I finally wrote on the form, my hands shaking: ‘Main Bimaar Nahin Hoon’ : Salil Chaturvedi

29 June 2008,  Tehalka dot com

Salil Chaturvedi Is 39 years old. He acts in a children’s television serial, writes and designs for civil rights organisations and lives in Delhi

THERE WAS SO much I wanted to say to her but all I could manage was a sorry “So?” I wanted to tell her that I recently acted in a play directed by Feisal Alkazi. I wanted to tell her that sometimes children come up to me and asked, their eyes brimming with excitement, “Are you Jugadoo?” That’s the character I play in Galli Galli Sim Sim, the Indian adaptation of Sesame Street. I wanted to tell her that she was hurting me and breaking my spirit, but all I could manage was a befuddled stammer and a “S... S ...So?”

It was a clinching argument, as far as she was concerned. “But you are on a wheelchair, aren’t you?” she’d said. Since I was on a wheelchair, I was a sick person and I would have to sign the form that was meant to be signed by “sick” people when they boarded a plane. “But I’m not sick,” I said. “See, I’m travelling independently.” “But what are you sitting on? A wheelchair!” she chided me.

The face of the Brigadier flashed through my mind. “You’re still around,” I thought to myself. After all these years, you’re still around. You’re dressed as a ground staff member of SpiceJet, you’ve changed your gender and you’ve changed your age, but you’re still around. The retired Brigadier had been working at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA). I had made a presentation to Muktesh Pant, who used to be the CEO of Reebok at that time. He had been excited about the tournament and had decided to pay for the airfare and to kit the two-member team. The kit was sent directly to DLTA (although I knew its contents) and when we received it, I found that the jogging shoes were missing. So I asked the Brigadier about them. “But you are on a wheelchair!” he said. “So you won’t need to jog.” It had hurt then, too — for someone to look you straight in the eye and say you were lesser because you were on a wheelchair.

Back to the SpiceJet counter at Delhi airport. Since I insisted on not signing the form, the lady went to her senior, a young man who spoke to me like someone speaks to a child. “You will not board the flight if you don’t sign this form,” he said. Here I was, parked in a corner behind the desk, the other passengers wondering about my stubbornness. I felt everyone was against me. The whole damn system was singling me out. I finally wrote on the form in large letters, my hands shaking uncontrollably: “Main Bimaar Nahin Hoon” (I am not sick) and I refused to sign.

On the way back from Chennai it was nicer, but only for a while. I didn’t have to sign a form and the supervisor, on his own initiative, kept the seat next to me empty so I could put my legs up if I wanted to get more comfortable. Perhaps this flight will be different, I thought. But things changed quickly. I insisted that they board me before other passengers, as was the international norm. But they didn’t and I was carried down the aisle by two untrained porters, who carried me like a sack of potatoes while I tried to keep my trousers from slipping and closed my eyes to save myself from the embarrassment as all passengers turned their heads to look at me.

As the plane started its descent at Delhi I asked the air-hostess to make sure that my personal wheelchair was brought to the aircraft so I could sit on it directly. But the wheelchair was taken to arrivals, instead. It was midnight and I was exhausted, but the body pumped in some adrenalin to wake me up. The flight steward shook his head at my stubbornness. “Why can’t you use the airline chair?” he asked me. “It’s against the rules to give your chair from the hold.” That was a new one. How could I tell this clean-shaven, smart, cheerful young man that a wheelchair is not a wheelchair is not a wheelchair. He wouldn’t understand how I had spent the last two months recovering from a fall at the Bombay airport because I was on an airline wheelchair.

During the flight I had been re-reading Ben Okri’s Songs of Enchantment and had spent most of my flight mulling over one line that had sprung up from the page. “Love is the real power,” Azaro’s father says to him in the novel. It had held me in trance because of the magical way the line had been set up in the novel. I asked Ben Okri, as I waited in the aircraft, security staff and flight attendants irritated by my insistence, “How does one love all this, Ben?”

I thought about my wife, waiting for me at the arrival for the past two hours. For no reason I suddenly recalled how she stood on top of the bed so I could reach the end of her sari and adjust it for her. And I felt relieved and smiled to myself. Love, indeed, is the real power that guides us through our lives. SpiceJet too needs to learn how to love. So what if I’m in a wheelchair? 

Singapore Airlines Shows the Way to Private Airliners in India

Dear Friends,

So, there has been a lot of resentment within the scheduled and non-scheduled airlines in India represented by FIA (Federation of Indian Airlines) on services to be provided to the Disabled passengers in terms of New DGCA's CAR that got issued recently. The FIA even put their comments on the DGCA's CAR on their website available at link http://www.fiaindia.in/Carriage_ofpersons_reduced_mobility.htm

As discussed and pointed out in previous posts that the airlines in India want to retain the authority to charge for the services they might provide to users with disabilties, that too when requested!

