Gita Balakrishnan, an architect by profession, is passionate about building a more inclusive space for all, particularly for persons with disabilities. She thinks that the world is not structured in a way that fosters easy movement of people with disabilities.
Gita decided to walk alone from Chennai to Bengaluru as a part of her awareness campaign of making design more inclusive. Gita began the journey on foot on January 7, and will end the walk on January 28 at Spastics Society of Karnataka, Indiranagar — the place where she began.
Speaking to DH, she said that it is not the people who are differently-abled, but the society which has disabled itself from creating a free space for the movement of everybody.
“There is a need for including everybody while designing a city or a mere building. The requirement of people might be different, but the idea is to come up with context-specific solutions to foster safe movements in a given space,” she said, adding that from solid waste management systems to the width of a door, everything matters in making spaces inclusive.
She added, “It can be as simple as having ramps beside stairways, and keeping the width of doors wide enough for a wheelchair to go through. Universal design should largely look at breaking the barriers of age, class, and gender while enabling effortless movement of everybody.”
However, she added that it is important to understand the context, since what might come across as a requirement in a rural setup might not be as much of important in an urban space.
She also said that she has been working towards designing a curriculum for architectural and non-architectural students to understand the need for inclusive spaces.
Published 26 January 2024, 22:17 IST