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THE REPORT OF THE SEMINAR

“PRACTICAL APPROACHES TOWARDS CREATING A BARRIER FREE ENVIRONMENT “

HELD ON 24TH MARCH 2007

Venue: TATA INSTITUE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

“Planning of the seminar and arriving at this topic for awareness “

During the first week of February, we the CCRC batch students gathered at the college canteen to think over the seminar we had to conduct as a part of our course.

 Initial attempt was to choose the topic and the target group. One of us mentioned of focusing on the architect students and town planners, making them aware of their part in creating an accessible society for all. Majority of the group was in favor of this proposal since it is a significant issue to be addressed in this scenario where persons with disabilities are in a disabling environment, that hinders growth in their lives and basically, it is the violation of human rights.

 The PWD Act,1995 has provided guidance and instruction to the state authorities and the institutions to make the environment accessible to the disabled but little has been done on the implementation front for this provision.

 In addition to the Government and certain organizations we believe that it is the responsibility of every individual to be a part of this endeavor – to create a barrier free environment for all. So we boiled down to this topic on creating awareness about barrier free environment for all.

Our target group was the architects - the reason to target this group was that they are the tomorrow, the ones who are going to design the plans for a residential complex, the ones who are going to provide the designs for malls and corporate parks. So targeting the architects would be aiming at reaching the roots of creating a barrier free environment.

The key to creating a barrier free tomorrow would be targeting the architects first , sensitizing them about the disabled and explaining to them their role in preventing a disability from transiting to a  handicap .

Once the subject was decided we divided ourselves into four groups. Each one of us volunteered to be part of a respective group according to our interests and capability. When we discussed the matter with Dr. Sandhya Limaye, our course teacher, we were asked to go for an alternative topic and target group as well, in case the opted one does not work out. Contingencies like not getting architecture students , getting resource persons were thought of and so we began brainstorming for another relevant issue pertaining to disability. Various topics were suggested and as a group we selected the topic-‘Integration of the person with disability into the mainstream”. We planned to target the principals of the regular schools and the parents of the able and disabled children. Why integration? We felt that in the current society integration is given great importance, yet the society as a whole has not come into terms with this aspect due to misconceptions and wrong notions existing in the minds of the ‘able-bodied’. This was our back up topic of awareness.

So then the ball was set rolling and we started working on the first topic and doing our market research started collecting data on the issue. Some of us interacted with the architectures and town planners and their response to this was very encouraging. We decided to move ahead with this issue with a final approval from our course teacher who was a constant guide in the making of this seminar.

 We sat together to decide the Title of the seminar which definitely took a lot of patience and brainstorming and we then decided to go through a few books in the library to get some ideas about what could be the possible title for the seminar . After 2- 3 days of long research we narrowed down to one title which was “Disabling barriers and enabling environment’. We all agreed to it but after concerning with our course teacher we realized that this title was a little puzzling when a reader reads it for the first time. It doesn’t give the idea across immediately. So taking it as learning we moved on to identifying another title for the seminar. We then identified that our main objective with this seminar was to provide them with practical approaches towards creating a barrier free environment which itself was comprehensive to be a title. So we then decided on “Practical Approaches to creating barrier free environment” which was agreed by al including our course teacher.

Once the seminar title was decided we then moved on to preparing the project proposal which was to be submitted to Dr. Neela Dabir. Sandhya Ma’am guided us so as to clearly project our aim, objectives, plan and budget .  

  1. Giving an insight into the access issues faced by the persons with disability and to make architecture students aware of their role in the field of disability.
  2. To facilitate the disabled to function independently in mainstream society by providing tangible solutions to remove mobility barriers.
  3. To arrive at easy implementation methods of creating disabled friendly infrastructure
  4. To facilitate clear access rights for the disabled.
  5. To create opportunities for an objective discussion on the removal of barriers between the architectural professionals and the disabled persons.

We decided on our objectives , plan budget and submitted it to our course teacher , we then learnt the mistakes we had made while creating the proposal , that is we didn’t have a very detailed rationale . Our proposal didn’t clearly state our program schedule in detailed description

So we learnt from our mistakes and made the changes required.

Once the proposal was ready we decide to submit our proposal to Dr. Neela Dabir. Once the funds were received we started working in our groups : we had divided the class into four teams taking care of different activities .

The four groups were as follows :

Once the groups were decided with everybody’s consent we prioritized the work and each group began working on their respective aspects.  While working our course teacher got an invitation letter from Fellowship of the Physically Handicapped where they were organizing a seminar on Removal of Barriers – Providing Tangible Solutions at FPH centre in Worli, dated February 17, 2007.

As our topics were related and dealing with environmental barriers, we felt encouraged to go and attend the seminar. We wanted to make a note of the programme schedule and the flow of sessions. Shailee, Shweta and Trupti attended the seminar and got a jist of the details involved.