I see a very good example set up by the Singapore Airlines which in fact should be a a good lesson to the Indian lobby of airliners. It is further encouraging to note that the Singapore Airlines would soon be launching 'Solidarity Campaign,' an awareness drive aimed at creating an Inclusive society for the disabled.

I wish the FIA (Federation of Indian Airlines) could take such an initiative so that the frequent complaints, denial of rights and exchange of unpleasant views towards each other gets resolved. People with Disability would love to have such welcoming Airlines in India too!

For now, Kudos to Vidyasagar at Chennai for such an innovative partnerning and hats off to Singapore Airlines for showing the corporate airliners in India a better way of promoting their goodwill!

You can read the full articles at:

http://www.svayam.com/?q=node/695
http://www.svayam.com/?q=node/697


warm regards

Subhash Chandra Vashishth

Another Blatant Disregard to DGCA's CAR and denial of Human Rights - reported by Hindustan Times

Dear Friends, This time it is Spicejet. Denying human rights, mistreating passengers with disabilities and then getting away with a simple apology! That seems to be the new modus operandi of the airliners who continue to flout the DGCA's New Car with impunity! This is just not done!. How long is it to continue! We can't take it any more! 

Read the News here: Paraplegic abandoned in aircraft 

Rahul Singh, Hindustan, New Delhi, May 25, 2008 

 It was a rather turbulent flight for paraplegic tennis player Salil Chaturvedi, who represented India in wheelchair tennis at the Australian Open in Melbourne. On Friday night’s Chennai-to-Delhi SpiceJet flight, he was not provided his wheelchair to disembark from the aircraft and was left cramped in his seat for over an hour. On Thursday, when Chaturvedi flew SpiceJet to Chennai, he was neither offered priority boarding nor an aisle chair to board the plane. His urine bag was also yanked off. 

He told HT, “I was carried along the aisle by untrained porters like a sack of potatoes, while I tried to keep my trousers from slipping and closed my eyes to save myself from the embarrassment, as all passengers turned to look at me.” The Directorate General of Civil Aviation rulebook, effective from May 1, stipulates that a passenger’s wheelchair should be returned to him at the time of disembarking. It is mandatory for every operator to provide ambulifts to enable disabled passengers embark/disembark the aircraft. But despite this, the crew insisted that Chaturvedi use the airline wheelchair. “They wouldn’t understand how I have spent the last two months recovering from an airline wheelchair fall at the Bombay airport,” 

Chaturvedi said. SpiceJet regional manager (north) Rahul Bhatkoti said, “We have apologised to the passenger and will take corrective action. Clearly, the crew lacked awareness.” Chaturvedi, who has acted in a Feisal Alkazi play and the Indian adaptation of Sesame Street, was offered Coke after the trauma ended. “I have stopped drinking Coke. Not wanting to hurt their sensibilities, I took a sip and threw the rest when they weren’t looking,” he said. 

DGCA's CAR Guideline on Carriage by air of Passengers with disability and reduced mobility - finally enforced but with qualifications

Dear Friends 

Finally the 8th draft dated 24th April 2008 has seen the light of the day after the Ministry of Civil Aviation cleared it to become the new CAR Guideline on Carriage of People with Disabilities and People with Reduced Mobility effective 01st May 2008. This can also be accessed by clicking here: CAR Guideline. We must thank Mr. Kanu Gohain, the Director General of Civil Aviation who had followed very constructive and participatory approach while devising these CAR guidelines where the disability groups including Svayam, deliberated on the content of the CAR word by word. It is but for his open and democratic way of finalizing this CAR that we see 15 good points and only 7 lacunae in the CAR. 

 Here is a brief assessment of the New CAR viz. Good Points and Issues that still needs to be addressed (Loop Holes). There might be few other areas that I might have left and you may be able to point them out. I would request you to kindly provide your inputs so that we jointly can fight for rectifying the shortcomings together. 

Good Points included in the DGCA’s New CAR effective 01 May 2008 

1. To remove confusion between People with disabilities/People with Reduced Mobility and Sick/medically ill passengers, the new CAR has defined the Incapacitated Passengers as those with medical condition and Persons with Reduced Mobility (PRM) and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) as those whose mobility is impaired/reduced when using transport (Ref Section 3). 

