Maharashtra elections 2024: ‘If we can vote, everyone can,’ say differently abled voters in Mumbai

Visually impaired Amarjeet Singh Chawla and wife Gurpreet Kaur believe in walking the talk to the ballot box. Pic/Nimesh Dave; (right) It is canines and courage for Karan Shah

Differently abled individuals are urging Mumbaikars to make it a franchise wise Wednesday and get their fingers inked, leading by example. Amarjeet Singh Chawla, 69, who is blind, is going to walk from his Kandivli West home to the polling station assisted by his sighted wife, Gurpreet Kaur Chawla. Chawla said, "The polling station personnel will hand over a sheet in Braille at the time of inking my finger, which will assist me. I will be able to discern who I am voting for through my tactile sense of the buttons and the Braille sheet helps too."

The spirited Sikh, who is a marathoner, added, "I have heard plenty of nonsensical excuses by able persons about it being too hot to vote, or queues being very long. How exactly then do they find the inclination to gadabout in the heat and brave queues for something they like to do and only have these problems during polling time? If I can, you can get your finger inked too."

No stopping travel pro Khyati Mehta, seen here in Monte Carlo; (right) Wheel and vote for Siddharth Mhatre

Courage cool

Where there is a wheel, there is a way for Karan Shah, 26, who will be going to the polling station near his home in Dadar West accompanied by his parents. Karan, who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy will go on his motorised wheelchair. Shah, who is a canine and feline behaviourist, and sit down comedian, said, "The problem is that some of our pavements have an incline to get on, but no decline to get off, so I may do the journey on our roads rather than the pavement."
"Bandying phrases like upping awareness about equal access does not quite cut it anymore. Our elected leaders should spend one day in a wheelchair and only then will they understand the challenges we have because of the city's infra," said Shah while urging Mumbaikars to go out and vote. "What's your excuse?" asked the animal behaviourist straight up.

Travel warrior

Kandivli's Kyati Mehta, 42, was born with Varus legs. She was operated on both her legs but her right leg has been amputated below the knee as her foot developed gangrene. She wears an artificial foot, "something like a Jaipur foot but this artificial limb has advanced foot alignment technology. It improves my gait. My left leg did become straight with some minor adjustments," she explained. Mehta, who is a travel professional, added, "My hands have Bilateral Contraction Fractures which means my hands do not open fully from my elbows." The feisty Mehta signed off by saying, "The entire country needs to be disabled-friendly, only then can we call ourselves evolved," and added as a punchy postscript (PS), "I fondly call myself the girl with the prosthesis."

Go forth

Siddharth Mhatre from Dadar East will commute to the poll venue in his electric wheelchair. The talent acquisition professional said, "I will be in my wheelchair and have somebody accompanying me on foot. At the polling station itself, accessibility will be easy as it is on the ground floor." Mhatre has been afflicted by cerebral palsy since birth and uses a wheelchair. He added, "While our infra facilities (or lack of them) prove difficult, I am also very wary of dogs following my wheelchair, running and barking alongside as I travel. I have an immense fear of these canines. Maybe this electric wheelchair is a novelty for dogs and so they behave this way, getting even more aggressive when the wheelchair picks up speed." The activist, who pushed for his immediate environment in Dadar Parsi Colony (DPC) to become wheelchair-friendly, added, "Being sensitised towards the needs of the differently-abled means to be responsive and bring about change to the city's infrastructure, not only during elections but throughout. That consistency shows genuine intent and creates a more equitable city."