Through attending this seminar we could arrange for the Resource persons. One of the Keynote speakers for Module I – Design & Architecture was Mr. Harshad Bhatia. He being an Urban Planner had great knowledge and different ideas, which he tactfully presented to the audience. His presentation was so impressing that we decided to contact him for our seminar. So that we could also help in sensitizing the target audience with an orator like him.

   

There was also a Presentation by the students of Sir J.J. College of Architecture which was so well detailed and had a great presentation format which definitely gave the message across in a very touching and effective manner . They were young budding architects themselves, who had made this presentation. We decided to contact them as our second resource person, as a youth can best sensitize another youth .We had a brief discussion with them and they agreed to participate in our seminar.

As this was being organized at FPH, many people with disabilities had attended the seminar. So this was a great opportunity for making a contact with one of them who could take a session. With this thought we got ourselves introduced to Mr. Arun Swamy who by profession was a lawyer and we requested him to come for the seminar and thereby we got a third resource person.

All their contact details were collected so we could discuss and confirm our steps with the rest of the class and go ahead with coordinating with them. In all, the FPH  seminar was a great learning as well as a great starting place of contacts for us .

 Once we returned from the seminar we had a good starting point as we had a brief practical experience of the seminar and learnt from their strengths and weaknesses :

Strengths were as follows:

 

Weaknesses :

We learnt that we need to have good speakers but also different delivery formats like activities and participatory learning and we need to start and end on time so as to respect the time of our target audience as well as our resource persons and we also took each of their strengths and decided to incorporate them into our seminar so as to make it successful in attaining the desired objectives.

Once we analyzed each of these strengths and weakness each of the groups discussed the problems they faced:

Food and administration team:  was facing difficulties in identifying the right price range for the lunch and tea. We had a class meeting and with everybody’s consent we decided the dinning hall lunch and tea , due to proximity conveniences and the food was tried and tested . The room and laptop was also arranged for.

Creative team: placed their research work done till now , what was the content of the poster and the certificate . The content idea was “to make India accessible- the power is in your hands” which was aimed at the architects. The power to maw our country was purely in your hands and that we were here to guide them. The color combinations and picture content was agreed upon and then the creative team was set for the final making and printing.

Proposal and finance team: was well in place and did the budget allocation in the most precise manner possible and collected bills of each and every activity spent on.

Marketing team: by now had identified the list of colleges and made one call to the principals. The feedback from the principals was that the event needs to be before April as the architecture students had their exams .So we had to prepone the seminar in the last week of March so the date was now the 24th of March. This preponing did bring a bit of friction as now everything was needed to be done faster than planned and now at this point in time  our  field work placements were decided and the 15 of us were placed in different geographical areas so meeting was difficult , but we were determined in achieving our set objectives .

                       So we prioritized our work that the posters needed to be ready first along with the letters which need to be given to the principals and the final list of colleges along with who will be going to which college.

                     Within the next week, the creative team was ready with the final design of the poster it was approved by all and our course teacher and was then printed by the creative team. We printed 7 posters. 6 for different colleges and 1 for Tata Institute of Social Sciences (copy of poster enclosed in appendix) and also letters to be given to each college along with the poster stating the details of the seminar (copy enclosed in appendix )

                    Once the posters were printed and ready then we had a meeting so as to divide the colleges on proximity and convenience basis, so as to achieve effective results.  The whole class was divided into small groups of two to three people and we short-listed six colleges to invite. We set a deadline of 3 days within which each one of us had to visit our respective colleges and then we would meet back in college to decide the further course of action.  Details of which are given below:

   Anamika  and Shweta had to invite Indian Educational Society, Bandra Reclamation. They took prior appointment to meet the principal of the college. They personally went to invite the students and the principle assured to send 5-10 students from the institute for the program.

   Rachana and Shailendra decided to invite Bhausaheb Hirey College, Bandra. They also took prior appointment to meet the principal. Shailendra met the principal and he sounded sure to send 20 participants but they didn’t give any names on confirmation, so Shailendra and Rachna visited again and they got 25 confirm students from this college

   Neela and Krishnaveni were asked to invite D Y Patil college. They spoke to the principal over telephone regarding the workshop along with the invitation for the students. But the principal did not entertain much as the institute exams were scheduled at that time.  Jack followed up with the same college but nothing was confirmed from the institute. It was quite a disappointment for us as we thought we had chosen a wrong time as most of the institutes were having their exams. But we didn’t lose heart.

   Trupti and Greeshma were given responsibility to invite Rachana College, Bandra. The principal was very enthusiastic to send students and he even made sure that the information is rightly passed to the students. But unfortunately there were no response from the students and both of them decided to visit the college once again. They even spoke to the 1st and 2nd year students of the college; however they did not show any interest and did not respond positively. Shailee and Sonam corresponded with the principal again he then gave us one confirmation who would be their representative .