2. It mandates that no airlines will refuse to carry PwD/PRM and their assistive aids/devices, escorts & Guide Dogs. 

3. Emergency Evacuation procedures and Training on handling PwD/PRM shall be included in Airline’s Training & Safety manuals. 

4. Only trained persons shall be assigned to assist and handling the passengers with disabilities. 

5. All Airlines will assist those who wish to travel alone without an escort (Ref. para 4.8) 

6. Barrier Free Access, accessible toilets and Assistance Booths close to the entrance (within visible proximity at arrival/departure terminals) with International symbol of accessibility at the Airport are mandated in 4.10 

7. No limit on number of PwD on a flight. Equal choice of seat allocation. 

8. No medical Clearances of special forms shall be insisted from PwD/PRM. 

9. All assistive aids shall be provided without any extra costs to the passengers. 

10. Pwds/PRMs including Blind passengers shall not be restricted to any particular cabin or seating areas. Guide Dogs are allowed in the Cabin with prior information. 

11. Individual briefing to PRM/PwDs /their escorts before take off by senior cabin crew of airline. Blind passengers to be provided Braille brochures and large print brochures besides verbal briefing. 

12. Once ticket is confirmed, no further enquiries shall be made (Para 9.5). 

13. In case of loss or damage to the mobility equipment during storage and handling, the airlines shall be liable for providing suitable compensation. 

14. Assistive Aids and Devices can be carried as hand baggage in the aircraft (Ref: note to para 7.5) 

15. In-transit offloading- in case of overnight halt, the accommodation provided should be accessible and barrier free. 

Issues that need to be addressed: 

1. Para 4.6 “Passengers who declare independence in feeding, Communication with reasonable accommodation, toileting and personal needs are allowed to travel without escort.” This section is discriminatory against people who require some support in areas of feeding and personal needs etc and it gives a right to airlines to disallow the passengers to fly, if they don’t declare independence. We feel that this para looses its relevance in light of para 4.8 which is an enabling and positive para. Thus in view of this para 4.6 should be deleted in toto.

2. Para 4.9 -People not holding any Disability Certificate also to be given all facilities but at a cost. – This is not acceptable since Government of India has so far has failed to provide Disability Certificates to all the disabled population and many do not go to obtain one due to ridiculous and time consuming procedures. Hence, this condition will adversely affect them for no fault of theirs. Also the Airliners have been providing free services to the elderly people who seek much more assistance and support that what a blind passenger might seek. Thus this would amount to discrimination on the basis of disability and we strongly recommend that no additional fee should be charged from any one. 

3. Provisions regarding charges for Human assistance are not acceptable as devised by 6.1 (a). By doing so the person with disability would be put on a disadvantageous position vis-à-vis his non-disabled counterparts and would amount to “Discrimination on the basis of Disability” and also against principle of “reasonable accommodation” thus contravenes Article 9 of UNCRPD.

4. There is an inherent contradiction in para 6 of the CAR Guideline: While Opening words are “All assistive aids shall be provided without any extra cost to the passengers.” The first sub para 6(a) provides a loop hole by declaring that “Any charges for human assistance, if required, may be levied by the Airlines.” Similarly sub para 6.4 (b) seeks to charge for narrow wheelchair type aisle chairs which are without armrests and can be moved about in the passenger cabin and can be used for internal mobility by persons with reduced mobility. It says “Any nominal charge in this regard, if levied, shall be paid by the passenger.” The narrow width of the passage in the aeroplane is a design fault and not the fault of wheelchair user. If the present passage could accommodate the personal wheelchairs then aisle chairs would not be needed in its first place. Thus the users should not be penalized /charged for the design fault. It is recommended that for all future procurements of aircraft, the passage, toilets etc having access features should be invariably provided. Till then the aisle chairs should be provided without any costs. 

5. The above charges under 6,4(b) also contradict para 9.1 (Assistance on the plane) which provides that All airlines should assist a passenger with disability to get to the toilet. Any PRM would eventually need an aisle chair for internal mobility including reaching toilet. It also contradict para 4.8 which says “All airlines shall provide necessary assistance to PwDs/PRM who wish to travel alone without an escort. 

6. Charges for Assistance in Disembarkation at point of transfer and /or destination: In para 7.7 the airline seeks to charge a nominal amount for request for assistance in baggage delivery and getting out of the airport. This is absolutely unnecessary and not acceptable. Any charge for assistance in getting the baggage delivered to a blind person, for example, would put him to disadvantage just because he can not see and needs help to locate his/her baggage! Doesn’t this amount to discrimination?

