Svayam Stirs up a Conversation on Accessibility with #YahanSeWahanTak

In its quest to stir up a meaningful conversation on accessibility, Svayam, the leading accessibility organisation, Founded by Ms. Sminu Jindal launches #YahanSeWahanTak. A movement, to create an India where all Indians have uninterrupted access to mobility.

Ms. Sminu Jindal

Ms. Jindal believes that the new India that is being designed by people has to be inclusive of all Indians. We cannot leave behind children with injury, elderly, pregnant women and people with disability. All of us face issues of accessibility once or multiple times in our lives. Therefore, #YahanSeWahanTak drives the conversation, where all of us have uninterrupted mobility to reach our fullest potential. Ms. Jindal, comments, “Equal opportunity can only exist with uninterrupted mobility. We have to lift all Indians and give them access to equal opportunity.”

#YahanSeWahanTak recognises all Indians are inevitably a part of a growing economy. All of us contribute to this growth story by our everyday activity such as sports, education, tourism and employment. Therefore, it is an absolute urgency that people are not carved out due to reduced mobility.

This movement is a call to action to the Indian conscience as it is not just the government’s responsibility but also that of its citizens to ensure that the nation offers equal opportunities to all and not to only those who can reach a certain point due to lack of right infrastructure.

According to the World Bank, 1 out of 12 households in India has a disabled person, and a report released by the United Nations Population Fund and HelpAge India suggests that the number of elderly persons is expected to grow to 173 million by 2026. All household in India have pregnant mothers, elderly and children with injuries and therefore accessibility is an issue that affects all of us in our everyday lives.

Even after three years of the announcement of the ‘Accessible India’ movement, the roads, buildings, trains, buses and stadiums are not accessible to all. Through this movement, Ms. Jindal wishes to make India sensitive towards inclusiveness and create a revolution that drives its citizens to ask for accessibility as a right. She comments “We all should be able to reach #YahanSeWahanTak to celebrate our lives and lives of people around us."

About Svayam

Dignity for the people with reduced mobility Svayam, is a leading accessibility organisation founded by Ms. Sminu Jindal in the year 2000. Ms. