Activists launch online petition to make eateries disabled-friendly

Can you imagine going out to a restaurant, only to be a turned away by the waiters once they spot your wheelchair? "Either the sidewalk is too high, or there are steps leading to the entrance. Most of the times I have to be carried up the steps. But there have also been times when I was denied entry because there were too many stairs and the employees weren't willing to help," said Virali Modi, 26, who has been wheelchair-bound ever since she suffered a spinal chord injury in 2006.

Virali Modi said that she has to be carried into most restaurants, since they do not have ramps

Only 1 in 5 have ramps
For all its claims of being the 'maximum city', turns out Mumbai can't do even the bare minimum for the physically challenged. Most restaurants don't even have a wheelchair ramp. Frustrated, Modi began to record her experiences at eateries. Over a span of three months (May-July), the Malad resident visited 25 restaurants across the city and found that only five had ramps.

"I was very surprised, since most of their websites mention that they are wheelchair-accessible or disabled-friendly. Some had steps leading up to the entrance, in others, the bathrooms were not accessible as the passage was too narrow for wheelchairs," she said.

Also read: Disability is child's play! South Mumbai gets first disabled-friendly garden

Demanding change
On September 27 (World Tourism Day), a group of like-minded activists launched a petition to make restaurants in India more accessible to the disabled, via the campaign #RampMyRestaurant. The online petition is addressed to the Ministry of Social Welfare And Development, Ministry of Tourism India and the National Restaurant Association of India, demanding that all restaurants build a ramp at the entrance for total or easy access. This has been suggested as the first step to making restaurants 100% disabled-friendly.

Also read: Mumbai Metro is not very disabled-friendly

"I'm a travel freak and love to go around and visit different places. But I found a lot of places to be very inaccessible. I have many friends on wheelchairs who have been confined to their houses for the last 10-15 years, mainly because of the lack of infrastructure outside. Restaurants are a big part of socialising, and you rarely see people in wheelchairs going out and having a good time. Accessibility is a must, and that's what we are pushing for," said Modi.