RAMPING UP: Efforts, like those by Shivani Gupta, ensure that the disabled are not left out of the race (Amit Verma)

It’s only one small step for most of mankind. A young couple, holding hands and chatting animatedly, climbs it without even noticing. They are followed by a noisy gaggle of teenagers, and a family of four, all on their way into one of the several malls that are a part of Delhi’s social map. But for 38-year-old Shivani Gupta, the difference between self-sufficiency and dependence lies in that one step.

A wheelchair user for the past 16 years, Gupta remains astounded that despite growing awareness of issues of accessibility, architects and builders fail to take the needs of the disabled into account while planning buildings.

“The majority of buildings across India have no access for people with disabilities and, if they do, chances are they do so in areas such as the basement parking,” says Gupta, who has often had to be lifted and carried into buildings. “Buildings should be made in a way that ensures accessibility for everyone, and with dignity.” It was this frustration that motivated Gupta to start AccessAbility, an organisation that specialises in design and employment solutions for the disabled.

As India’s construction boom builds the nation’s future in chrome and glass, easy access to, within and outside the workplace continues to overlook the physically challenged. Tireless lobbying by disability rights groups has led to a growing awareness about the importance of accessibility in public buildings.

However, “most builders simply install a ramp at the entrance of a building to indicate accessibility”, says Vikas Sharma, a Delhi-based access consultant. “For many people, that is enough to signal an ‘accessible building’. Little do they realise that a lot more goes into make a building universal.” Details such as floor surfaces, correct lighting and appropriate signages tend to be ignored.

It’s Legal
There is an absence of a singular and well-defined regulation, which makes it mandatory for all buildings, whether public or private, to be completely accessible to people with disabilities. The onus, therefore, falls on various construction companies and real estate developers to ensure their buildings incorporate the principles of universal design.

“We do have a company policy in place that requires all our buildings to have access features for the disabled,” says a spokesperson for the DLF group, one of the country’s leading real estate developers. He adds, “All those who undertake the construction of any of our buildings are required to comply with the policy.” The spokesperson, however, refused to elaborate on the specifics of the said policy.

According to Section 46 of The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, “appropriate governments and local authorities shall, within the limits of their economic capacity and development, provide for — ramps in public buildings; adaptation of toilets for wheel chair users; Braille symbols and auditory signals in elevators or lifts; ramps in hospitals, primary health centres and other medical care and rehabilitation institutions.”

While the phrase ‘within the limits of their economic capacity’ can, on occasion, throw a spanner in the works, the Act has been effective over all, says the Deputy Commissioner for Persons with Disability, T.D. Dhariyal.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) amended building bye-laws in August 2000 to ensure all new construction was barrier-free. But buildings and other infrastructure such as roads (barring the national highways) is essentially a state subject. Municipal bodies have the primary responsibility of regulating all building activity across the country, and buildings are regulated by municipal bye-laws.

The National Building Code of India, 2005, prepared by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) acts as a guide for most State and Municipal bodies. Annex D (Clause 12.21) highlights special requirements for making public buildings accessible to people with physical disabilities. The BIS requirements apply to ‘all buildings and facilities used by the public’ but exclude private residences. The building code, , includes a detailed description of the kind of ramps, entrances, doors, windows, floor surfaces as well as sanitary facilities that need to be in place in a building to allow proper and equitable access to the disabled. However only seventeen states and union territories have amended their bye-laws to include accessibility until now.

But amending the bye-laws is only the first step. “There needs to be an effective monitoring agency in place,” says Dhariyal. “All municipal bodies need to have an ‘access officer’ whose sole responsibility will be to ensure that all buildings within his or her jurisdiction have all the access features, both during planning and implementation stages.”

It’s not enough to get clearance on paper says Dhariyal. “There needs to be a nodal authority to monitor accessibility features for all public buildings, whether they are government-owned or not.” At the moment, Uttar Pradesh is probably the only state that has managed to link access approval to policy, says Sharma.