A Fair Way To Go
Dhariyal notes that the Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities has noticed a marked improvement in buildings since CPWD amended the bye-laws. “We have received fewer complaints about buildings that have come up in the last couple of years,” he adds.

Sharma agrees that, more often than not, a lot of the new construction, especially that undertaken by the bigger firms, does have at least the structural requirements for access in place. “What continues to pose a problem are the interiors, and building maintenance issues,” he says.

For instance, in the capital’s newest and most expensive mall, Select Citywalk, although there are disabled-friendly toilets with the correct door width and seat height, they are easily missed as they are not clearly signposted. Often, grab rails, an essential feature of a disabled-friendly toilet, are also missing. “This shows that while the developers have their hearts in the right place, they fail to follow through on the details that would make a mall truly accessible,” says Sharma.

Ramps, handrails and talking lifts are among the features most real estate developers have implemented successfully. “Getting into most buildings is no longer such a problem for people with disabilities,” says Sharma.

What is less thought through is evacuation in times of emergency. “Hardly any buildings have a ‘refuge area’, a fireproof room that can buy people time, near the fire escape routes, nor do they have ‘evac chairs’, which can slide down staircases,” says Sharma. This effectively closes escape routes for most people with disabilities, and leaves them with no way out but to be carried down the stairs by some one else.” Since a company would be aware of how many of its employees are disabled, they can create escape routes on a reactive model,” explains Sharma. However, as literally anyone can ‘walk’ into public spaces, such as malls, there is no way to know how many people with which disabilities are in the building at the time of an emergency. “These places need to implement an anticipatory model, which is far more comprehensive.”

A walk through most new buildings highlights not so much the lack of intention, but weak implementation of policies. At best, the initiatives are staggered. Qualified professionals, trained to pay attention to details, have to be hired. A barrier-free environment needs to be thought out from the time a building is planned.

It is in these new chrome and glass buildings that the future of corporate India is unfolding. To ensure that this future is equitable, the construction companies must, even as they rush to build swanky new office complexes, luxury hotels and those ultimate Meccas of consumerism — shopping malls, take into account the needs of the physically disabled “I have yet to come across any mall in the city that has a trial room, which has been adapted for the disabled,” rues Gupta, “I too would like to try on clothes before I buy them.”

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(Businessworld Issue 08 January - 14 January 2008)