   Shailee and Sonam visited Rizvi College after an appointment with a lady from the Administrative Department. Unfortunately, the principal wasn’t available at the college but they got the opportunity to speak with the students of the final year personally. Students were quite excited and enthusiastic about the topic of the Seminar, but expressed anxiety as the date of the Seminar clashed with the date of their final submissions. Sonam and Shailee explained the concept in detail and put up the poster at the main notice board before leaving the college. Sonam contacted the college again so as to meet the principal , after a long wait we did get to speak to the vice principal but he was very keen but again couldn’t pressurize the students as their project submissions were on .

   Rani, Madhulika and Diya were asked to invite Sir J.J College of architecture. They took prior permission from the college and met the principal. The principal promised to send his students for the seminar and even asked one of the students to speak to us about the program. They also promised to us that his students were ready to present their presentation in the seminar. The students put the posters on their notice board and invited them to come.

 When we met in the next week we realized In all the responses were not overwhelming as the timing was a problem but we did have  a confirmation of 48 students in all after that 13 students of Sir J.J School registered themselves , 25 students of Bahusaheb voluntarily gave their names to participate and Indian Educational Society around 5- 10  . So once the audience of above 40 was confirmed we then moved on to finalizing the remaining requirements.

The food price and type of food was finalized from the dining hall, the certificate sample was brought by the creative team and approved by the entire class. Common room was booked for 24th march along with the other technical booking that needed to be done.

Then in this meeting we delegated the work of stationery purchases and banner for the seminar. We also sat together and chalked out the programme schedule and divided it into three modules. (Copy of program schedule enclosed in appendix)  

The plan was decided and then decided the various activities we wanted to include;

As it was decided, we did not want our seminar to be mere lecture sessions, with the Speakers talking and very less interaction between the participants. To avoid this kind of situation, we decided to arrange for a lot of interactive activities. This would give great opportunities to break the ice among the participants.

We thought of activities like “feel it yourself” which would give the participants to have a first hand experience of what its like to be disabled. As we had ourselves had these sessions in the class, it was very easy to relate and decide. We decided on having 4 different activities to cover 4 different disabilities. We divided ourselves into 4 groups in order to brainstorm and come up with unique activities. But on the day before the seminar we had a mock rehearsal and realized that due to time constraints we could have three activities the Flower activity, Wheelchair activity and the Participatory learning activity.

The objective of the flower activity was basically to know their perceptions of disability, and then give them a feeling of disability by giving them alive stimulation of a life on a wheelchair, where we would have participants from the audience to take one round on the wheelchair in the class and express what they felt being on the wheelchair and the barrier they came across.

The participatory activity that we had planned was to divide them into 5 groups and give them different “infrastructural settings” and how would they want to make changes in their settings. Materials to be provided were chart papers, pencils, scale, transparency sheets, marker pens etc that could help them to present their ideas in front of the remaining class. The five settings were:

Objective of this activity: the objective of this activity was participatory learning for the students to participate and have experiential learning so they would be able to design the  architectural changes in these settings. This would stimulate their minds on this aspect as also there would be a brainstorming session on various ideas that are possible .

The activities were finalised and the programme schedule was in place.
Various resource persons were approached from the seminar we attended at FPH and then decided to speak to Mr. Bhatia (urban planner) and lawyer Arun Swamy. At the last moment Bhatia expressed his inability to participate in the seminar; and he gave reference to another architect Ms. Radhika Toshniwal, who presented his presentation and she was an excellent orator. She was a young budding architect so we thought she would be able to provoke the audience regarding the various architectural barriers.

Then we had the last meeting one day before the final day , where we all delegated work on the basis of our expertise which was as follows :

10.15 am   Welcome speech by Krishnaveni followed by bouquets to Mr.Arun swamy by Rachna and to Ms. Radhika by Diya.

Agenda:

1.Introduction to disability by Rani

2.Activity of Flower by sonam

3.activity by trupti and sonam

3.Sir J.J. college students’ presentation

4.Participatory learning Activity by Anamika and Greeshma

5.Lunch- arranged by Jack, Neela and Prakash, Shailendra

6.Presentation of Participatory learning activity outcome.

7.Introduction to Ms. Radhika

8.Presentation by Ms. Radhika

9.Session by Mr.Arun swamy

10.Discussion and Q&A

11.Few words by Sandhya ma’m

12.Token to Mr.Swamy

13.Certificate to Sir J.J students by Mr.Swamy

14.Vote of thanks by Shailee Majithia

 Once the delegation was completed we then went on to practicing our parts in front of the class so as to know our errors and also check the continuity of the program. Each one of us gave our inputs to each other.

   We then arranged the folders for the participants with the programme schedule, notepad, pen, Questionnaire and a handout on disability and ability (copy enclosed) for them to take back with them. This folder was to be given to each student at the registration.

Then we decided on where would the registration desk be put and who would get the cloth for the table and flowers for the guest. The cloth was brought by Rachna from her house and Madhulika was in charge of the flowers for the resource persons.

