PANJIM: Engineers from various government departments underwent training workshop conducted by the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities and the Design Bridge Diversity and Inclusion Foundation, Pune, to introduce engineers to Universal Design and to sensitise them in the area of accessibility so that all of the projects they work on would be handled with empathy for persons with disabilities.
The two-day training was conducted with the assistance of Principal Trainers Dr Kavita Murugkar, Access Auditor empanelled with the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, Abhijit Murugkar, Design Bridge Diversity and Inclusion Foundation and Architect Arundati Gupta.
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“The main goal of the workshop was to sensitise and train the field engineers in the area of accessibility so that all of the projects they worked on would be handled with empathy for persons with disabilities. Once attitudinal barriers are removed, inclusion and accessibility can be readily realised in all areas of public infrastructures”, said Guruprasad Pawaskar, State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities.
The topics such as Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, harmonised guidelines for built-in structures, the National Building Code and the significance of Universal Design were covered during the workshop. In addition, various simulation activities were held for the non-disabled participants to mirror the experience of navigating life with disabilities.
On the second day, Vishant Nagvekar, a person with physical disability; Patrick D’Souza, a person with physical disability and Mahadev Sawant, a person with low vision representing the disability community, addressed the challenges that people with disabilities encounter while accessing public infrastructures. The participants also conducted an access audit of Rajya Kar Bhavan at Altinho.
