Wheelchair Accessible Pakistan?


A few months ago, I was invited to participate in a conference. The forum was on the national level for the women with disabilities. As the conference was held in Lahore I decided to partake but when I reached the venue I was extremely shocked to see that the venue was not wheelchair accessible and had more than 7 stairs on the entrance. When we enquired from the staff, they bluntly asserted that they will lift my chair up to the entrance of the hotel. Although everything was fantastic in that hotel. It was extremely shameful that despite being informed about the nature of the conference beforehand, the management did not arrange anything to facilitate the people with disabilities who were about to participate in the conference. The conference was aimed to address the issues faced by the people with disabilities in the society and the very location where we were discussing the problems was itself wheelchair inaccessible, the irony is unmistakable!
Recently, it was my sisters birthday so we decided to dine out for the event. Lahore is arguably known for its best food industry as this city is blessed to have every sort of eatery to offer so we all decided to go to one of the most famous eateries of Lahore. I along with my sisters and a friend reached the cafe at 6:10 pm. It was a beautiful place with an outdoor setting as well so my friend went ahead to inquire about their facilitation for the disabled customers. To avoid any hassle she requested the staff to facilitate us in the outdoor but she was denied ruthlessly.  They continuously insisted that the outdoor service starts functioning after 7 pm, however, my friend emphasized that they can make an exception but they simply did not correspond to any of her requests. They had a ramp installed to make their cafe accessible for the disabled, it was extremely pleasurable to see that finally the society is working towards making more and more places accessible for the disabled and I totally appreciate their effort in doing so but my experience did not go as pleasurable as my first impression.
Despite the repetitive requests, we were denied being served outdoor so my sister decided to wheel me down upon the ramp. As she we began walking down, the paramount steepness of the ramp made her lose control of herself and the chair.  The ramp was very slippery and there was no resistance. Due to the lack of resistance, it was very obstinate to even walk on the ramp, however, with the mercy of God, no harm was done and she recovered her balance as we reached the dead end of the ramp. Contrary to the claim that they made earlier, nobody came forward to assist us with the ramp which was evidently unsafe for the people walking down let alone propelling the wheelchair on it. As we entered the cafe, there were two more steps and thankfully the staff this time came forward to support.
The food was exceptionally wonderful and the service was excellent but how can I enjoy the ambiance when I had undergone such a traumatic situation. The whole staff was very polite but my mind was unable to concentrate on the awesomeness of the food as I was constantly anxious about the possible consequences that could have transpired if my sister would have failed to regain her control.
As we were about to leave we called upon the manager and told him about the whole scenario. He was extremely apologetic and promised to take this issue seriously. A very dangerous incident could have happened but maybe the luck was on our side that day. Just imagine for a moment if a disabled individual tried to propel the wheelchair down the ramp himself,  a very horrible incident can go down due to the immense steepness so before anything goes wrong I would publicly request the management of the  cafes/restaurants to work on making their respected eateries reliably accessible for the people with disabilities, however, despite the negative experience, I would like to acknowledge their effort. It is heartwarming to see that at least a few public places are becoming accessible to the disabled people.
I could have pinpointed the specific names of the places but my stance is against the whole system that makes the society impregnable for the disabled individuals. The problem lies in the mindset so my aim is to change the thinking instead of the defaming certain places that are a tiny part of a wider ideology. The government should play a requisite role in the provision of proper training regarding the facilitation of accessibility. Certain rules and regulations should be involved in making the public places accessible for the people with disabilities. Nowadays, there is a lot of inclination in the society regarding the equal rights and by making the public places like banks, educational institutes, restaurants etc accessible, there would be a major breakthrough in composing the society to be more equal and a better place to live in!

Comments

  1. You continue to raise extremely valid points through the course of this blog of yours. One problem that I must lay immense stress on, is that the staff members of a restaurant, shop, hotel, bank etc. offering to help you by lifting your wheelchair to get you to cross the step or stairs is all nice and polite, but it carries a great, great risk if just a minor slip up happens. I mean, the person in question could get badly injured. The best solution would always be to install a safe ramp which puts an end to all such stress.

    Baffled, simply baffled to read the bit about the conference to which you were invited.

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  2. Honestly, the incident that happened at the conference is shocking.
    A SAFE ramp should be available everywhere tbh. You always raise excellent points. Can't wait for the next one!

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  3. Let's be the change agents together!

    ReplyDelete

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