Lack of wheelchair ramps deterrent for paraplegic

Public infrastructure is meant to empower all alike, but the special needs population of the country is deprived of both infrastructure suited to their requirements and the accreditation that comes with it.

This weighs heavily on the paraplegic and wheelchair-using residents of the twin cities in particular. They and their families feel that no government bill or reform is enough until government buildings, which are built with their taxes, provide easy access to them.

Sohail Waqar, has a special needs father who relies solely on a wheelchair for mobility. Sohail was at a passport office in Islamabad to get a passport made for his father so that he could go for Umrah with him. “It was quite a challenge to get his passport made. Getting his picture required lifting him out of the wheelchair to bring him in front of the camera,” said Sohail. He further added that another applicant had to help with moving his father, as he alone could not manage it. “It is beyond me as to why they do not build special counters for those with a disability,” he said.

While those with disabilities get an identification card (ID) indicating that they are special needs. National Database Registration Authority’s (NADRA) facilitation centers, which issue the cards, are not built to facilitate those with a walking disability. Badshah Khan was trying to get an identity card for a paraplegic brother and encountered the same problems as Sohail. “Apart from the provision of dusty and broken-down wheelchairs outside their offices, there is no other help,” said Badshah.

Read Country’s paraplegic population deprived of access

Members of an association for those with disabilities, Muhammad Iqbal, Rashid Ali, and Sajjad Akbar all agree with Badshah’s assessment of NADRA offices. “NADRA’s office in Rawalpindi is a three-storey building with no infrastructure for wheelchair users,” they said while talking to The Express Tribune. “Not only should we be given priority in making an ID card, but they should also facilitate us on the ground floor of the building through special counters set up for us,” they suggested. “This is the tale of the tape in every government building even if you luckily find an elevator you will be told that it is out of order,” they lamented.

However, a NADRA spokesperson, while talking to The Express Tribune, denied this, stating that they had undertaken several measures for persons with disabilities in all their offices, including a counter for persons with disabilities. “If there is an office in a multi-storied building, special care is taken to ensure that the counters for paraplegic are present on the ground floor,” he said.

The lack of ramps is not just restricted to passport offices and NADRA facilitation centers, public hospitals are a hassle to navigate for wheelchair users as well. Zulfiqar Rashid, who brought a special needs relative to a government hospital in Islamabad, while talking to The Express Tribune said, “We found a few wheelchairs outside the OPD, but there are no facilities available inside for special needs people,” Zulfiqar informed. A visibly frustrated Zulfiqar said that it did not make sense that patients with disabilities have to navigate several flights of stairs and room after room for blood and laboratory tests. “With every test they have to be lifted off the wheelchair and put on to a bed and then put back into the wheelchair,” he said.

Zulfiqar was of the view that not only government hospitals, but elected officials did not register the plight of special needs persons. “No matter which public office you go to in Islamabad, not a single facility is available for paraplegic,” he told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2021.