We also arranged for a trophy for the Sir J.J College Of Architecture students and a Laminated Certificate to be given to the students for presenting at the seminar.

The badges were arranged for 15 of us so as to be easily recognizable. We then decided on the dress code, which was formals in  black and blue as that was available with each one of us and was a standard formal code.

Once all the arrangements were made and final talk with the helper staff and the technical in charge was done, we closed for the day,  after deciding that we would all assemble at the institute at 8.00 am so as to make the arrangements .

ON THE DAY OF SEMINAR ‘24th March 2007

TISS – COMMON ROOM

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Ultimately the most awaited day had come. The day begun with a lot of excitement and anxiety as all the organizers were organizing a seminar for the first time and were really looking forward for its actualization. As decided in the last meeting, all the students gathered at the institute by 8.00 am .

As the time rolled, each one got involved into their own responsibilities as assigned, some busy with desk arrangements, some trying to fix the audio system, a few of them arranging the folders to be handed over to the participants and so on. But at some corner of each one’s mind was an urge to accomplish the goal of -“A Successful Seminar”. By  9.00am everything was set, the tea table was arranged, the desk in the hall was decorated, the Microphones were tested and ready, students at the reception were seated and were waiting for the guests to flow in. And in no time did the first guest, our chief speaker, Mr.Arun Swamy walked in. It was indeed a boost for all the organizers to see people coming on time. And “All that begins well, shall end well”, this is what all of them thought in their minds and got started.

As people came, they were offered coffee and tea and were guided to their seats in the hall. Within no time the hall was nearly occupied and the programme began. According to the schedule, the programme had three modules, two in the morning session and one in the afternoon session.

The first module began with a welcome speech by Krishnaveni followed by an introduction to disability by Theresa Rani. The introduction was about how disability is not only a phenomenon that occurs to those who are so called “marginalized in the society” but can happen to anyone of us and its not just the physical attribute of it but the entire social and emotional aspects attached therewith. It briefs out on how socially disabled are we, the “Able bodied”, with all sort of crimes and corruption in our society. Rani also elaborated on the actual definition of disability and the 7 categories under the PWD Act which are widely accepted as disabilities. This was followed by an informal introduction of each participant, briefing their names, which college they belong to and what are they looking forward to from this seminar. This indeed acted as an icebreaker, as all the organizers and the participants were a bit tensed.

 

First Activity and its Objective:

This was followed by a small activity designed to understand the basic feelings of the participants regarding the word “DISABILITY”.

Process: A flower with five petals was drawn and the central part of it had the word disability written in it by Sonam, who conducted the activity. Five volunteers from the audience were requested to come upon the dais and write the very first word that comes to their mind on hearing the word “DISABILITY”. It was amazing to see the spirit with which people came forward and expressed themselves.

Outcome: the five volunteers wrote the following in the petals

These words depicted the various shades of emotions and feelings associated with the word Disability. Following this was a brief discussion / feedback from the participants justifying their feelings.

Conclusion of this activity : It was found that all these expressions had their origin from various incidents, situations and people they saw in disabling conditions or heard of. So, it was concluded that some bore a positive meaning and some had a negative connotation attached with them. Therefore the activity proved that disability was not a physical lack but a social disadvantage where the disabled were pitied, needed support, had challenges to face, were incapable and were sympathized.

This activity was followed by another activity that was hosted by Trupti, Sonam and Jack.

 

2nd Activity and Objective:

This activity was aimed at giving the audience a feel of disability by using a wheel chair thereby understanding the various barriers faced by the disabled.

Process: In this a few participants came forward and were asked to propel the wheel chair, take a short ride around the hall and get back to the starting position by crossing the various hurdles placed in their way.

Outcome: The participants were really excited and gave their feedback, some feeling terrible and dependant, others feeling emotionally moved by imagining the plight of the disabled people and other felt very uncomfortable as it involved a lot of muscular effort and were left with aching hands and arms.

Conclusion of this activity :At the end, all of them including the organizers, agreed to the fact that apart from the physical disability, the society with its architectural barriers is all the more disabling their freedom.

After this activity there was clip shown which was an audio visual clipping of a day in the life a of a person with malformed limbs, Mr.Nick. It was indeed a very moving video. All the participants really appreciated the movie and were completed surprised with the courage and motivation he had to fight all the barriers and obstacles and try his best to live a “Normal” life . After the movie, Jack concluded the movie with a few words about Nick and his life and where he had reached today after this we declared a 10 minutes break for the participants to easy out as module 1 was completed.  On the conclusion of the brief break, we continued with the second module.

The second module began with a presentation by the students of Sir J.J.School of Architecture. The presentation “Is Mumbai Accessible?” was very informative and a great attempt to give a clear understanding of the various architectural barriers present in Mumbai.

Moving ahead with the programme, another activity was introduced by Anamika and Greeshma.

