*Mission Accessibility’s Quarterly Newsletter* Dear All,
The second quarter of 2024 – of the period between April-June – for Mission Accessibility (“MA”) was a very busy, productive and fulfilling period. During this phase, we had a few proud moments to cherish and chalked out a blueprint to take our work to the next level. You will recall that one of our Co-Founders had been appointed as an Amicus Curiae by the Delhi High Court in a case that raises the issue of how the general law of transfers applies to persons with disabilities. The Delhi High Court heard final arguments in the matter and judgment was reserved and delivered on 18th July. We also obtained an important victory in a matter concerning access to copyrighted books for persons with disabilities – thanks to our legal intervention, the book’s publisher was compelled to make an accessible soft copy version of the book available on Amazon. Further, both of our co-founders were empanelled in the pro-bono panel of Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee – this gives us an opportunity to help make the legal aid framework in India more disabled friendly from the inside and expand our footprint to assist legal aid beneficiaries beyond persons with disabilities. Additionally, our erstwhile sensitization and capacity building vertical head Tanishk Goyal was selected for pursuing his post-graduation in Harvard Law School and our erstwhile grievance redressal head Mahoor Ghani was selected for the judicial services of Jammu and Kashmir. We at MA are extremely proud of their achievements, truly appreciate their contribution in shaping MA and wish them the best in life. In parallel, our sensitization and capacity building work continues to remain strong, with new collaborations being forged and existing ones being strengthened. In particular, our collaboration with the Rhodes Trust continues to grow and we’ve prepared a training course for the trust. We are sharing below a thumbnail of the work we did during this period. *Grievance Redressal & Strategic Intervention* Below is a quick snapshot of the work done in our Grievance Redressal & Strategic Intervention vertical. * The Chief Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) has issued a detailed order to foster financial inclusion of persons with disabilities. The CCPD has directed Radisson Blu Hotel to ensure that they use point of sale devices with physical keypads in all their hotels across the country. This is because touchscreen-based point of sale devices are not accessible to persons having blindness or low vision. Further, the RBI has been directed to issue guidelines to all payment system operators and payment system participants to ensure that all payment systems approved by them, including point of sale devices, are accessible. Lastly, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has been asked to direct all hotel and restaurant associations to ensure their members use accessible point of sale devices. All the respondents will also need to submit an action taken report within 3 months. * Two hearings took place in April and May in the matter concerning how the general law of transfer applies to persons with disabilities and judgment was reserved in the matter. * We obtained an interim order in the case of Prof. Avichal Bhatnagar vs The CEO, Pralek Prakashan Pvt. Ltd, concerning access to copyrighted material for persons with disabilities. Following our intervention in the shape of a complaint to the CCPD, the publisher made available the kindle version of the book available in an accessible format. Further, the CCPD has in interim order, agreed to lay down guidelines on the broader structural issue regarding accessibility of reading material for persons with print disabilities. * Our Co-Founders were empanelled in the pro bono panel of the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee. * We had filed an interim application before the Supreme Court in a set of matter concerning the regulation of stray animals. In our application, we demonstrated the manner in which stray dogs adversely impact the free movement and mobility of persons with disabilities. The Supreme Court disposed off the application by granting us the liberty to approach the jurisdictional High Court. *Sensitization & Capacity Building* We present to you the overview of the work that we undertook in our Sensitization & Capacity Building vertical. * We conducted the accessibility audit of one of the most popular OTT platforms for their Android app and are in the process of auditing their IOS app as well. * We provided feedback to a studio that provides audio description. * Our co-founder Rahul Bajaj spoke at the Annual Courts and the Constitution Conference at Nalsar. He spoke in the panel on “Taking stock of the judiciary”, about the work he is involved in on making courts more accessible for persons with disabilities. * We prepared a course for the Rhodes Trust, for a subset of their scholars, titled ‘Train the Trainer Programme on Disability Rights and Disability Justice’. This course aims to provide participants with a foundational understanding of the principles that underpin the disability justice movement. * We started working with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to make their app ‘Sugamya Bharat’ more accessible for PWDs. This app enables persons with disabilities to report accessibility barriers encountered by them in accessing physical and digital spaces and to learn about government schemes that are designed for the empowerment of the disabled. * Our co-founder Rahul Bajaj participated as a speaker in a panel discussion organized by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy for the launch of their handbook on creating a principles-based and user-centric district court infrastructure. * We submitted recommendations to the Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on its Consultation Paper on the Draft Broadcasting Policy. Some of these recommendations, particularly regarding the inclusion of audio description and closed captioning in visual media, have been included in the white paper released by TRAI. * Our co-founder and one of our team member– Rahul and Ayushmita – were appointed as consultants by IPAS- an International NGO that works on expanding reproductive justice. Our services were commissioned for a project concerning expanding disability inclusion in the organization's reproductive justice initiatives. Thank you! Warmly, Rahul Bajaj and Amar Jain Co-Founders, Mission Accessibility Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef> -- Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list.. 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