IIT-Mumbai gears up to become a disabled-friendly campus

The campus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai is all set to show the way when it comes to accessibility. Over the years, disabled students of this premium institute have faced many hardships accessing the various centres in this vast campus. Their problems are finally being heard.

Some of the problems include lack of public transport to the campus, numerous cattle and stray dogs that block paths, lack of wheelchair ramps and unruly rickshaw drivers who charge a bomb to get inside the campus.

Tony Kurian , a Ph.D student in the Department of Humanity and Social Science, is among those who has raised these issues.

Someone has to take up the issue and bring it to limelight. We are already in talks with the administration, and we are positive that they will reach out to our requirements. I joined the campus in the year 2017. Ever since then, I have noticed that there are many accessibility features that the campus need to introduce. This is the first time that our campus is being alerted about such an issue. So even they need time to look into it. But we are hopeful that it will to happen soon- Tony Kurian, Ph.D Student, IIT Mumbai

Students with disabilities have requested for lifts with audio facilities inside hostels, wheelchair ramps, and a common transport system inside the campus. They will also get a library equipped with assistive devices. Hostels have been made disabled-friendly too.

Shruti Gupta, a final year student in the Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science feels the campus has come a long way but could do more.

“Our college must have an exclusive office of disability affairs to address the issues faced by disabled students. We can collaborate with some other prominent colleges that already have such cells. That way, we will get a better insight to how this works. We can also make our campus more inclusive and healthier by introducing these features,” says Gupta.

The administration has kept a deadline for the year 2019. They have clearly stated that all the accessibility features will be introduced into the campus by then.

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