3rd Activity and Objective: The activity was aimed at creating a common platform for all the audience, where they as architects could come up with various ideas to create barrier free environment in given situations.

Process: The entire audience was divided into five groups according to the numbers mentioned on their folders. Each group was asked to pick one chit from the desk and sketch a plan for the given situation, which should be disabled friendly. As they arranged themselves, and chose their topic, they were given 30 minutes to brainstorm and come up with solutions using the stationery provided to them. They were supposed to present their solutions to the rest of the participants after the time was up.

After 30 – 45 minutes it was lunch time and the lunch was served at the dining hall and the organizers guided the participants to the dining hall.

Outcome: It was Amazing to see their thoughts and creativity. Each group presented all possible solutions in designing a barrier free Architecture. Majority of them stressed on the presence of proper ramps and having clear signboards written in Braille for the blind. Some also mentioned about the washroom modifications that were necessary not only for the disabled but also for the elderly who needed constant support. They even highlighted about the necessity of the modifications in the transport system and possible solutions for the shopping malls.  

Conclusion: The activity was concluded by a feedback session where all the groups were given a chance to clarify their doubts and add to the others’ part as a suggestion .The active involvement of each participant, which was the main objective of the activity, was achieved. It was seen that each individual as a professional and as an efficient team member worked for a common reason and came up with a few tangible solutions. The feedback session also helped them and us to analyze the feasibility of the suggested solutions and their alternatives.

The seminar then continued with a presentation by Ms. Radhika Toshniwal, an architect by profession, on Practical Approaches - Tangible Solutions.  She discussed about the problems in designing for a barrier free environment, wherein she explained in various settings namely obstructions, signages, accessibility, street furniture, pathways, curb ramps, pedestrian crossing, parking, building types, etc.. She ended by giving certain measures to rectify the problems.

The presentation was followed by a talk, “The Other Side Of The Story-Meeting The World Halfway” by Mr.N.ArunSwamy, a lawyer by profession and a Polio affected person. He was very pleased to be at TISS and attend the seminar. He appreciated the effort made by the Youth and expressed his gratitude for working towards the betterment of the Disabled. He, in his speech, highlighted the importance of the initiative to be taken by the Disabled persons to accept what the world has for them in store. Until and unless an effort is made on their side, no changes or modifications in the society can accommodate the persons with disability. Therefore, they should try to overcome their own psychological and emotional barriers and come forward to join hands with the society.

Thus, he concluded by saying, “what you give to the world is more important than what the world gives you”. He emphasized that this should be a universal goal to bring out the best in you. Hence, together we can provide a better world not only for the disabled but for everyone else. Only then there can be total integration in the society.

The experience and thoughts shared by Mr. Swamy were really enlightening and kindled a new spark of thinking in the audience. It was our privilege to have him with us on this occasion. Mr. Swamy was requested to present a momento of appreciation to the students of Sir J.J. School of architecture for their wonderful contribution.

This was followed by a short speech by Dr. Sandhya Limaye, Course teacher of Rehabilitation counseling. She extended her warm wishes to each and everyone who had attended the seminar and carried out a feedback session from the audience about their experience of the seminar. It was pleasing to hear that all of them had a wonderful learning time and were looking forward for more in this regard.

The Seminar was ended by a Vote of thanks by Shailee. Post the vote of  thanks the students were asked to collect their participation certificates and submit the feedback questionnaire at the exit .

After the participants left, all the folders, certificates and other stationery were collected, the technical devices of the college were returned and then we students assembled together and discussed a feedback of the seminar where everyone stated how we could have improved and what our learnings from this seminar were. After the feedback session the class dispersed.

Feedback from Respondents

At the end of the seminar we collected the feedback forms and these were the participants’  feedback.

  1. What are your feelings towards disabled individuals?

Most of the students’ answer was support. Only a few differed from that and gave varied opinions such as differently abled, challenged, some were even proud of persons with disability for their courage. They had mentioned that after the workshop their perception and feelings towards disability and people with disability had changed.

 

  1. The next question was how did you find the discussion?

Ninety percent of the students felt that the discussion was excellent the rest felt that the discussion was good.

 

  1. Which modules were detailed and comprehensive?

Out of the twenty four students ten students said that they felt the third module: practical approaches and solutions were detailed and comprehensive.

Four students felt the second module: disability and barriers was detailed and comprehensive. Four students felt that the first module was detailed and comprehensive. The other six students felt that all three modules were equally detailed and comprehensive.

 

4)What according to you was the impact of the interactive activities?

Most of the students felt that the interactive activities led to active participation and also increased their knowledge. They also felt that the activities were very informative as they shared their views and ideas. They also came to know the real problems faced by the people with disability. It also improved their understanding capacity and some felt that the session was very benefiting. The first hand experience of sitting on a wheelchair had made a big impact on the challenges faced by persons with disability.

 

5)Would you like to comment on the life of Nick?

