How long will disabled lives be sacrificed due to crying govt departments claiming they don't have money for pension funds?

Cost of low floor bus
vs
cost of disabled person's education, livelihood and freedom.
How can we even compare without looking at the bigger picture?
#A11y
Disabled people are under involuntary house arrest due to inaccessible public transport.

The Govt of Tamil Nadu has magnanimously made travel free for women and disabled @mkstalin .

Yay mobility = right, but how can a wheelchair user board a 3 step bus?

Low floor is for all
MTC has some cheek using the pandemic as an excuse when all TN's 4000+ buses bought since Madras High Court's order in 2016, are in contempt of the mandate of disabled-friendly buses.

At ~1100 mm floor height, they're under the TRUCK, not bus code!

#a11y
With those 4000+ accessible buses, new worlds could have opened up for @RajivSpeaks , the petitioner who's spent his youth - 20 years waiting for the state to do the right thing.

Would you much rather we exist and die in our houses drawing paltry disability allowances than LIVE?
If ethics and empathy do not come easy, how about you just comply with the law?

Under #RPwDA India's disability act, the deadline for public transport service accessibility pan India was 15 June 2019.

Tamil Nadu by flouting Madras High Court's 2016 order got away for 5 years.
We cannot allow this charade of "public (but not for disabled) transport" to continue.

Not at the cost of our lives.
No lift workarounds for city buses at the cost of our safety.

A disabled-friendly bus for intra-city use can only be a level boarding low floor / low entry bus Time motion capture of Smitha on wheelchair attempting to bo
The only road map disabled people need is :
* unencroached, wheelchair-friendly pavements with curb cuts and tactile warnings
* 400 mm bus shelter platform to enable easy boarding of low floor bus (required from 2012)
* Low floor buses + foldaway ramps
* Puffin crossings
* GTFS
This is your how manyth road map with mock earnest reassurances @RajivSpeaks ?

This begs for a cartoon titled 'Long and winding road to bus accessibility in Madras High Court'

Stars a wheelchair user growing old waiting to board while MTC buses pass by

bit.ly/bus-pils-mhc

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More from @DisabilityIndia

May 21
🧵The Retrofit India deadline lapsed on 15 June 2022.

In 2023, only 10 out of 765 Chennai bus stops had ramps as per @chennaicorp survey.
Yet, < half of the surveys' bus shelters in 2024's 29 crore value tenders include ramps.

Here's the thing - THESE ramps are meaningless...
In 2023 only 10 out of 765 bus shelters surveyed in India had ramps. In 2024, only the '3 pole' bus stop designs in the tender feature ramps.   Ad revenue before the people?  P.S. India's accessibility deadline for RETROFITS lapsed on 15 June 2022. Yet new infrastructure continues to be created with barriers in defiance of the RPDA.
... because the ad hoc ramps put up hastily during the bus PIL slugfest are tacked on - protruding into the carriageway, blocks access to rest of the bus shelter with no access to pavement. The landing assumes Beam Me Up Scotty accuracy with non-BRT buses!
In further meaningless of Chennai's current bus shelter design, the ramp is only a little higher than the bus shelter floor making level boarding an impossibility.
In 2006, Delhi piloted a 380 mm GFH bus shelter (to level board LFBs) that blended into pavements with gentle ramps “The 2006 prototype design comprised the bus shelter floor at a height of 380 mm, synchronizing with the chassis height of a low floor bus (LFB), thus making it convenient for embarking and disembarking by all users. It was equipped with ramps on both sides; tactile warning tiles for persons with vision impairment; Braille plate with route information; space for two wheel-chair users with access symbol painted on the ground; easy to read information signage; adequate colour contrast and priority seats.”  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/37183756_Low_floor_bus_and_bus_shelter_mobilit...
Read 4 tweets
Feb 16
This is an extraordinarily passive reaction @DGCAIndia. (Also what happens to the fine money invariably collected post such incidents - is it being used for passenger welfare?)
Please publicly release advisory issued & report when ready. Collating the many wheelchair incidents 🔻
🧵Flying with a disability in India - wheelchair woes collated

Read 46 tweets
Sep 11, 2023
How many times to remind Govt that documents for public comments need a minimum of 31 days for feedback from date of press release?

@FinMinIndia pls extend banking accessibility standards' silly 1 week deadline, noone's picking up DFS' crackling phone.

financialservices.gov.in/whatsnewstatic…
Also a stakeholder consultation is to be conducted by @IBA_org_in - instead we have an incomplete document published with no publicity and a 1 week deadline!

Shouldn't it be held BEFORE releasing the draft, @ChiefIBA ?

