World Disabled Day 2 December, 2009 - While fancy bigger structures keep coming up in Thimphu — some with elevators — they don’t make access for people with disabilities any easier and this is because there are always some steps to get to the elevators.
The disabled community will celebrate “World Disabled Day” on December 3. The organisers were looking for a fitting venue with easy access, after enquiring with most of the bigger hotels and resorts, only hotel Taj Tashi was identified as a suitable venue in terms of accessibility for the event.
“Our sponsors asked us why we chose a high-end hotel, and we had to tell them it was the only choice we had,” said physiotherapist Sanga Dorji, who is visually impaired.
Disabled people and visitors with disabilities have always said that accessibility is the most pressing problem in Bhutan for people with disabilities.
A Japanese tourist, who uses a wheelchair and visited Bhutan in September of this year, expressed how unfriendly Thimphu city is to the disabled.
The disabled community plans to advocate this message and many others on World Disabled Day, to which politicians, bureaucrats, development planners, decision makers, representatives from international organisation and the business community have been invited.
Accessibility is not a problem only for people with physical disability, it also applies to the older generation and mothers with children in prams.
Presently, there is not a single government entity that looks at the rights of the disabled community, although there are several government initiatives to bring them into the mainstream.
“The disabled community doesn’t expect the city to be flat, it just wants public buildings, such as banks, post office and places where utility bills are paid, and cinema halls, to be accessible so that one doesn’t need an assistant all the time,” said a physical disabled person.
By Chencho Tshering
