘handicap’ of individuals with disabilities. It gives person with disability a human face, dignity.
This is an ideal situation, the marriage of technology with disability, but the reality is different. Last millennium has seen many technological advances, from the nuclear explosion to the man on the moon, however, disability was never on the list, a decent all-terrain wheelchair is still to be invented J.
Technology is as old as man and the earliest evidence of its use is in the Rig=Veda which recounts the story of Queen Vishpla, a princess warrior who lost a limb in battle and was fitted with an iron leg and who returned victorious.
There are many such examples but most of them are part of folk tales and myths. Here I would like to mention a dubious example. In early 19th century England there was a burst in the scientific interest, especially when “Darwin whose notion of evolutionary advantage of the fittest laid the foundation of eugenics. Darwin’s ideas served to place persons with disability along the wayside as evolutionary defectives to be surpassed by natural selection. So, eugenics became obsessed with the elimination of “defectives”, a category which included the feeble minded, the deaf, the cripple and so on.”[1] The ideas of eugenics were later put to use by Hitler in his quest of eliminating Jews and also many person with disability’s were exterminated.
Technology is not cheap. Wheelchairs, scooters, and hand controls on automobiles enhance mobility. Adapted car seats and wheelchair restraints augment transportation safety. At work sites, special computers, ramps, and telephone headsets mean fewer barriers.
However, such use of technology is isolated, innovations are being done but on a small scale and directly benefiting a very small no. and esp. those who can afford. Let’s take the instance of modified vehicles for people with disability. A quick search on yahoo.com or google.com will reveal many websites on adapted automobiles, but unfortunately most of this data is relevant to the western countries. There is dearth of information and reports on the success of the cars. The Indian govt. permits the import of these cars at a concessional rates, but their spare parts are difficult to get. Maruti udyog limited manufactured cars with specific modifications but discontinued it due to lack of demand.[2] In such a scenario only daring entrepreneurs and those who can afford such cars would go for it. In Bombay there is one such daring entrepreneur, Mr. Ferdinand Rodrigues, has successfully modified around forty cars from Mars, Van Maruti Esteem, Mercedes, Cielo, Santro and Honda City.[3] Mr. F. R. has to his credit modified the Mehendra Voyager for the use of Professor Stephen Hawking during his recent visit to Mumbai.
The problem of accessibility does not end with modification, it is just the tip of the iceberg. Disability is diverse and no amount of ingenuity in design can include all disabilities. Even the cars modified by mr. F. R. had to be specially customised for each clients which is one of the reasons MUL had to stop manufacturing. A feature of accessibility for one particular disability can be a curse for another. The low level pavement curb which a person on wheelchair can easily negotiate is a problem to the visually impaired.
There is, after all, only one environment, which all individuals should be able to share equally and independently. In order to achieve equality of access, this environment either has to be designed from the outset for maximum flexibility to meet varying needs.
The concept of universal design envisions that all buildings, environments and products in such a way, that they could - to the greatest extent possible- be used by everybody – be it children or old people, people of different sizes and abilities, disabled and non-disabled persons.
Architecture and accessibility. Accessibility in buildings in most cases is confined to having ramps, a grab bar and maybe an accessible toilet catering to the needs of people with mobility impairments, especially those who used wheelchairs at the expense sometimes of other kinds of accessibility, such as alternative formats such as the installation of Braille boards, audio signals visual signals for the hearing impaired.
However architecture is much more than designing and building. These easy parts have been (are being) taken care of. It is time to confront issues of a wider platform. It is time to make sidewalks, parking area, public transportation more accessible. The cities[4] like Bombay which were built long ago and which evolve everyday are centers that are architecturally inaccessible should be made accessible as and when possible to include roads, curb cuts, bus stop, transport, parks, entertainment centres etc. accessible as integrated quality. If the efforts of the likes of Mr. Rodrigues are to be fruitful then the parking lot should be as accessible as the car, which the person with disability drives!
Having achieved the ideals of universal design will the needs of person with disabilty be fulfilled? What about employability??
Holistic Access: an holistic approach to access that is the need of the hour, meeting the needs of person with disability in isolated instances is of no use. Disability is a social construct as disability is the sum total of negative attitudes, its discriminating and indifferent policies. Society and state should take the responsibility of providing a means to its citizens a fulfilling life.
Author
Nilesh Singit
Founder Member DRDF
[1] Constructing Normalcy, Lennard Davis
[2] According to a MUL press release it has resumed manufacturing modified cars with its Zen AX models
[3] http://www.handicappedpeople.com/ is Ferdinand Rodrigues website
[4] http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/our_services/access/designing_accessible_city.htm is an effort to make city of London more accessible
