Please don’t go by the title this post is not about anything
that make us exclusive. It’s about how little we do to include everyone in
mainstream. Ever since I became a mom I have been increasingly realizing how
little do we think about inclusive society? Everywhere I go I am rarely able to
navigate my baby’s stroller end to end.
Almost everywhere I have to physically lift and carry the stroller at
least once. Every time I do so my brain goes to people on wheel chairs or to
old people who are unable to navigate on stairs. This is gross neglect on the
part of government and law enforcement to include differently abled or aged or
little one in the regular life.
A few months ago I visited one of the very famous tourist
spots in north India, with my family, which includes my infant. Almost for the
entire trip to that place we had to carry baby in in our arms and stroller
separately. The paths were not navigable. In fact I doubt my parents or any old
people can visit the place. The place is huge with no resting places, no
mechanism of early exits, only one way in and one way out. How does anyone
expect anyone with difficulty in walking or small kid to visit?
Forget the tourist place I can’t even take my little one out
for a walk beyond the premises I live in as most places are not accessibility friendly.
What goes through the brain of the engineers who plan such places? All it takes
is to build a few ramps instead of stairs. All the malls are accessibility friendly
internally but there is no way to enter most of them on a wheel chair. Or to
walk to them with a baby on stroller.
Sometimes people even go to the extent of saying that why do
you want to go around places if navigating them is so difficult. What they fail
to understand is that more often than not it’s a necessity. All these people have a right to carry on
their business on their own. Why does anyone think it’s okay to have places
which can only be accessed by able bodied young people and everyone else does
not need to visit them?