All of them felt that Nick lived a better life than most of the normal people. Some felt that Nick’s life was very good because of modern technologies. Some felt that Nick’s life was very inspiring as he had overcome his disability and they also will strive to be more positive and productive. They also understood to which extent people with disabilities are disabled due to architectural barriers.

6)What other issues pertaining to PWDs do you think need to be focused on?

Most of them felt that apart from architectural barriers people must take into consideration other important issues such as education, employment making them financially and socially independent.

Making people sensitive towards disabled people and their issues, people must also take into consideration what people with disabilities think, feel and need. Accept them as normal people and treat them with dignity.  

 

These were the feedbacks of the respondents. In all they learnt a lot and many of the students even asked us to continue such seminars at various different colleges.

Feedback of the organizers:

We decided to that each one of us would write our individual expectations from the seminar and the outcomes which are as follows:

Diya

The seminar was the brainchild of all 15 of us, the CCRC batch 2006-07. It helped us to learn more about organizing workshops and how to deal with practical difficulties. It was the result of hard work of all the students which brought out such a successful workshop. The methodology was very good and everything was very systematic. The best part of the program was that it was not a tall mere lecture but a participatory workshop involving not only all the hosts but the guests as well. It seemed that the participants thoroughly enjoyed the activity and it was a kind of eye opener for them.

Sonam :

Expectation:

Expectation from this seminar was as follows:

Outcome :

The overall seminar was a great source of experiential learning, we learnt all difficulties encountered , team work issues , delegation issues and various other but all in all it was an experience unforgettable  , albeit a long way to go as we practice more in this area we would be perfect in creating  seminars for a better tomorrow.

Shweta

Well the seminar was a good experience for me. It made me teach how to be organized and it takes a lot of energy to actually plan a seminar. It was a result of all the students and i am really happy with the outcome. The best thing is that it was not just a lecture but was interactive and a good knowledge based.

 

Shailee

Expectations:

We, as CCRC batch students deal with the impact of disability on different aspects of human development and its implications. Whether s/he is going to school, or to work, or to use recreational facilities, the ability of the person with disability to move around is critical to make him/her feel like a valued and an effective member of the community. However, most of the community facilities in the world have been designed for and cater to able-bodied individuals. Hence, our motive was to educate able-bodied members of the general public on the importance of these measures who are professionals and have the potential to bring about a difference. Hence, we as Rehabilitation Counseling students, aimed at creating awareness among architectural professionals to improve access to public services by making the environment disabled-friendly and providing facilities for the people with disabilities. The rationale behind organizing this seminar with architecture students was that they are the future of town planning in India and hence sensitizing them on this issue is the stepping-stone towards the creation of a barrier free environment. 

Outcome:

 The Seminar, and more so the process of planning the seminar was a tremendous learning experience. We were all satisfied with the flow of the seminar, the timings, the interactive sessions and the main presentation regarding providing tangible solutions. The participants were particularly happy with the interactive activities where they got to get the first hand feeling of how a PWD feels in a wheelchair and what barriers he faces. Also, because of the interactive atmosphere, the students got to share each other's experiences and there was a free-wheeling of thoughts and ideas. We were hardly expecting that the students would be so aware about this field. It was very satisfying to find that the target group was a good choice, a very fruitful one indeed. Also, the words from a PWD speaker gave the students an insight into various issues and concerns faced by them. We did wish we could have arranged for a bench of Architecture professors and professionals to answer the array of questions that the participants had. Overall it was a fruitful and stimulating experience. 

 

Krishnaveni

Expectation:

As this was the first time I was involved in a process of this kind, it was very exciting as well as challenging. I expected that the seminar/workshop would be a tough thing to handle as there are many key points to be taken care of like the budget, guests, food etc. The most important thing that I was worried was the teamwork as all of us were placed at different locations for our field work and coming together was an issue keeping in mind the travel.

 Outcome:

The outcome according to me was good .As everything requires to refine itself , we too could improve but being the first attempt it was a good learning experience. Our main motto of trying to come up with tangible solutions was achieved to an extent but the most important aspect is that this seminar could kindle some serious thinking in the minds of the young architects as well as the counsellors in the sense of making apt changes in the architecture of public utilities as well as giving a clear information to the counsellors the practical problems faced by the architects in actually making everything absolutely accessible to all. Hence the counsellors will now be in a better situation to motivate efforts on behalf of the Persons with disabilities to cherish the modifications that are feasible in their own way.

Rani

Expectation:

* To bring awareness among the architecture students about the physical barriers existing in the society, and their role in creating a barrier free environment for the disabled.  

* A platform to share their ideas and also to encounter the students of the other architect colleges.

Outcome: * the activities we conducted gave them a first hand experience of the feelings, problems and the needs of the persons with disabilities. The group work was also gave them an opportunity to understand that they can and have to do a great deal in the society. The presentation of the J.J College was great eye opener to the rest of the students. There was no disruption during the seminar and everything was just flowing as it was decided. I believe that we have achieved the goal we have set while planning this seminar.

