> > Dear Ms. Subramani, > > Your note did something important: it separated inspiration from advocacy, > and insisted on tact, nuance, and strategy. That insistence is rare in our > ecosystem. It is also overdue. > > I’m *Lovely Sarkar Soti, Senior Programmes Manager at Rising Star Khilte > Chehre (RSKC).* I work in the space where that flattening becomes > dangerous, because it keeps the real problem intact. I want to give you a > short walkthrough of our work because it sits exactly where newsrooms can > see cause-and-effect. > > *The problem we are solving : * > > Visually impaired people in India are not excluded only by ramps missing. > They are excluded by a daily operating system built on assumptions: > > - > > *You will not be here.* > So the airport counter, the hotel lobby, the monument gate, the bus > staff, the cab driver, the restaurant—none of them are designed with your > presence in mind. > - > > *If you are here, you must be managed.* > So “help” becomes control. A hand grabs an elbow. A stranger speaks to > your companion. Consent is skipped. Dignity is treated as optional. > - > > *Your rights are negotiable in public.* > You are expected to accept improvisation, gratitude, and > patience—because the system is not trained to treat access as routine > service. > - > > *For visually impaired women, movement is treated as a risk to be > contained.* > “Safety” becomes a socially acceptable argument for restricting > mobility. Care turns into confinement. Over time, women disappear from > streets, work, and decision-making, not dramatically, but quietly. > > This is not just a travel issue. It is a public-life issue. > Travel is simply where it becomes visible fast. > Why travel is our lever > > Travel is a stress test for the country’s inclusion claims. > > If a visually impaired traveller can navigate an airport, check into a > hotel, move through a city, use transport, access a monument, and > participate in public spaces with dignity, it means systems are > functioning. If they cannot, the failure is immediate and documentable. > > And when visually impaired women travel, the system is forced to confront > a deeper assumption: who is “allowed” to take public space. > The villain we keep meeting > > The last mile breaks on behaviour. > > Pity. Awkwardness. Fear. Impatience. The urge to “take over”. > This is how rights get converted into charity. This is how policies die in > real life. > > That’s why we built Act With Empathy—to change default behaviour early, > inside schools and colleges, before people become the frontline staff, > managers, and policymakers who run these systems later. > The larger consequence people don’t talk about > > Exclusion from Daily Public Life shrinks the country. > > It shrinks participation in education, work, consumption, and civic life. > It keeps a large group out of the economy in ways that never show up as > one scandal, but show up as a permanent loss of potential. > > Tourism is demand-driven. When a segment is excluded, demand shrinks. Visually > impaired Indians are also working professionals, earners, consumers, and > family decision-makers. When they travel, they spend on transport, > hospitality, food, and experiences. Inclusive tourism is market expansion > and better service design that improves outcomes for everyone. > What I would value from you: A journalist’s critique on how to make this > a sustained public conversation that refuses to be reduced to “inspiring” > exceptions. > > If you’re open, I’d love to learn how disability organisations can stop > losing the story to sentiment. > > With Love, > Lovely. >
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