December 3rd celebrates differently abled people and is popularly known as World Disability Day.

Today is that day when disabled across the world celebrate their uniqueness. Can this be said about the differently abled in our city too? I am purposely using the term differently abled rather than disabled to give it positive connotation. This brings me to analyse how disabled friendly is Mumbai? Firstly, our roads which we require to travel the shortest distance does not have any aspect of inclusion and accessibility designed in it. Unfortunately, these people are virtually non-existent for town planners, who have displayed disregarded for inclusivity while planning for even the most basic civic facilities. Our Foot Over Bridges (FOBs) and skywalks also lack escalators and similar facilities which would make it accessible and usable for disabled people. The steep ramps present in few locations which look disabled friendly are misleading. Our road traffic adds to the nuisance when pedestrians are generally not safe walking on the road. The nuisance of two wheelers other things usurping pedestrian space add more trouble to disabled walking on the road. Our practise of honking is another nuisance for visually challenged people who use their stick; the sound of the stick noise from the stick enables and facilitates them to walk. But when people start honking the noise of the stick is not audible to them and this misguides disorients and gets them panicky, making walking difficult for them. Thus a change in the overall traffic behaviour of people is a must for the city and its differently abled. Moving on to other basic facility, i.e. Public Transport, the local trains besides offering a separate compartment to this section of the society does not serve them much. The infrastructure to reach the platform in order to gain access trains lacks disabled friendly facilities which facilitate their movement to the platforms. It is only at Matunga Road Station that we can see a ramp heading towards the platform allowing them to use railways. It was mentioned to me in an interaction with one such differently abled persons that earlier there was a skirting on the platform which used to warn the visually impaired of the tracks ahead. However over a period of time with tar layer over them the visually impaired do not get any signal making them vulnerable to more accidents. The Buses prove no better since there is no facility available on the bus stop to inform them on the number of the bus arriving and which route does it take, making them dependent on people around for information like this. Thirdly, Sanitation, Sanitation in the city is not good in general but absence of facilities for the differently abled people is a cause of concern even more. These constitute a good amount of people in the society. Facilities made available to this section of society can also be beneficial to the older section of the society which is another large section of the society. Delhi has the concept of a multi-use toilet, considered an important part of pedestrian utilities. Such toilets would be beneficial for all and would also allow the disabled to use them, saving the cost in creating separate infrastructure for differently-abled people. This needs to be adopted in Mumbai urgently. No public toilets facilitates its use for these differently abled people. The last area which I would like to draw attention to is education No education institution in the city is disabled friendly. I can be wrong but visit to various institutions at different points of time make me conclude this. No School and college has a campus and entrance to classes designed to be disabled friendly (I could have missed out on a few

good examples, but for now I know none). The University of Mumbai Kalina Campus gives the same experience. It is very important to have inclusive educational institutions which can cater to the needs of all the sections of the society. General lack of awareness and sensitivity about these aspects in the process of planning and mechanical structuring is needed to actually change the face of the city and make it disabled friendly. Change in mindset is a must when it comes to making the city inclusive and accessible to even the differently abled. On the Governance front, a lot of money is pumped into prevention aspect of disability but a very negligible amount is invested in actually making facilities available to the ones who are differently abled. It needs urgent action from people in power. Mumbai has a lot more to do to make all its places accessible to all. Small interventions by government have not been sufficient; neither have they been taken considering the demands of the differently abled. The Motto of doing anything for this section of the society should be Nothing without them and more for them. This section of the society needs to be included in decision making and their demands needs to be addressed to and not neglected. Life in Mumbai is not easy for any one and its even worse if you are differently abled. I hope things change in near future and the city truly becomes inclusive in its true nature. This may require research and analysis of a number of things including disability parameters. Making Mumbai Disabled Friendly should be the aim of governance in the coming years to come.