Disabled too travel by bus

Octogenarian

It took a Superior Court order for the Nation to acknowledge that amidst the able bodied there are the physically disabled citizens as well. And it was not the recently concluded conflict alone that threw up scores of disabled.

We have had the physically disabled living in the country for ages though their presence was ignored and considered as misfits in society. The decision to grant the disabled their rights is a move that will restore their confidence and self-respect and the easy access to public buildings is one step forward which has already created awareness that they too are citizens of this country with equal rights as anybody else.

The decision to construct railway platforms in the North to facilitate the disabled to entrain and detrain without hassle is an innovative idea and a humane gesture. In other parts of the country too we have the disabled and if platforms similar to the ones in the North are constructed for easy access for the disabled it would be equally humane.

Another area that needs immediate attention is the road transport services, both SLTB and private. The access to board buses, is fraught with danger for the disabled, the elders and children. Constructed more like ladders it is only the young and agile who could get in and out of a bus with ease. For the disabled, elders and children it is more like climbing and descending a mountain.

And with impatient men at the wheel eager to take off without a thought for a struggling disabled or elder stands every chance of falling and injuring himself.

The imported Chinese buses with easy access for passengers is the awareness shown for the safety of commuters. In most countries, the safety and comfort of commuters is a priority though Sri Lanka falls short of this priority.

The transport authorities could do well to modify the access to buses keeping in mind that it is not only the young and active but also the disabled and the old who commute by bus. Or will it need yet another Superior Court order to make this a reality.

The SLTB could give the lead and provide buses with modified boarding and exiting facilities like in the imported buses they operate, and could be run for the benefit and safety of the disabled, elders and children and what a difference it would make to their travelling lives. It is pathetic to see the disabled and the elders hanging on for dear life in an overcrowded bus amidst a mass of humans with hardly any breathing space.

It is also a disgrace to see the seat reserved for the disabled occupied by young healthy men who amazingly go to sleep the moment they sit, and the conductors do not dare to request them to make way for a disabled.

Several years ago another elder standing along side me waiting for a bus remarked rather philosophically, when we were brushed aside rudely by a group of young men intent on boarding the bus that it was always better to leave one’s self respect, dignity and values at home before taking one’s place at a bus stop. One could then be a party to the law of the jungle when we board the bus.