IDPD: the struggle continues

So, it's finally over. International Day of Persons with Disabilities came and went. None of the TV channels highlighted the theme for this year-“Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all.’ We are the world’s largest minority and rightly we remained invisible this year too.

Sharing with the readers, my little effort where my RTI expose/interview got published in various print/electronic media on 3^rd and 4^th December.

We need to continue this fight. Let’s join hands.

Happy to be alive

Deccan Herald, 4 Dec:  Impossible is nothing when it comes to the specially abled

The Times of India, 3 Dec 2012 - Few ATMs disabled-friendly

Hindustan Times,  3 Dec 2012- Access denied: Delhi not for disabled

Health India, 3 Dec 2012 - IDPwD: How inclusive and accessible is our society?

Millennium Post,  4 Dec 2012 - Black armband silent protest against GTB Hospital

The Asian Age, 3 Dec 2012 - 33% of students with learning disability are gifted

Cross The Hurdle Magazine - TravelAbility: Inaccessible Sim's Park

A black armband silent protest on IDPD

A black armband silent protest against Medical Superintendent, GTB Hospital, Delhi

Issued on International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3 December 2012

Protesting for a cause

As the world celebrates International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPwD) today, I as a Coordinator, Enabling Unit (for PwD) & Equal Opportunity Cell; Chairperson, Equality & Diversity Committee; founder, Infinite Ability; and a faculty member at UCMS & GTB Hospital sit quite gloomy while trying to find out reasons to celebrate.

University College of Medical Sciences is a premiere medical institution of Delhi and constituent college of University of Delhi. The associated teaching hospital is GTB Hospital which comes under NCT of Delhi. We are perhaps the only medical institute in India having a dedicated Enabling Unit for persons with disabilities (PwDs) as per UGC guidelines. We are committed to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all PwD, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.

Till now, I have enjoyed support of Principal, UCMS and we have done some good work as well. However, a lot needs to be done and I cannot reciprocate the same support coming from Medical Superintendent (MS) of GTB Hospital. The theme for IDPwD today is “Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all.” We, the PwDs, are world’s largest minority and faces barriers in the form of physical, e-inaccessibility and attitudinal barriers. The legally binding UNCRPD protects our rights since India has ratified the convention in 2007.

Under my chairmanship, I formed an Equality & Diversity Committee consisting of faculty, students and non-teaching members, all being PwDs in line with the mantra ‘Nothing for us, without us.’  My students raised the issue of inaccessible conditions prevailing in GTBH campus and I circulated the minutes to higher authorities for immediate action. That was May 2012 and its 3^rd December now. My repeated requests and reminders to MS GTBH have fallen in deaf ears.

The new MCH block at GTBH has a dedicated ramp as well as accessible toilet but it is not yet functional.

The CRPD requires States to ensure “reasonable accommodation” of the rights of PwDs. The library, Conference Hall and MEU is without any lift and it therefore violates the right to education (article 24). Accessibility is essential to enable PwDs to live independently and participate fully in life-it is therefore an end in itself as well as a means to enjoy other rights. The inaccessible Post Office and Canara Bank in the campus defies article 19 and 27 of CRPD. I myself arranged a meeting of AGM, Canara Bank with MS in July where the former showed his willingness to shift the Bank branch on the ground floor. However, I am still awaiting for the minutes of that meeting.

It gives me great pain to know each day my students with disabilities have to encounter herculean task at the hostel which has a steep ramp without hand-railings. PwDs are not objects of charity; we are rather subjects with human rights. Government of India gives Rs50 lakhs under SIPDA to make a building barrier free. The complete apathy from Public Works Department, GTBH failed our proposal. I have requested many times to Hon’ble MS to look into these matters and I am still awaiting a response.

I take great pride in associating with UCMS & GTBH. I feel privileged and proud to be part of this great institution and hospital. I am however deeply distressed about the inaccessible issues prevailing in GTB campus and do not feel that I can start my day today at GTBH without indicating my feelings in a dignified manner on IDPwD.

