What if water got into your motorised wheelchair and it stopped working? Or if the rains ruined your calipers? For people with disabilities, the heavy rains in Chennai made access, which is difficult as it is on an average day, even harder, as they negotiated inundated roads and unfriendly public transport
Ummul Khair of Kotturpuram, who has to get to Poonamallee High Road to work every day and is also writing her law exams, said her wheelchair getting wet was a huge problem. “In addition, the roads are very bad, and while I have an office cab to get to work, going to write my exams has been very difficult. I can’t use public transport and autorickshaws refuse to come. They say their vehicles will break down,” she said.
Wading through the water is not possible, said Sowmya Simhan, who works with a private company. “Calipers can get ruined it is ery hard to manage,” she said.
While reasonable accommodation by employers is part of The Persons With Disabilities Act, 1995, it has not been articulated enough as a policy, said Aiswarya Rao, a disabled resident and paediatrician.
Inundated roads and unfriendly public transport made it very difficult for the differently abled to reach their workplaces
