Resident on mission to make Dadar Parsi Colony wheelchair friendly

When India won 19 medals in the recent Paralympics in Tokyo there was exultation at the countryrsquos bestever performance at a Paralympics Even as we applauded the physicallychallenged athletes we need to use the momentum of this achievement to push for greater accessibility in every aspect of life for the differentlyabledThe leadSiddharth Mhatre a resident of Dadar Parsi Colony DPC is spearheading an initiative to make his immediate environment the salubrious colony more accessible to those using wheelchairs and crutches Mhatre has been afflicted by cerebral palsy since birth and uses a wheelchairldquoI was a crutches user earlier but my radial nerve in the arm was getting compressed I switched to the wheelchair then and in both instances witnessed how difficult it was to access facilities near my home like a park just to give an example Our colony has many parks withinrdquo Mhatre approached the Colony corporator Amey Ghole and the ball or should that read wheelchair started rolling Mhatre 33 said ldquoThe BMC was extremely responsive The footpath one just outside my building in fact has been made with a slope so that the wheelchair can get on to it I am fortunate I have a robust support system but not everybody has that kind of help When we are abroad we see public infra with parking spaces for the physicallychallenged and wheelchair persons have access everywhere that is the level of awareness we have to bring hererdquo Mhatre works in the facility management department of a realestate companyWay aheadGhole the corporator stated ldquoI see this as a huge factor in bringing independence to persons with disabilities With independence comes pride dignity and a certain agency that these individuals may not have otherwise This late spell September rain has proven to be a slight hiccup in the work but we shall prevailrdquo Four foothpaths have been done in DPCThe Big M may stand for McDonalds for most but for the challenged it is mobility Said Dr Unnati Shelar neurophysiotherapist Mhatre is her patient ldquoI have treated so many able persons as well They have suffered significant injuries falling on our footpaths or roads Having even surfaces is vital We need to start small and move ahead There is also a case for making public transport more accessible Like the buses for instance where the first step is high the disabled find it difficult to board these We have ATM kiosks that the challenged cannot access They have to hand over their card to somebody they trust implicitly to withdraw money for them Everybody may not have that option We have to open up the world to themrdquoGreater benefitsOne of the happy spin offs of this project is like Dr Shelar has said that inclusivity measures are advantageous to other sections too Dr Manisha Talim diabetologist and DPC resident had a doff of the hat for the BMC and Mhatre for this pioneering project She reminded ldquoWe have so many senior citizens in the colony This is going to help them as well as the differentlyabledrdquo Those with team Mhatre said the BMC engineers accompanied them to different spots within the colony for an ontheground understanding and assessment before work beganThe Mumbai nongovernmental organization NGO Access to Hope inspired Mhatre and Dr Shelar to start the initiative Said founders Sanket Khadilkar and Jasmina Khanna ldquoWe have done a project in Vile Parle E We are working in an advisory capacity with Mhatre We are enthused by the fact that several contractors told us that these measures are doable It is the peoplersquos mindset though that needs awakening First comes sensitization then awareness and that leads to actionrdquo KhadilkarKhanna added as a punchy postscript aligning with the axiom that accessibility is for all ldquoA pedestrian friendly footpath may not always equal to disabledfriendly but a disabled friendly footpath is by nature pedestrian friendly that means for allrdquo