I cannot in good conscience carry out my work today and ignore the fact that my disabled fraternity is feeling oppressed. It is impossible to ignore that nothing has happened since I started accessibility advocacy in April 2012. Although I am just another professional employee, I do have a conscience and feelings. I believe that if I, as Coordinator of Enabling Unit, remain silent today than it will be taken as a sign that either I do not care or I condone the inaccessible conditions prevailing in GTBH. I believe that it is important to stand up for what is right. Disability does not mean that I cannot stand up for our rights.

The harsh reality

I have struggled to think of an action that would be appropriate and that would not demean the official procedures. I would like to stress that I greatly respect the Hon’ble MS and all the hard work he is doing at GTBH.  However, the amount of communication sent to him is too much for comfort now.

On this special day and under the present circumstances I have decided that I will wear a black armband to mark my silent protest. In doing so I am highlighting the apathy towards PwDs. In doing so I am making a silent plea to Hon’ble MS to protect basic human rights of PwDs and show social accountability. In doing so I pray that my small action may help to expedite the process of making UCMS & GTBH a truly inclusive and accessible campus for one all.

Dr Satendra Singh

RTI coverage in 'The Hindu'

Today's (12 Nov 2012) edition of the widely acclaimed daily 'The Hindu' also covers the RTI story of inaccessible Delhi post offices. I am producing the content below (with prior permission):

Many post offices not accessible to disabled, reveals RTI query

GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR

Postal orders may be the favoured choice of most Right to Information (RTI) applicants, but when it comes to accessing the post offices, many of them and in particular, those who are differently-abled suffer great difficulty. This has been highlighted by a RTI activist and a practising doctor Satendra Singh through a series of responses he obtained from the Department of Posts.

Dr. Singh, who is an Assistant Professor with University College of Medical Sciences of Delhi University and works at Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital in North-East Delhi, himself suffers from polio and uses calliper support for mobility.

Talking to The Hindu, he said it was as in-charge of the Enabling Unit at the hospital that he was told by various students about the problems they encountered in entering post offices that made him pursue the matter. “The post office in our campus is on the first floor and is not easily approachable. So I initially lodged a complaint with the Medical Superintendent of GTB Hospital about the issue and then took to filing RTI applications to learn more about the apathy towards this subject.”

Dr. Singh said the issue pertains not only to the differently-abled but also to the elderly as they are the ones who use the post offices the most for getting their pensions or sending money orders.

Dr. Singh said when he requested the postal department to give data about ease of accessibility of various post offices for the disabled, the South division claimed that 65 of its 67 post offices were “barrier-free”. It also claimed that “ramps have been constructed for free movement of wheelchairs” and “height of all the counters has been lowered for easy access”.

Similarly, he said, the West division, too, claimed “all the post offices of this division are easily accessible and barrier-free”.

“However, this is completely different from the ground situation in many places where disabled people, like me, find it difficult to access without any ramps or so,” said Dr. Singh.

He said in East Delhi, the response had revealed that six post offices were not accessible to all persons with disabilities and this included the GTB Hospital PO.

Dr. Singh noted that the responses also admitted that in most post offices there was “no facility for PwD to access at the first floor”. Stating that his goal was to sensitise the masses, he said, this year’s theme for International Day of Persons with Disabilities too was “removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all”.

However, in Delhi, as also elsewhere, he said India’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has made little impact as even the Capital city was yet to adopt the universal design for its various buildings in order to make them fully accessible. “Even one hurdle along the way can obstruct a PwD or elderly person’s approach to a building.”

Capital shocker: Post offices lack facilities for disabled

The Statesman. 4 Nov 2012 by Lois Kapila
KOLKATA, 4 NOV: Dr Satendra Singh travels kilometres to post letters, even though there is a post office on the campus of the hospital where he works. “I don't like to tell people, you do this for me,” he said.  

Dr Singh, who had polio which left him disabled, is an assistant professor of physiology at the University College of Medical Sciences and GTB Hospital, Delhi. He said he had sent many letters to the hospital superintendent to tell him that the on-campus post office couldn't be easily accessed by him, but didn't get a reply.  

Starting to think about accessibility elsewhere also, Dr Singh said, “I decided I should know the status of all the post offices in the Capital of the nation.” A series of RTI responses show that many post offices in the Capital lack the facilities that would bring them in line with the country's obligations as a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, he said.

