Chitrashi, I hardly comment on this forum, but yesterday's episode only made me realize once again how inadequate the infrastructure is in India from one of my very personal experiences...I was travelling 3 yrs back to India on a family wedding after a major accident followed by a knee surgery..I had no option to cancel my travel and so had to travel right after the surgery ...so in essence I am/have not been a 'handicapped 'person before... meaning I haven't experienced life as an handicapped individual until my accident/surgery...I had issue in my long flight and all, but in general, people in the West were supportive and understanding of the situation...but, what I found totally lacking was the general awareness/appreciation of the general Indian public toward people with disabilities in India...from landing in the Indian airport, where I had to wait for a long time to get a wheelchair and then how people literally carried me as there were no ramps in that airport...one instance I remember even today was that on the very last day my parents convinced me to go to the mall for a quick shopping (until then I was mostly confined at home or at some relatives place...I was walking with my clutches and all, and no one (meaning the general public going about their business) stood either to open any door, or waited for me to move out of their way...most people had no problem even running over me in their hurry to get somewhere...god I hurried back home totally horrified...
What I wanted to say, there seems to be a minimum lack in public awareness to their surrounding and in general an attitude to help, even if that means to wait a few secs for a person in front to move away or even simply to wait for their turn for something...I found most of the time and the attitude was - if I don't grab something now, someone else might take it instaed, so just manhandle the person in front (doesn't matter if that very person has a physical problem that needs to ve considered) and grad it...it was a very sad experience, since these things were material things that were also abundantly available...so why the rush to get something even if it means to push a physically challenged person in harm's way???
I wish the program could also get a person temporally disabled to show how his/her perception changes with their disability and what they thing need to change...or how they and other's percieved their disability...
Edited by Kalapi - 13 years ago
