Dear Avinash, Nice observation of your's! I think you travelled first time to Mumbai. All though Local trains are and stations are not accessible, thousands of persons with visual impairment travel comfortably Because of they are habitual to the environment and people around do not let us fall down any where what is my experience unlike Pune and Delhi.
If accessibility standards are considered, Transit system in Mumbai is very much inaccessible. It is very unfortunate that people in Mumbai do not draw even some time for shouting against inaccessible environment and protest unlike Delhi people. Mumbai people do not unite for such causes saying that they don't have time which is true on large extent. People plan agitation for several small reasons but why they don't think for accessibility which is our basic right. Accessible physical environment will solve our almost issues. Regards On 5/13/15, avinash shahi <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear friends > > I'm in Mumbai these days. I'm on a personal/proffessional visit to the > city. I visited many places today such as Siddhi Vinayak temple, Maha > Lakshmi temple and Hazi ali. And after travelling by taxi several > times, explored local train for the first and the last time in the > evening. Now If i come to the straight point,I wonder what these > experts/NGOs/ activists are doing there for years. If you are > blind,Its impossible that you could go to the Hazi Ali to offer Chadar > alone. No railings on the both sides of small steep pathways. And you > are bound to fall inside the sea where seawaves continue threatening > with resounding sounds. People have to walk that place very > cautiously. I also met two persons with locomotor disability their > wheelchair was scorted to the Mazar. And some disabled people were > literally crawling there. Later I came to know that there was a blind > student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai who fell in to the > sea but strong stones saved him last year from being drowned. However > he fractured his left wrist. Given the huge footfall to the shrine > Hazi ali and one of the most attractive places in Mumbai,aren't we > deserve independent visit to the place? anyway I leave it to Mumbakars > to contemplate and deal with the government on local level. > > Then I thought why I'm travelling by taxi all the time, let me travel > by local train which is considered the 'lifeline of Mumbai. So boarded > train at Dadar and found sea of people leaving no place to put one's > feet and exchanging their breaths. However one soothing experience, > there was audio announcement about the next station inside the train. > I got down at Kurla station and found no tactile path to guide me. > There were two bridges and somehow I managed to reach platform no 7 to > catch up train bound to gowandy. Crowd again was at its best and > people were mad when train arived. This audible spectacle was little > surprise but I know Mumbai local train is known for this much rush. > Alright, I again left the train on gowandy and struggled to go > outside. Anyway,I inquired somebody who informed me he was guard about > how blind people reach to the boggy meant for them? he told me "there > is a beap/sound which alerts them". I didn't hhear that sound perhaps > people's uproar subsumed that sound. But in the absence of tactile > pathways, and too many bridges with uneven staircases made me feel, > its better to bargain with taxi and board buses rather putting one's > life in danger as blind by travelling in local train. But what about > those who have no other option for whatever reasons, Is anyone > listening? > > > > > > -- > Avinash Shahi > Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU > > > > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of > mobile phones / Tabs on: > http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > To unsubscribe send a message to > [email protected] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > 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.. > -- Dhananjay Bhole, coordinator, Accessibility research group, Department of Education and Extension, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Ganesh Khind road, Pune 411007. Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.unipune.ac.in/atbslc PH: +912025601352 Telephax: +912025601301 cell:+919850123212 "through difficulties and problems, god gives us opportunities to learn and grow" Dr.Kalam Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in 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..
