The US government considers this issue at par with (in seriousness – if not less than) racial, age and faith discrimination because of which ‘American Disability Act’ was passed into law during the early nineties. The construction industry (especially the commercial and facilities side) was arguably the most affected sector. The codes accentuated several design changes to the whole construction process. Some were as elementary as sloping ramps to safe levels, securing minimum number of wide handicap spaces in parking lots, providing support bars in handicap restrooms to more sophisticated ones such as upgrading fire alarm, sprinkler and security systems ensuring the highest safety standards for handicapped individuals. The construction process became much more complicated and also expensive with architects needing to be thorough with another set of codes to abide by. To date, the state fire marshal has the authority to fail the final inspection thereby deny ‘Certificate of Occupancy’ to the building owner/contractor if these codes are violated.

With the introduction of SEZs in India, I am assuming the international standards are being adhered to in the private sector. This is great news for handicapped individuals working for those MNCs but beyond these SEZs, a major renaissance in attitude accompanied by positive action is required to eliminate this mass discrimination.

The reason I say that the comments irk me is that we find a simple way out of things. If one were to watch the daily news, a ship gets hijacked by pirates off the sea or some ethnic problem in a foreign country or some illegal immigrants stranded on an island in Europe ….. the first thing to do is attack the Govt. Did these people take permission prior to seeking employment abroad? Do any of them pay tax to the Indian Govt.?

We need to accept the Indian mentality in its entirety. Till such time we are stricken by ‘bad times’ ourselves, we tend to look the other way. The social consciousness amongst us is lowest and more farcical. We need to firstly give up the hypocritical society that this country has evolved into basking on its proud heritage. We all need to change within and be transparent ….. social issues like the one highlighted in this article will automatically start changing for the good.

We are an evolving nation. We have done very well for the fact that we’re just 62 years of independence. It is my firm belief, if we read the evolution processes of the countries refered to in the article, that we so very much admire today, it is evident that these countries went through the same social issues and have evolved into what they are today. We must have hope that India will do well and while it is important as responsible citizens to highlight these issues, I would reiterate the famous quote of Abraham Lincoln before we pen a comment, “Ask not what this country can do for you, ask what you can do for this country.”

Jai Hind

The govt. should wake up and provide these services in public transport,hospitals accessible to the masses.