07/08/06
Dear Gita,
My name is Jamie Osborne. I met with you briefly in February 2005 when
my wife and I were in Delhi. We spoke about accessibility for people
with disabilities, India's progress in accessible architecture and
planning and general trends regarding NGOs and stereotypes in Indian
management styles.
I've been following the progress that you've been making from the list
serve. Congratulations! It is good to see that your good fight is
making a positive impact.
I have been back in India these past two weeks. I was here to meet up
with my wife who now is studying Hindi up in Mussoorie.
I'm writing you to ask for your advice:
I recently met with Sanjeev Sachdeva and Anjlee Agarwal of Samarthya,
the National Centre for Promotion of Barrier Free Environment for
Disabled Persons, and from what I can tell, India's only access
consulting firm. I was acting as a representative for Access Exchange
International. Since we last spoke, I accepted an offer to work with
San Francisco's Municipal Transportation Agency as an Accessibility
Coordinator (I'm learning to talk like a bureaucrat!). I spoke with
Sanjeev and Anjlee about accessible bus stops, the new bus rapid
transit demonstration project and the access to the Delhi Metro. In
an environment that is at times hostile to the needs of seniors and
the disabled, Samarthya is doing great work.
When we spoke about the new Metro system, they expressed their
frustration to me that DMRC and NDMC have not been able to agree upon
who will be responsible for accessible curb ramps. As a result their
unwillingness to move forward, many of the elevator entrances are
inaccessible(!) for people who are unable to climb the 12 inch curb.
As DMRC has spent many thousand dollars on implementing access
facilities for people with disabilities, it is ironic that the lack of
curb ramps, each costing maybe several hundred dollars, is blocking
access to the system. I visited several stops on the system and
personally observed this issue.
Do you have any suggestions for who I could talk to begin to breach
this obvious access barrier? Sanjeev and Anjlee should be commended
for the work that they are doing; however, I don't think that they
have the resources to address this.
Also, do you know of any disability activist groups in Delhi that
would be interested in championing this issue? Unfortunately for me
in my position with the MTA, San Francisco has too many! We have lots
of thorns in our sides. I wish that I could ship some over to Delhi.
I appreciate any assistance that you could offer. I hope that all is
well with your family.
Take care.
Jamie Osborne
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Fixed Route Accessibility Coordinator
jamie.osborne@xxxxxxxxx | velaparatodo@xxxxxxxxx
Dear Gita,
My name is Jamie Osborne. I met with you briefly in February 2005 when
my wife and I were in Delhi. We spoke about accessibility for people
with disabilities, India's progress in accessible architecture and
planning and general trends regarding NGOs and stereotypes in Indian
management styles.
I've been following the progress that you've been making from the list
serve. Congratulations! It is good to see that your good fight is
making a positive impact.
I have been back in India these past two weeks. I was here to meet up
with my wife who now is studying Hindi up in Mussoorie.
I'm writing you to ask for your advice:
I recently met with Sanjeev Sachdeva and Anjlee Agarwal of Samarthya,
the National Centre for Promotion of Barrier Free Environment for
Disabled Persons, and from what I can tell, India's only access
consulting firm. I was acting as a representative for Access Exchange
International. Since we last spoke, I accepted an offer to work with
San Francisco's Municipal Transportation Agency as an Accessibility
Coordinator (I'm learning to talk like a bureaucrat!). I spoke with
Sanjeev and Anjlee about accessible bus stops, the new bus rapid
transit demonstration project and the access to the Delhi Metro. In
an environment that is at times hostile to the needs of seniors and
the disabled, Samarthya is doing great work.
When we spoke about the new Metro system, they expressed their
frustration to me that DMRC and NDMC have not been able to agree upon
who will be responsible for accessible curb ramps. As a result their
unwillingness to move forward, many of the elevator entrances are
inaccessible(!) for people who are unable to climb the 12 inch curb.
As DMRC has spent many thousand dollars on implementing access
facilities for people with disabilities, it is ironic that the lack of
curb ramps, each costing maybe several hundred dollars, is blocking
access to the system. I visited several stops on the system and
personally observed this issue.
Do you have any suggestions for who I could talk to begin to breach
this obvious access barrier? Sanjeev and Anjlee should be commended
for the work that they are doing; however, I don't think that they
have the resources to address this.
Also, do you know of any disability activist groups in Delhi that
would be interested in championing this issue? Unfortunately for me
in my position with the MTA, San Francisco has too many! We have lots
of thorns in our sides. I wish that I could ship some over to Delhi.
I appreciate any assistance that you could offer. I hope that all is
well with your family.
Take care.
Jamie Osborne
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Fixed Route Accessibility Coordinator
jamie.osborne@xxxxxxxxx | velaparatodo@xxxxxxxxx