Greeshma :        

To begin with the workshop was a great learning experience. We did face a few practical difficulties while organizing the seminar. When we went to Rachna Sansad Academy’s college of Architecture and spoke to the principal, we felt that the students would register that day itself and at least 10 to 15 students would come. But nothing of that sort happened instead continuous phone calls to the college authorities and the principal also did not help. The only student who came for the seminar was the one who was doing a research on this subject and that too late. It was a bit disheartening as the response that we got from the students and the principal on our first visit to the institution was very promising. I also expected that more than 50 students would come as we had approached a lot of colleges and all of us had put in a lot of effort but when only half the number of students came I was a bit disappointed. Otherwise the seminar was a great success and I liked the presentation by Roshni Toshniwal that was very informative. The session where the students had to think of various methods of accessibility for the people with dis-ability in different settings was also very interesting as I did not know much about the various ways in which you could make them accessible. The seminar was a learning experience from its conception to the final outcome.

 

Madhulika :

My learning... Organizing this seminar was a wonderful experience, I have learnt a lot from this activity of our curriculum.  I realized my own potentials and shortcomings, I learnt working in a group, sharing responsibilities, problems and working out the solutions together. I also learnt from the experience of this seminar that being organized is very important, and that we really need to workout in this area. We should have been more organized, professional and well prepared before hand for all the planned as well as unplanned issues that came up without notice. Anyways, all kinds of experiences have something to teach and i have learnt well, my part from this one.

Trupti

The whole process of planning-executing-implication was stressful but a great learning experience. Lot of hard work was involved, so we were having great expectations from the seminar. As there was lot of pre-planning and coordination among all of us. So it was a great experience with how to adjust and coordinate with everyone.
As all of us were busy with the field work, balancing Seminar work and field work together was a tough task. One of the learning was Time management, which was very important.  Keeping the seminar as more interactive was an excellent idea otherwise the participants would have not been as enthusiastic as they were at the end of the day. The activities was one of the best things that we added otherwise it would have been really difficult to make those participants interact among themselves. It taught us how to be professionals and control our reactions to the last minute changes. It also taught us a very important thing, how much ever we plan; things can go wrong at the last moment. (Expected students from all the different colleges)

Its was a great feeling when the architect students, while leaving, said that they were so happy to attend this seminar. Getting appreciated at the end of the day was the best thing!

Shailendra

Expectations from the seminar-I don't expect from the architect students that they will apply the knowledge they gained in the seminar while working; but at least sensitize and will put forward the problems faced by disabled persons while accessing to public places; to their higher authority. It may not happen in near future but in the long run definitely there may be some impact on the architect professionals.

Jack

Expectation: The number of students for participation expected was more.

Outcomes: The participants who attended was too less than expected. But the active participation of the students was very much encouraging.

Anamika

Expectation: I expected that at least some of the students from the number that the principal had told of the college I went would come.  The students coming to the seminar was from first year so they would have less knowledge about barrier free environment for people with disability.

As per the planned schedule I thought we may finish of our program by the given time or may be before it.

  Outcomes: The number of participants was not bad, and they were very enthusiastic and eager about the seminar, their eagerness gave us encouragement. The students were from first year so but they had a good sense of barrier free environment for people with disability. I liked to hear the speaker Mr. Arun Swamy’s experiences and wanted to hear him more about his life but the time was a constraint.

Neela

Three of my batch-mates and myself were in the Food and Permission Committee while organizing the Seminar on "Barrier Free environment for the Disabled".  We were entrusted the job of taking the permission for the room where the seminar was to be conducted, permission for certificates etc. and so also to arrange lunch, tea and snacks for the invitees. 

Initially I had taken the permission for the Room No 3 on April 14, 2007.  But then it was decided unanimously to advance the program and hence the initial booking got cancelled.

Jack and I were assigned to go to D. Y. Patil college of Architecture, Navi Mumbai But the Principal of the college Mr Chaudari did not wish to send his students for the Seminar as they had their Semester exams and moreover they had their assignments to be submitted by March 25th.  I had also taken the permission for the maintenance boy from the STP section.  

Subsequently on the day of the seminar due to the hard work and dedication on part of all our team mates everything went off very smoothly and it was a total success.  It was a great learning experience and I thoroughly enjoyed working together as a part of the team.  This interaction amongst us was a different feeling altogether and I realized the benefit of working as a team than as individuals.  The best which came out from all us made the program a total success and that we had successfully conveyed the appropriate message to the right group of people in our society.

Rachna

Expectations:    

1. It would be something new for the students of architecture and they would be more enthusiastic to participate.

2. Substantial awareness and sensitization would take place on their part.

 

Outcomes:

1. Though the students were having substantial knowledge about the field of disability and its aspects, it could be seen that it was a very new experience for them to have a feel of disability and were really exhibiting a high amount of enthusiasm.

