Kavita
Murugkar has developed a curriculum for budding architects to design and create
a more differently-abled friendly country.
In the lieu of
the Accessible India campaign, professor Kavita Murugkar of Dr Bhanuben
Nanavati College Of Architecture (BNCA), has developed a curriculum for budding
architects to design and create a more differently-abled friendly country.
Speaking with Hindustan Times, Murugkar explains the nuances of accessibility,
especially in educational institutes.
What is the
current scenario of facilities for persons with disabilities (PWDs),especially
in educational institutes?
Persons with
disabilities have, right from their early age, been isolated from the
mainstream. It starts from schooling. There are special schools, but I cannot
think of a single example which may be called a truly inclusive or integrated
school. Schools are not equipped, not accessible and teachers are not trained
appropriately for addressing needs of students with different needs or learning
disabilities either. The scenario of higher education is even worse, with
inaccessible infrastructure, even in the best and reputed institutes in the
city. These students face barriers and discrimination every single day, thus
limiting them from equal participation, choices and opportunities for making a
good future for themselves. They have all the potential and talent, but the
environmental and attitudinal barriers are their biggest setback. Institutes
are not empathetic and careless to their needs in spite of the law that
mandates barrier-free facilities in all institutes.
What are the
basic facilities these places should have?
An inclusive
educational institute should firstly have a well-formulated policy for
imparting inclusive education. Secondly, it should include provisions like an
accessible website, accessible parking bays, ramps, rails, lifts, adaption
of toilets for wheelchair users, braille signage and auditory
signals, tactile flooring, crossing curb cuts and a well designed pavement
for the easy access of wheelchair users, accessible library and classrooms,
accessible multi-sensory teaching and learning aids, etc. Above provisions
provided wither partially or with faulty design would be an inaccessible or
disabling environment for students.
What is the
expenditure involved?
Expenditure on
the same would differ based on the size and existing scenario, and cannot be
generalised. However, accessibility measures when planned at design stage would
result in one per cent to 1.2 per cent of constructional cost. Even for
retrofitting, the expense would be negligible in lieu of the independence and
opportunities it would create for hundreds of students and teachers with
disabilities. There are grants available from UGC to make educational premises
accessible for persons with disabilites.
What is
inclusive architecture?
Inclusive
architecture is a paradigm shift from the conventional design approach which
generally satisfies the need of only the able-bodied, leaving behind many
sections of the society such as PWDs, elderly, pregnant women, temporary
impaired, children etc. Inclusive architecture addresses and incorporates needs
of all and refers to broad-spectrum ideas - called universal design, meant
to produce buildings, products and environments that are inherently accessible
to older people, PWDs, and people with disabilities. Students are poorly
sensitised and largely unaware of the technical know-how as the curriculum does
not incorporate this parameter in depth and detail.
What are the
highlights of BNCA's universal design research and training centre?
The centre is focused
towards integrating ‘socially inclusive design education’ and practise that to
address the needs of all sections of society ranging from children to elderly,
able-bodied to the people with disabilities, literate to illiterate, the
economically affluent to the economically weak people. As key highlights, we
have organised state and national-level seminars and workshops on universal
design to build awareness and competency in the professional and student
community, conducted access audits for important public buildings and public
spaces in Pune, and are conducting research and guiding B Arch students to
create inclusive architectural designs. Also, we are associated with PMC to
make Pune more accessible.
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