Ms. Sminu Jindal, Managing Director of Jindal SAW Ltd., is known for her crisp business acumen and foresight.Accidents can never happen to me, old age can never touch me, ailments afflict only strangers, broken bones naa never me, arthritis cannot be my fate, asserts Sminu Jindal
NEW DELHI (The Economic Times), November 18, 2007:
Nurturing hobbies is a time consuming exercise especially for someone like me who is busy juggling roles of a dotting mother to a five-year-old and a toddler son, manage the affairs of the organisation as the managing director (Managing director, Jindal SAW Ltd), a wife companion, friend and a daughter.
So whatever little time that I have at my disposal, I prefer to dedicate that to my dream project of making Accessible India to the reduced mobility populace that includes the graying population, toddlers, women in confinement and the disabled. If I get lucky and have some time on my hands, then Fiction is something I enjoy, especially Indian Authors like Sharat Chandra but self help books give me a headache.
Having been afflicted by reduced mobility as a result of an accident at the age of 11that rendered me wheelchair bound physically, I could not allow my spirit to be chained. On the contrary, it provided enhanced mobility that wheeled the spirit, to take life head on. Everything is acceptable to a vast majority that bows to restrains as a matter of habit and don’t ever dream of questioning why and whereof the same.
If the built environment is not conducive to the needs of the reduced mobility populace, it is fate accompli nothing can be done about it as this is how things have been done in the past and people have lived with it all this while. As long as I am young, energetic, I am confident. Accidents can never happen to me, old age can never touch me, ailments afflict only strangers, broken bones naa never me, arthritis cannot be my fate.
I gym regularly you see! Osteoporosis ? you must be joking. I take my daily supplements along side healthy eating habits. What a wishful thinking... if only life could run on the dictates of human whims and fancies. Unfortunately, reality is much more harsher and human frailty utterly fragile.
Half hearted measures and efforts will not provide accessibility. The callous attitude of the able and the policy makers’ divorce from ground reality put together have robbed these teeming millions of their basic right to live with dignity.
Even society is more accommodating to the disabilities of the so-called able bodied people and help them undertake their daily chores with the help aids like spectacles, walking sticks etc but in the case of conventionally challenged, it is less accommodating. It is not the handicapped but also the elderly who have to deal with day-to-day ordeal of inaccessibility in different walks of life — be it the public transport system or the public infrastructure.
Civic authorities have failed to provide this vast majority of graying population their right to live independently and with dignity they have nurtured all their lives. More and more people today are being forced to lead a life of isolation and alienation by way of discrimination by design.
The need of the hour is mainstreaming and integration of this section of the reduced mobility people along side the so-called able bodied, who are accepted along with all their minor functional drawbacks. This is where Svayam steps in to fill in the gap by way of identifying problem areas by way of audits, evaluate and develop strategies to overcome the same as per international standards of universal and barrier free design, handhold the implementation process to ensure the accurate execution so that rightful needy benefit.
My earnest endeavour is to address this need of universal barrier free access for all through Svayam’s efforts by involving the government and civic agencies, corporate houses, opinion makers, affected people and the public at large.
Svayam powers one-stop information portal for people with disabilities and offers consultancy in Access Auditing, Appraisal and Implementation of Access Strategies, focused Training Modules to better equip organizations integrate the disabled into the mainstream, Orientation Courses in Inclusive Environment, Access Audit Training and host workshops on communicating with the disabled.
Svayam aspires to make India barrier free and provide universal access to all. Despite having been around for a relatively few years, Svayam has taken the lead to make the public places universally accessible and barrier free to all.
Copyright © 2007 Times Internet Limited.
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Rajinder Johar- Founder Coordinator, Family Of DisabledRajinder Johar did his schooling from different places due to frequent transfers of his working parents. He was working as a Senior Occupational Therapist at King George’s Medical College, Lucknow when an injury to his spinal chord in 1986 rendered him quadriplegic (paralysis of all four limbs). Having worked with disabled people for over 17 years as an occupational therapist, and after becoming disabled himself; he still wanted to continue serving the disabled fraternity. He knew that to cater to such a large population of disabled people, collective efforts by like-minded people are required. . Family Of Disabled, a voluntary organisation was thus formed by him, in 1992 with the blessings from Rev. Mother Teresa, to serve the disabled people. Confined to his bed and totally dependent on others, he manages the organisation from his room, which is accessible to the disabled people.
Being declared 100% disabled after the accident, which rendered him paralysed neck downwards, he prefers to assess the disability percentage on his own parameter. The person who is confined to bed for over two decades and cannot even turn a side on his own and is totally dependent on others, has enabled hundreds of disabled individuals to live an independent and financially secure life. They have not only become self-reliant but can now take care of their dependants too.
His only strength is the conviction and dedication towards the cause. His untiring efforts to utilise his every second, to support, motivate and establish the disabled people are unparallel. His total assets are a telephone to keep in contact with the world, a writing device (worth Rs. 30), which he and his engineer brother designed together as they couldn’t find one which could cater to his needs. He ties it with his wrist and writes with shoulder movements. He used to type earlier on a donated electronic typewriter but his deteriorating health doesn’t allow him to take that much strain now. Even his diminishing health couldn’t deter his spirit from soaring high; his enthusiasm is still the same. He guides and advises the employees and volunteers to carry on the noble work that he started single handedly. He has outreached his severe limitations to serve the disabled brethren; he has devoted his life to.
He has received thirteen awards including the prestigious National Award, Red and White Bravery Award, from government and non-government agencies for his selfless services to the disabled people.
Source: Svayam, Website for those with limited mobility
Copyright © Svayam 2001-2007.
