There are not many housing societies or apartment buildings in India that are accessible for people who depend on wheelchairs for their mobility. A social media post that has gone viral sheds light on the challenges such people encounter while looking for a suitable house. The lack of wheelchair-friendly facilities at such places severely limit their independence, and forces them to rely upon others for their daily tasks.
Mrunmaiy took to the microblogging site X, formerly Twitter, and said she was asked by her landlord to vacate the house whihc prompted the search for a new one.
Since her existing apartment situated within the campus of her workplace made it convenient for her, she decided to find a place for herself in the same locality after being asked to vacate the old house by the landlord. But when she began her hunt for an accommodation for which she was willing to pay a higher rent due to the proximity to her office, Mrunmaiy was surprised to find that there were very few accessible apartments available in the city.
"A few weeks ago, my landlord informed us that we needed to vacate the apartment where we have been living since I moved to Bangalore. Six years ago, we were blessed to know that my workplace is on a campus that also has residential apartments, malls, hospitals, schools, etc. The fact that we had to pay higher rent than nearby buildings was an easy compromise," she wrote.
She even explained how brokers and and homeowners thought it was wouldn't be very difficult for her to manage a couple of steps to enter the house.
"It's alarming to know that many brokers and homeowners think that a couple of steps can be passed off as accessible," Mrunmaiy wrote.
"My motorised wheelchair weighs 130 kgs, and I cannot be lifted along with it. When I say that I need a step free entrance, it actually has to be without steps, or with the facility of a Ramp."
She also highlights other issues, like the difficulty in entering Indian bathrooms that have extremely narrow gates and are not at all easy to acces for such people.
"In many Indian apartments, the door of the bathroom is extremely narrow. No surprises, that being a quadriplegic, I take my bath also in a wheelchair. Hence, the door of the bathroom has to be at least 25 inches wide for me to get inside along with my shower-wheelchair," she further writes.
Concluding the thread, she wrote, "I am sharing my experience here on X just to sensitise you all about the importance of accessibility and the challenges of living with a disability in India."