7. Complaint Procedure – The role of an external agency has not been provided. No time limit for complaint redressal has been given. Earlier, the complaints used to go to the DGCA, CCPD. Now in case of any infringement of the CAR, the user can access the managing body of airlines/airports only who have never in past done any better thing than apologizing- sometimes in person and sometimes in public! Thus we feel that there could be a Grievance Handling Body consisting of members from all scheduled and non-scheduled airliners at a single window as it would be difficult to chase different airlines individually and one would shift the blame on the other in case failure of interline coordination is being reported. Also there should be a time limit for redressal of complaint failing which appeal to DGCA and CCPD should lie.

Regards

Subhash Chandra Vashishth

Has the DGCA Given Up on its CAR for the Disabled?

Dear Friends,

The mighty airliners have got together to strike down the DGCA's CAR for the carriage of the people with reduced mobility that was finalised with the active involvement of many of us negotiating our demands word by word. It was not charity that we asked for. It was something to which the Government has agreed by signing and ratifying the UNCRPD and is very much in line with the Constitution of India and The Persons with Disabilities Act too. However, the powerful lobby of airliners have created this pressure to serve their vested interest.


The detailed story of why DGCA is blinking on the issue can be read here: http://www.svayam.com/?q=node/454 and is covered by today's Times of India.


This is right time that we all get together and not let the Ministry succumb to the pressure of the Airliners under any circumstance. This is a testing time for the mandate of the Indian Constitution and the commitments that the Government of India has made before the national & international community to ensure a rights based society where all citizens especially those with disabilities or reduced mobility are treated equally without any discrimination in every walk of life. Your support is crucial !

SC Vashishth

Autism considered threat at the Airport by ill trained CISF

Dear Colleagues,

Below are the two media coverage, one each in Hindustan Times and IBN Live dot in on the discrimination faced by a celebrity parent of a child with autism, wherein the CISF officials stopped the parent saying the child couldn't board the flight as he looked different and could be a threat to other passengers. Mr. Prithviraj, Tamil Actor with him wife Beena  were travelling with their disabled child Ahed Prithviraj. 

Is autism a threat at airport? (Hindustan Times)

For a country with an estimated 1.7 million autistic people, we are probably the most insensitive bunch of people. On Thursday, eleven-year-old Ahed was denied entry into the airport. Reason: he is autistic. 

Ahed and his parents, Tamil actor Prithviraj and his wife Beena, were stopped at the security gate of the Bangalore airport. CISF inspector Bhavesh Kumar told them that Ahed could not board the Air Deccan flight to Chennai because he looked different.

Furious at this insinuation, Prithviraj asked the officer to explain the rules under which he was stopping his son. "The officer merely replied that there are rules, but could not quote any. He kept saying my son could be a threat to other passengers," Prithviraj told the Hindustan Times.

"I started filming the argument and he kept blocking the camera lens. We had to argue for 30 minutes before the officer relented," Prithivraj said.

While his parents fought back vehemently, little Ahed kissed his mother repeatedly. Beena interpreted it as his way of saying, "It is all right. Don't worry."

This is not the first time Prithviraj has had to deal with such insensitive remarks about his son. An official at the Delhi airport once asked Prithviraj if his son was mad and the actor shot back: "You seem to be mad."

"We have never encountered such problems in Europe or other Asian countries," recalled Ahed's mother Bheena who runs a school for autistic children.

So has Prithviraj ever tried shoving a medical certificate at such ignorant officials? The actor said he once tried to get an autism certificate for his son from a medical authority in Delhi. "But autism has not been classified as a disability under the Disability Act. The authorities asked me if I could accept a certificate that labeled him mentally retarded," Prithviraj said.

The CISF, however, defended its official. And while doing so, its spokesman only betrayed his level of ignorance. He said the CISF officer was only following rules since international civil aviation rules do not permit a “mentally retarded person abroad an aircraft”.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/NM17/Is-autism-a-threat-at-airport/Article1-157627.aspx

At airports, autism too is a threat! (IBN Live Dot In, now News18)

Chennai: In an incident that reflects on the utter insensitivity of security agencies manning India's airports, security staff in Bangalore Airport recently tried to stop an autistic child from boarding a plane, branding him a threat to other passengers.

This is a story sent to CNN-IBN by Tamil film actor Prithvi Raj, whose son was at the receiving end of this misdemeanour of airport security.

Says Prithvi Raj, who turned Citizen Journalist for CNN-IBN, "Our struggle is to integrate my son into the main stream society. We don't want special privilleges, but please do not treat him miserably."

The reason Prithvi Raj is angry is because he and his wife were told by the airport security in Bangalore that their autistic son Ahed, 'cannot board the flight to Chennai'.

When they asked why, this is how the security staff reacted:

Prithvi Raj: "Why can my son not board the flight?"