Or is this 1 week mockery of a deadline the consultation?! Screenshot of page from 4 September 2023  document.  Feedback on 'Accessibility Standards and Guidelines for Banking Sector'  Indian Banks' Association invites feedback from the public on the draft Accessibility Standards and Guidelines for Banking Sector.  The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities has advised the Ministries / Departments to prepare and finalize the accessibilities standards in respect of the facilities and services accessible to persons with disabilities pertaining to their respective sector after stakeholder consultation. Accordingly, DFS has mandated IBA...
@IBA_org_in @ChiefIba And what's the point of your existence @mygovindia if you can't even provide a feed of such calls for public comments or requests for stakeholder feedback?
Are we expected to scan 10000 websites since Govt refuses to host on the platform created for this purpose @CEOMyGovIndia?
Read 4 tweets
Sep 2, 2023
Why is Govt delaying organising a visit to check on whether Kilambakkam Bus Terminus design is inclusive for diverse populations, especially disabled citizens?

It's 2 weeks+ since #a11y concerns were flagged & access audit requested @CMDA_Official @PKSekarbabu @anshulmishra555!
#KilambakkamBusTerminus
Noting the lack of proper facilities for the disabled persons, @TARATDAC1 has requested the @CMOTamilnadu @mkstalin to order the officials concerned to conduct a complete inspection soon, along with representatives of Associations.

dtnext.in/news/city/righ…
@TARATDAC1 @CMOTamilnadu @mkstalin As per the directions issued by the Madras High Court in April this year, bus infra should be scientifically designed to suit the requirements of disabled citizens, including level boarding platforms for passengers on wheelchairs.
m.timesofindia.com/city/chennai/d…
Screenshot of extract from April 2023 Judgement of Madras High Court in WP No.29914 of 2022 :  (vii) The bus stops should be scientifically designed to suit the requirements of the differently-abled and henceforth, any development or reconstruction or repairing or improvement in any of the bus stops should include and focus in making it differently-abled friendly, with due facility for the wheel chair to go into the low floor bus, directly from the platform;  https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/index.php/casestatus/viewpdf/1036326
Read 5 tweets
Aug 5, 2023
Dear @narendramodi @PMOIndia, @AshwiniVaishnaw @RailMinIndia , Members of the Railway Board & PM Gati Shakti - The Freedom of Movement Coalition (FMC) cautions you that 24470 crore of public funds must not be wasted to create infrastructure that can't be used by all.

#ABBS #a11y Montage of RPF officers assisting disabled people on wheelchairs awkwardly and unsafely board the train in India. In the background are words  : Safety? Equity ? Dignity? Parity?   Poster header asks "75 years of Indian Independence, and THIS is the best we can do ? Where is OUR Azaadi?"   Text below reads : As is, Amrit Bharat Station Scheme (ABSS) will NOT make rail travel safer or better for Disabled Indians. 24470 crore of our money must not be spent without ensuring our Freedom of Movement :    * NO POLISHED GRANITE.  * 920 mm HIGH PLATFORMS. * Standard tactile platform edge ...
There are gaps and faulty logic employed in current designs for redevelopment of stations under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme detailed in linked FMC media release and Railway Board communication :
Like missing or non standard tactile platform edge warning... bit.ly/on-access-track
Or safe indoor access to every platform for passengers on wheelchairs.
Currently without ramped Foot Over Bridges (FOBs), wheelchair users have to risk lives to use the tracks' trolley path. These can sometimes be blocked by goods vehicles.

Ramp, Lift, Escalator in that order.
Read 5 tweets
Mar 16, 2023
List of 36 Indian rail stations with portable train boarding access ramps for passengers on wheelchairs :
Agra
Ahmedabad
Allahabad (Prayagraj)
Ayodhya
Bandra Local
Bhopal
Bhubaneshwar
Chengalpattu
Chennai Central
Dhanbad
Dharmapuri
EGMORE-Chennai
Erode
Guna
Hosur
.@RailMinIndia 36 STATIONS WITH TRAIN WHEELCHAIR ACCESS RAMP (cont)

Howrah
Hyderabad
Itarsi
Jaipur
Jolarpettai
Kolkata
Lucknow
Madurai
Mathura
Patna
Ranchi
Secunderabad
Sitamarhi
Tambaram
Tata nagar
Thane
Vaishali
Vellore Katpadi
Vizag
Warangal
Wardha
Please make such portable train ramps available on every platform of every station @AshwiniVaishnaw @RailMinIndia .

@RailwaySeva please note this facility for passengers with disabilities. This isn't to be confused with built wheelchair accessibility ramps across railway station
Read 4 tweets

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