Help us, cry differently-abled

CHENNAI: Bus travel during peak hours, even for a person with total fitness, is not a cake walk in the city. Imagine what would be the plight of the people who walk with props. Padmavathy (30), an orthopaedically challenged person who walks with the support of props, takes the bus everyday from Kotturpuram to Adyar, where she works in a tailoring unit. “Most of the days, the bus does not stop at the stand. I miss a few buses everyday, as they speed away even before I can get into them,” said Padmavathy. “Most of the times, even if the conductor sees me struggling to get in with the props, he blows the whistle and the bus moves on even before I can steady myself. Few times, I have fallen down,” she recollected. Most MTC buses, except the express ones, have two seats reserved for the disabled. Padmavathy said, “Ninety nine per cent of the time, it is occupied by the normal people, who never  get up from the seats. Neither the conductor nor the driver would ask them to move and give us the seat, even after we request them to help us.”The Tamil Nadu Government had waived ticket fares for the visually challenged in local city buses, but people with other forms of disability are made to pay for their tickets.Namburajan of the Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled and Caregivers said, “We do not understand why the disparity. Even an orthopaedically challenged person or a mentally challenged person travelling in a bus should be given free passes.”On May 31, 2010, a GO was passed  by the Department of the Differently abled to ensure 75 per cent concession for the disabled in long distance buses.Murugan from Korattur faced a problem with a conductor when he travelled to Cuddalore, as the latter refused to give him a concession in spite of him showing the conductor a copy of the GO.Namburajan said, “The conductors are the troublemakers. Their collection gets affected. So, most of the times, they act rude with the differently-abled people and force them out of the buses. Sensitisation programmes should be conducted for the conductors and the drivers on how to treat the differently-abled.”