Security Officer: "You cannot shoot here with your camera."

Prithvi Raj: "Why can my son not go? Tell me why?"

Security Officer: "Because he's mentally Ill. That's why."

Prithvi Raj caught it all on camera.

"When my wife asked them they said, 'Aapka beta flight mein jayega aur baki passenger ko danger karega' (your son will be a danger to other passengers on the flight). Please, I understand we don't permit a toothpaste on a flight, but for God's sake, don't treat an 11-year-old like a terrorist," says Prithvi Raj.

The name of the officer who told this to Prithvi Raj is Bhavesh Kumar and Prithvi Raj had to argue with him for over half an hour before he could finally get Ahed on board their flight to Chennai.

The couple have had to endure such behaviour at other airports in the past, but it was as never this severe. They finally decided that enough was enough.

'It's happened to me in Delhi a couple of times and in other places. They ask me, 'Aapka beta pagal hai? (Is your son mad?), and I ask them 'Aap pagal hai? (Are you mad?). Is this the way you ask someone. And then they keep gesturing to each other, saying that my son is mad," says Prithvi Raj.

Says his wife Beena, "Ahed gets vibes when we are upset about something and after all that, he kept kissing me on my cheek as if to tell me, 'Mama it's okay'."

The question is here, how can people not be nice to a child like Ahed? The parents don't want venegance, they don't want suspensions or dismissals. All they are asking for is a concentrated effort to sensitise the society about the beauty of a differently-abled child.

AUTISM TRAITS

• Difficulty in expressing needs, using gestures or pointing instead of words.
• Repeating words or phrases in place of normal, responsive language.
• Laughing or crying for no apparent reason or showing distress for reasons not apparent to others.
• Preference to being alone.
• Little or no eye contact.
• Unresponsive to normal teaching methods.
• Obsessive attachment to objects.
• Apparent over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to pain.
• No real fears of danger.
• Noticeable physical over-activity or extreme under-activity.
• Non-responsive to verbal cues, acting as if deaf, although hearing tests in normal range.

WHAT IS AUTISM

Autism is a bit of a difficult disability to detect as it is a hidden disability of sorts.

Autistic children have a fascination with language, but they may be unresponsive towards normal teaching methods.

It is a developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects the normal functioning of the brain. It leads to difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication and social interactions.

(With inputs from Vibha Sachdev in New Delhi)

Source: News18 (Formerly IBNLive.in)

Airlines discrimination sparks protest: Reports The Telegraph - Calcutta; Guwahati

June 24, 2005, Guwahati

The project co-ordinator of Regional Disabilty Law Unit, Northeast, an organisation dealing with rights of the disabled, Arman Ali, today moved the Gauhati High Court against what he calls a “deliberate and sustained policy of discrimination against disabled persons” by the state-owned Indian Airlines.

Arman himself is afflicted with locomotor disability. “Ali is not only speaking for himself but for his entire community,” said Siddharth Sankar Dey, Arman’s counsel.

The court of Justice A. Roy has fixed the matter for admission on July18.

Arman had booked a ticket with the Indian Airlines for travelling to Mumbai on a Guwahati-Calcutta-Mumbai flight on January 15 last year. Ali was scheduled to attend an international seminar on disability at Mumbai.

Indian Airlines issues what it calls M category tickets at concessional rates to visually-impaired persons and persons with locomotor disability of 80 per cent and above. “Though Ali had booked the ticket three weeks in advance, he was placed on the waiting list. But on the day of the journey, Ali found that his seat was not confirmed,” Dey said. He feels that the act was deliberate. “Passengers who had booked their tickets much later were given confirmation,” Dey said. 

“Ali was repeatedly told by the airlines that “everything will be arranged”. But no arrangements were made. Left with no choice, Ali had to purchase a ticket on a private airline to reach Mumbai.” Dey said that it has become a standard practice for the airlines to place people like Ali on the waiting list.

“Regardless of when they may have booked the ticket, their tickets are not confirmed until the time of departure so as to accommodate other passengers who pay the full fare.”

Dey said as per the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 and a 1999 Supreme Court ruling, state-owned Indian Airlines is under legal obligation to pursue disabled-friendly policies. “That’s why persons with locomotor disabilities are provided concessional tickets under the M category. But unfortunately, in reality, Indian Airlines follows a blatant policy of discrimination.”

Ali is actively involved in creating awareness about disability-related laws and providing legal aid to disabled people.

The Regional Disability Law Unit works in collaboration with Shishu Sarothi, a local NGO and the National Centre for Promotion of Employment of Disabled People, New Delhi.