The Delhi East Division office's response listed seven of the post offices in their zone that are not accessible, for example. The Central Division said, “as per records no such facilities have been provided” in response to his request for details of “all the standard facilities for barrier-free access made available for the Persons with Disability.”

South Division officials said in their response that 65 of their 67 post offices  are “barrier-free”, but two ~ one at Chittaranjan Park and the other at Kailash Colony ~ are on the first floor “without any facility of lift”.

Dr Singh was also surprised that the only complaint about accessibility in post offices had, in fact, been filed by him.

“It is shocking. But I am not only blaming the post offices but also the community that they are just sitting there.” He said, in his opinion, this silence is a sign of real disability. “If somebody is not raising his voice, he is truly a disabled person.” If post offices were made accessible, it wouldn't only help the disabled, he said, but also senior citizens and young children.

Dr Singh was also concerned about the response from the Office of the Director of the General Post Office to the questions asking about the “accessible status” of the New Delhi General Post Office, and specifically “whether it is accessible/barrier-free or not to Persons with Disabilities (PwD)”.  

“New Delhi GPO is centrally located, it is therefore accessible to all,” the response said. “They thought accessibility meant connectivity,” said Dr Singh.

“A person at a very senior post is not aware of the definition of accessibility, what about lower people...”.

Source: The Statesman

Also read: Times of India coverage on 29th Oct 2012

RTI: Delhi's inaccessible P.O's (SOUTHWEST Div)

This is in continuation of my earlier RTI expose in The Times of India (World’s largest read English daily). As promised, I am giving the details of responses received from India Post, division wise. I asked six basic questions in my RTI and they were:

1.    Please provide me a list of all post offices/ building  under the jurisdiction of Indian Postal department in the city of Delhi along with their accessible status (whether accessible/barrier-free or not) to Persons with Disabilities (PwD).

2.    Please provide me the details as to all the standard facilities for barrier free access made available for the Persons with Disability vide Benefits under Chapter VIII of the Persons with Disabilities Act-1995 in buildings/office mentioned in 1.

3.    Please provide me the details of the postoffices/branches/GPO’s which are on first floor or above and without the provision of lifts

4.    Please provide me the details of the facilities provided for People with Disability (PwD) to access the post offices/branches/GPO which are on first floor and above

5.    Please provide me the list of complaints regarding inaccessible post offices in the region of Delhi.

6.    What action has been taken to remedy the same? Please provide me an action taken report.

There was no response in the mandated period and after my first appeal I received responses from all the divisions. In today’s post I am sharing South West Delhi Division’s response:

South West division’s reply implies that 77% of PO’s are without ramp for wheelchair users. 65% of this number is in government buildings. I also request the readers to kindly verify the correctness of PO’s claimed as ‘barrier-free’ in this RTI response.

Also read:

India Post: “Paper Tigers” in “ease of access for the disabled”

RTI expose of inaccessible Delhi Post Offices

India Post: “Paper Tigers” in “ease of access for the disabled”

Minister of Communications & IT while unveiling the new logo of India Post said, “The government is taking steps to make India Post a parcel and logistics giant, in the domestic as well as international sector.” The new logo was termed as a synthesis between service proposition and modernity and the launch was heralded as a landmark with the promise that the new corporate identity will unfold higher level of customer services. That was 4 years ago.

Sitting in my office in one of the premier institutes of India, I try to accomplish majority of work via emails. It’s not that I am against snail mail but I dread at the thought of visiting Post Offices (PO). The reason – I have mobility impairment. Post Polio Residual Paralysis to be precise. With my abilities, I did my MBBS and then MD. I am also a guest speaker for many medical education workshops within Delhi as well as outside it. No mental obstacle came in my way but I can’t fight out physical barriers. The post office in my hospital campus is on the first floor without provision of any lift. The nearby post offices have the same inaccessibility issues. Those who are on ground floor’s are without hand railings or ramps.

