Amrita Gyawali, a 23-year old woman, often walks out of home thirsty, because she does not want the urge to urinate to come upon her when she is outside.
She was disabled in an accident when she was three years old, and due to a paralysis of the spinal cord, cannot move without the help of a wheelchair. She knows that buildings with wheelchair access are very rare in Kathmandu, and does not want to face a situation where she would have to use one.[break]
In the recent South Asian Conference on Sanitation held in Kathmandu (SACOSAN), she even presented her research on the public toilets of Kathmandu: among the 60 public toilets in the valley, none are disabled friendly.
And this despite the fact that Nepal is party to UN’s charter on Rights of Persons with Disabilities since 2011, and our plans and policies have clearly provisioned for disabled friendly toilets in public facilities. Needless to say, other cities of the country lag even farther behind on disabled-friendliness, with no disabled friendly infrastructure in public facilities.
For the nearly two percent of the population of the country that is disabled, this means that life is a struggle every day. Amrita herself has had many urinary infections from not emptying her bladder for too long. Such practices can lead to kidney problems for many. For women, the suffering is multiplied when they menstruate, for there is no place they can take care of their personal hygiene outside of home. And toilets are not the only problems that those with disabilities face.
Those of us who are lucky to have all of our faculties never notice that the simple act of climbing stairs is impossible for those without the use of legs. In corners and intersections, if footpaths have a significant drop, this impedes the mobility of a wheelchair. Problems like these restrict the mobility of a large section of the population, which, apart from making the smallest of tasks extremely problematic for these individuals, also deprives them of many opportunities available to normal people. It prevents them from exploring their full potential, and many of them confess to going through psychological trauma as a result.
All new public buildings, roads, and facilities that will be built should comply with disabled-friendly regulations, and steps should be taken to install ramps and disabled friendly toilets in existing facilities as well. Disabled friendly toilets take only 2 percent extra to build than regular toilets. Handrails must be available at footpaths and public buildings for traffic lights are of no use for the visually impaired, and eventually, lights combined with audible information are recommended for traffic lights. Disabled friendly infrastructure is a relatively new concept in Nepal, but it is one that needs to be implemented as soon as possible.
The Election Commission has decided to install several diasbled-friendly polling booths across the country for the upcoming CA election, which is a laudable step in the direction. The disabled population suffers for no fault of its, and it is the duty of society to give them facilities which will make all kinds of opportunities available to them on par with the rest of the population.
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