Taken from Times of India:
AHMEDABAD: The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) is changing its architecture to make the disabled feel enabled.
IIM-A gets a high number of disabled students — up from two in 2003 to 23 at present. And, to make these special students feel special, IIM-A is renovating itself to create ramps, railings and smoothing rough edges for easy access in campus.
Eight visually impaired students are living their dream of studying at IIM-A, which set up Equal Opportunity Office (EOO) in 2001 to ensure that all students have equal access to resources. For those with low vision, powerful lighting arrangements have been made. The highlight of these compassionate acts is yet to come — IIM-A is now considering introduction of syllabus in braille for visually impaired.
"For easy access, new elevators have been installed including at the underpass that connects the new campus with the old. Elevators will be shortly installed for reaching classrooms. Two ramps per classroom have been built that take students directly into the class," said Manoj Bhatt, chief administrative officer at IIM-A.
Bhatt said that pathways on which visually challenged students commute during the night have been identified and are now brightly lit all through the night.
"We also plan to introduce study material in braille," he said.
At IIM-A, 3% of students are given admission under differentlyabled category. "I suffer from low vision with night blindness and partial colour blindness. The institute has installed extra lights in my room and contrast stickers on campus for me," said Nidhi Jain, a first-year student and an engineer. Her
batchmates Parth Bhavsar and Elangkumaran J, who suffer from low vision, say compassionate peers on campus are a blessing.
"When I got a call from IIM-A, I was reluctant to accept since I need certain facilities. The institute went out of its way to ensure all facilities are provided," said Karan Singhania, a second-year student, with complete vision loss.
Prof Shailesh Gandhi, chairperson-PGP at IIM-A, said since the inception of EOO, 79 students admitted under the differently-abled category have graduated and are working in various organizations globally.
A building can easily turn a person with disability into someone capable of mobility - a mere ramp can effect that transformation. It has been standard practice for some Gujarat builders to make their structures accessible and friendly to those who need simple aids to overcome problems caused by disabilities. But such measures are neither widely prevalent nor consistent. The government, builders, and planners must work together to ensure that sensitivity is designed into a city's facilities; for that we require more than non-binding guidelines.
Source: Times of India.
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