There’s less than a week to go for polling day and while voters across the State are gearing up to exercise their franchise, there is still some apprehension among those with disabilities. Despite sustained campaigns to make polling booths accessible for all, activists say many booths continue to remain difficult to get to.
At the Chennai Corporation Primary School in Indira Nagar, for instance, on Wednesday, the pathway leading from the gate to the booth was damaged and a pile of stones sat on the path. To get to one of the booths, a voter would have to get off the path, cross, and would then find a steep ramp with no grab rails leading to the booth.
At another school in Gandhi Nagar with two polling booths, the voter has to get across a sandy surface from the pathway, which could be difficult for those on wheelchairs or using crutches.
A sample access audit conducted by the Disability Rights Alliance, Tamil Nadu (DRA) has thrown up problems at booths across the State, said Sathya Madurantakam, a volunteer with DRA. “The audit was conducted by nearly 100 volunteers to check for accessibility – from the gate to the booth and at the booth itself. Close to 1,200 booths were audited from mid March to mid April,” he said.
“However, since mid-April, after we pointed out the problems with the audited booths, a lot of the issues have been addressed by the Chennai Corporation. But still, around 25 per cent of the audited booths continue to have inaccessible ramps, and around 35 per cent have obstacles in the pathways in Chennai,” said Mr. Madurantakam.
Rajiv Rajan, a disability rights activist, who voted both in the last Lok Sabha polls and in the last Tamil Nadu elections, said both times, the booth he went to was totally inaccessible. “A wooden plank was put down immediately for my wheelchair but it was not stable at all and quite dangerous. In the path from the gate to the booth, the wheels of my wheelchair got stuck. I could not go alone – not because I needed support, but because of the barriers,” he said.
“I found completely non-compliant ramps in my audit of some of the polling booths in Egmore. This is disappointing, given we had conducted a similar exercise in 2009. There doesn’t seem to have been any improvement since then. What are the fallback options for a person who cannot enter a polling booth,” asked said Vaishnavi Jayakumar.
Polling booths apart, the electoral process in itself has not been very inclusive, said Smitha Sadasivan, a member of DRA.
“For instance, the SVEEP activities were often held in venues that were not accessible and the information was not in accessible formats. Pamphlets distributed did not contain information on facilities for the disabled. And it’s not only the disabled who often do not vote, it’s also families with members who have disabilities. They too, should be given appropriate information and facilities in order to achieve 100 per cent voting,” she said.
