There seems to be a conspiracy of sorts to keep persons with disability from flying. Or at least, that is the impression that activists working for the welfare of persons with disability have gained from the way things are going.
A few days back, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the country’s civil aviation regulator, posted on its website a draft policy concerning the use of airlines by persons with disability. Ironically, the draft policy inviting comments from the public was posted on the website, without any prior announcement.
Activists from within and outside the country say there was little or no effort by the DGCA to spread the word about the posting of the draft policy, which may have given persons with disability adequate time to send in their comments on such a vital issue.
Mahesh Chandrasekhar, advocacy co-ordinator of the Bangalore-based CBR Forum, says the policy came to the notice of a fellow activist on a casual browsing of the net. “No one knows when exactly this was posted on the net, except that the draft itself was made on July 25 last,” he says.  “Since the document was discovered on the net exactly on the last day for public comments (August 15), only a few of us had time to send our responses to the policy document.”
The draft policy intends to “protect and promote rights of persons with disability”.  But the activists fear that the policy in its present form would only pose a greater obstacle to persons with disability in their quest to fly.
“The document has completely failed to guarantee rights accorded to persons with disability under the (Indian) Persons With Disabilities (PWD) Act of 1995. It uses objectionable language in its definition of persons with disability and, in its present form, would only empower the airlines to disallow passengers on wheelchairs and with hearing and visual disabilities,” Mahesh explains.
Subverting objective
For instance, Section 4.3 of the policy says “that a person with severe mobility, hearing and vision impairment should be accompanied by an escort who will be responsible for enplaning and deplaning”.
This clause, according to the activists, would defeat the very purpose of the policy, which is to enable independent travelling of persons with disability. It also goes against the spirit of PWD Act that states “rights of persons with disability to independent travel and make independent choices regarding travel”.
The definition of physically challenged as: "means a passenger with physical or mental disability or incapacitation; or with a medical condition which requires individual attention or assistance”, has particularly annoyed activists, who say the terminology is ambiguous and is not consistent with the PWD Act. They even fear it can be manipulated to disallow persons with disability from flying.
Since air travel involves visit of foreigners to India which may include persons with disability, several foreign based organisations working for rights and advancement of persons with disability have also responded to the draft policy.
Dr Scott Rains, a US-based disability activist, pointed out that the policy is “diametrically opposite to the US R17, The Air Carrier Access Act, which applies to all foreign carriers serving the US”.
“Do you intend to write off all these international markets and take a stand against the international consensus on human rights codified in the UN Convention with these proposed regulations?” Dr Rains asked in his e-mail to R P Sahi, the Joint Director General of DGCA.
Deccan Herald is yet to receive a response for an e-mail  stating all the objections raised by the activists (sent to the Joint Director General on August 16).