Let’s look it in a larger perspective. Persons with disabilities (PwD’s) constitute more than 15% of the world’s population and is  the “world’s largest minority.”For us, the lack of access to essential services (like postal services) remains a source of discrimination and lost opportunities. In March, I filed my first complaint to the local post office to make it accessible to PwD’s. It was followed by reminders, than emails to higher authorities as well as to India Post’s nodal officers. Nothing happened except acknowledgment of receipt of complaints. Being an independent citizen of this country, it’s my human right to visit any public building and to avail all public services. This, along with the continued indifference of India Post prompted me to lock horns directly with them and I finally filed RTI application under the Right To Information Act to know the accessibility status of all post offices in the capital of India, Delhi towards PwD’s.

India Post didn’t disappoint me with their traditional indifferent attitude. Nothing happened in the mandatory one month period where it is legally bound on them to furnish the info. Undeterred, I filed first appeal. Not surprisingly, both my RTI and first appeal, which were sent via speed posts, took more than 7 days to reach Delhi from NCR. (I caution the readers to always track their consignment details as what is promised is not always delivered). The first appeal lead to a flurry of responses from all divisional PO’s in Delhi.

Delhi East division stated, “no post office under this division is with the facility of lift.” Central division replied, “no separate arrangement for the PwD has been made so far to access the PO.” North division reiterates “no facility for barrier free access.” West division blatantly claims that “all are easily accessible & barrier free” despite 3 PO’s on first floor without lift. South West division’s reply implies that 77% of PO’s are without ramp for wheelchair users. 65% of this number is in government buildings.

South division considers Gulmohar Park in South Delhi as ‘barrier free’ but a wheelchair user can only look down in despair at this basement located inaccessible PO. The office of Director, GPO, New Delhi in response to my question, “accessible status to persons with disabilities” writes- “New Delhi GPO is centrally located hence it is therefore accessible for all.” This attitudinal barrier is just a tip of the iceberg. Visually impaired are completely delineated from “disabled” category as I have yet to see a PO with tactile markings or guided assistance and a lift with audio system.

The construct of India Post’s new logo (see image) four years back was inspired by the fact that India Post carries emotion across physical distance. At first glance, it is an envelope and at the next glance, it is a bird in flight, unhindered and unrestricted. The following bold strokes convey free flight. The reality exhibits barriers, hindrances and restriction of our basic humanrights.

It has been said that the red colour in the logo embodies passion, power and commitment. Yellow communicates hope, joy and happiness. Evidence of the lacking of this commitment and joy can be found right across the capital. India Post violates and undermines the dignity of PwD’s which is so manifestly against the spirit of the Constitution of India and the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.

In the wake of India ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities  (UNCRPD) in October,2007, it has become incumbent on India’s part, under the established and recognized international human right norms,to harmonise all its relevant domestic laws and policies with this international treaty.

Gloria Steinem famously said- “If the shoe doesn’t fit, must we change the foot?”

The PwD’s are not the unfit shoe here. We are not asking something out of reach for us rather we are pleading for universal access. A universal design will allow a senior citizen, a pregnant female, an unsteady toddler as well as persons with disabilities all to access the same public building with dignity and pride. Am I asking for too much?

This was a Guest Editorial post authored by me for www.soumyadeepb.wordpress.com where it first appeared.

Dr Satendra Singh, MD, FSS, is an assistant professor and the  Coordinator of Enabling Unit(for students with disabilities), at University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi. He is founder of ‘Infinite Ability’ – a special interest group on disability within Medical Humanities Group of Medical Education Unit. He is 2011 fellow of CMC Ludhiana FAIMER (Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education Research) fellowship and teaches Physiology to medical stu­dents. He is currently working on incorporating disability studies into medical cur­riculum. He blogs at : ‘The Enablist’

Also read: RTI expose of inaccessible Delhi Post Offices

RTI expose of inaccessible Delhi Post Offices

The theme for International Day of Persons with Disabilities for 2012 is ‘Removing barriers to create an inclusive & accessible society for all’. Postal Services comes under essential services but are the post offices accessible to Persons with Disabilities (PwD’s)?

The Department of Posts, trading as India Post, is the most widely distributed post office system in the world. The postal service comes under the Department of Posts which is a part of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology under the Government of India. India has been divided into 22 postal circles, each circle headed by a Chief Postmaster General. Each Circle is further divided into Regions comprising field units, called Divisions, headed by a Postmaster General.Further divided into divisions headed by SSPOs & SPOs.