2. It leaded them to brainstorm about what was their actual role as future town planners.

3. Sensitization could indeed take place.

Prakash :

Gained knowledge about how to organize a seminar and what are the practical difficulties to deal within our seminar the target group and the time of organizing that was inappropriate due to which we lost our valuable time in our block field work.

Appendix enclosures :

Copy of the poster which was put up at all colleges

        Certificate which was given to all the participants 

Programme schedule:

The programme was scheduled on 24th march 2007. We divided the programme into three modules which was as follows:

PROGRAMME SCHEDULE

Registration &Tea                                                                                      

10.00 to 10.30

Welcome & Introduction To Seminar                                                      

 10.30 to 10.45

Module 1 ( 60 minutes)

 

Introduction To Disability

10.45 to 11.00

Feel of the Disabilities through Activities

11.00 to11.45

A Day in the life of a PWD(Audio visual)

11.45 to 12.00

Module 2 ( 60 minutes)

Disability and Barriers

Is Mumbai Accessible?- By J.J school of Architecture

12.00 to 12.30

Activity on Your Perception on Barriers

12.30 to 1.00

                   

 Lunch break

1.00 to  2.00

Module 3 ( 2hours)

Activity presentation by participants

2.00 to 3.00

Practical Approaches and Solutions - By Ms. Radhika Toshniwal

3.30 to 4.00

The Other side of the story-meeting the world half way-By Mr. N.Arun Swamy

4.00 to 4.30

Certificate distribution by Mr. N.Arun Swamy

4.30 to 4.45

Vote of thanks

4.45 to 4.55

           

 Copy of Feedback Form

Seminar on

Practical Approaches towards Creating A Barrier Free Environment For The Persons With Disabilities

  1. What is your feeling towards a disabled individual now?

  1. Sympathy
  2. Support
  3. Embarrassment
  4. Disgust
  5. Any other

  1. How did you find the discussions?

  1. Excellent
  2. Good
  3. Average

  1. Which modules were detailed and comprehensive?

         

  1. Module 1 : Introduction To Disability
  2. Module 2 : Disability and Barriers
  3. Module 3 : Practical Approaches and Solutions

  1. What according to you was the impact of the interactive activities?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  1. Would you like to comment on the life of John?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  1. What other issues pertaining to the PWDs do you think need to be focused on?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thankyou

 Copy of Handout given to participants as a reference too after the workshop

Dis-Ability To Ability

We are all born to be free; to live life with self- esteem and dignity, even those of us who are ‘abled’ differently.

Disability is not a phenomenon that affects others only, but a phase that we all pass through in the cycle of time.

The meaning of disability includes not only people with physical impairment, but also the temporarily infirm, senior citizen, pregnant women and people carrying children or luggage, etc.

Accessibility is a matter of right for all of us. Our built environment, unfortunately has innumerable barriers disallowing many of us from carrying out even our basic daily routines.

Just as designers world over have been designing the environments for the ‘normal’ adult, similarly the playgrounds are designed for the ‘normal’ child. Unfortunately, the child who is physically handicapped does not see the world in the same way as a normal individual does.

Making provisions for the disabled child would ensure of fuller and more normal base for academic growth and self - appreciation.

The concept of ‘normalization’ points towards designing of pedestrian spaces such that wheel chair users and the visually impaired can use them easily.

For a person using wheel chair or crutches, the impediments are in the form of slippery floors , change or level, steep slopes, steps and stairs, hand space rails, width of doorways and corridors, door swings and accessories, counter height, as well as a range of control panels.

People with visual impairment face further impediments. Their barriers include absence of poor intimation of the path ahead, lack of Braille or tactile signage, inadequate illumination, or unchecked protruding objects in the way.

Persons with hearing impairment are most ignored and face various adverse conditions as they are not visibly distinguishable. Inadequate visual warning signs and audio controls are some popular difficulties they face. Not only home and work places, but also civic, religious and recreational facilities ought to be accessible to all. It is achievable and affordable only if integrated right from the conceptualization and planning stage of any space or building.

Public parks like the Garden of Five Senses in Delhi and shopping streets such as Dilli Haat are made effectively accessible, resulting into are truly democratic and socially interactive civic space. A busy traffic junction at Vastrapur, Ahmedabad is supported by audio signals for the persons with visual impairment.

Barrier free mass transit systems such as The Delhi Metro, ensure mobility to persons with multiple disability, translating into economic and social independence. Lowering the transaction counters in banks or ATMs goes a long way in ensuring that these basic utilities are accessible.

For the world to be accessible to all , it requires the will and commitment on the part of authorities to vigilantly enforce the provision of universal design.

Professionals have to responsibly integrate these as inherent features of architectural designs; Society has to accept and include all its members as equal; and Citizens have to demand for their rights;-

The Right to Dignify

The Right to Freedom of Being.