The city Corporation’s night shelter in Kamdar Nagar, meant to cater to women with disabilities, has been reeling under a paradoxical problem — not being disabled-friendly.
For the 21 differently-abled women who reside there, merely accessing their bedroom and washroom is an uphill task, as the rooms are situated on the first floor of the building, which can only be accessed by climbing up the stairs.
The shelter, which was inaugurated in April 2016, is being run by the Dorcas Research Centre for Education, Art and Culture. “It is an excellent initiative by the Corporation, but the building needs to be made disabled-friendly,” said Aiswarya Rao of Dorcas. Since the toilet on the ground floor is yet to be completed, the rooms on that floor have been rendered unusable as sleeping quarters and are being used for conducting meetings and training programmes instead. “There is another room on the ground floor which remains locked. We have repeatedly requested the Corporation to give us access to that room,” Aiswarya said, adding that if that room were made available, more women could be provided shelter.
The residents said that it has become an everyday affair for them to seek help to make their way up the stairs after returning from work. “Two of us have to be carried upstairs. The toilets too are not disabled-friendly. We need help every time we use them,” a resident said. Another resident said that the situation was even worse during the rain. “I have fallen a few times after my crutches slipped, as have others,” she said, adding that the staircase had no grab rails, nor did the toilets.
“We had placed wooden ramps so that the women could access the toilets but these were damaged during the rain. We have asked the Corporation to install proper ramps for ease of access,” said K. Prasanna Kumar, coordinator at the shelter.
The Chennai Corporation’s website lists the shelter as meant for ‘physically challenged women’. S. Asha Parek Nanthiny, the Corporation’s overall coordinator for the shelter programme, insisted that the ground floor was being readied and that the toilet would be completed at the earliest.