I sent many letters and reminders to SSPO, East Delhi to make the zone accessible to PwD's but nothing happened. Hurt by this constant discrimination, I filed an RTI to know the accessibility status of all the post offices in the capital of the nation. The results are shocking. In subsequent days, I shall upload the responses of RTI replies from each division in New Delhi here. Please watch out this space. In the mean time, read below the summarized report of this RTI revelation published in today's Times of India:

No ease of access for disabled to post offices

Shreya Roy Chowdhury, TNN | Oct 29, 2012

                         DIFFICULT TO REACH: The post office at Gulmohar 

                         Park is located in a basement without any ramps

NEW DELHI: Gulmohar Park's post office exists in the basement of DDA market, down a flight of stairs in a structure with no ramps or lift. That, however, hasn't deterred the south division of the India Post from declaring it "barrier-free" in its reply to an RTI enquiry filed by Dr Satyendra Singh, professor of physiology at University College of Medical Sciences and doctor at GTB Hospital.

Singh, himself disabled, filed a query under RTI Act in July requesting information from the postal department on the levels of accessibility at Delhi post offices. The reply is worrying as many first-floor post offices have no lifts and many of those declared "barrier-free" have stairs leading to them.

South division claims 65 of their 67 post offices (including Gulmohar Park's), are "barrier-free". The ones at Chittaranjan Park and Kailash Colony, it admits, are on the first floor "without any facility of lift". South division also claims that "ramps have been constructed for free movement of wheelchairs" and "height of all the counters has been lowered for easy access".

West division, too, claims "all the post offices of this division are easily accessible and barrier-free". "The two post offices in Rajouri Garden are both on the ground floor. The one in Janta Market has a very high pavement in front of it and the one in the main market is on a narrow and potholed bylane frequently flooded by sewage water and is slippery. A visually-impaired person can't reach that one," says Singh. The postal department didn't reply to his queries immediately but responded only after a first appeal was filed.

Singh travels 10 kilometers to Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, to send a speed post as the post offices closer to home all are inaccessible. "We only have impairments, it's the society which makes us disabled," he says. 

                      RTI MAN: Dr Satendra Singh at a post office in Jhilmil

North division runs 81 post offices of which 14 are above ground-floor or occupy multiple-floors. As per the division's own admission, "there is no provision of lifts in any post office building". However, the division had written to the executive engineer, postal civil division, for providing assistance as per the Disability Act, in seven post offices (including Ashok Vihar, Civil Lines, Malka Ganj and Rohini Sector 7) first in January 2009 and again in July and September, 2010, "but the needful has not been done yet". Southwest division runs 60 post offices, mostly from rented buildings, and 46 of them don't have ramps for wheelchairs. None of the post offices in the southwest division are on the first floor. 

In central division, four post offices are operating from first-floors, "without having the lift" or any "separate arrangement for the people with disability". East division, too, states that "no post office under this division is with the facility of lift" and "no facilities were provided" for people with disability on POs above ground-floor. They say that barring seven post offices (at Krishna Nagar, Azad Nagar, Old Seemapuri, Mayur Vihar, Shahdaramandi, Gandhi Nagar Bazar and GTB Hospital), the rest of their 62 offices are "accessible to all persons with disabilities". Apparently, the stairs (without even handrails) at the PO in Jhilmil Industrial Area are not a barrier.

In the first question, Singh had sought "accessibility status" and explained what he meant by adding parenthetically, "whether accessible/barrier-free or not to persons with disabilities". In reply to this query, the office of the director, General Post Office, informs, "The GPO is centrally located and it is, therefore, accessible for all".

Source: TOI dated 29 Oct 2012 (5th page) and online at http://tinyurl.com/8dbur8c

Next on Enablist: Only dead ends for disabled (RTI replies from North, West, Southwest, East, South, Central Divison and GPO, New Delhi. Watch Out). I also request the readers to send me photographs of inaccessible post offices from Delhi, if any, at enablingunit@gmail.com