To make city and state more differently-abled, start demanding better facilities, said founder of Voice of Specially Abled People (SAP) Pranav Desai.
Speaking at a press conference, Desai said that together with the help of over 5400 volunteers they have managed to convince several organisations and even state and Centre to make changes in infrastructure and policies to ensure that they are more disabled friendly.
"Through the Voice of SAP app, we have had 2000 volunteers from Gujarat alone. The idea is to use these volunteers to work for advocacy for better facilities for specially abled people," said Desai.
He said volunteers in Ahmedabad had managed to convince a bank to build a ramp so that those in wheelchairs can easily access it. "At a temple in Jamnagar, the volunteers convinced the villagers to create a ramp and suddenly it was accessible to the differently abled people," said Desai. He said small changes such as these will ensure that specially abled people are not dependent on anyone.
Desai, a polio survivor, said that often it is lack of sensitivity that prevents governments and people from making changes that would be disabled friendly.
He also demolished the myth that people should wait for the government to do something. "In a democracy, the government moves when the people demand something. So we need to demand such facilities and better rights rather than waiting for someone to do things for us," said Desai. He said his own experience dealing with the state government in Gujarat showed that they are extremely receptive. "Gujarat has one of the more progressive Road Transport rules and facilities for disabled people. It was the advocacy that specially abled people did with the state government that several changes were made in RTO processes," said Desai.
Samir Kakkad, a wheelchair-bound person who plants to drive from Ahmedabad to London in 2019 said that earlier disabled people were not given international licence.
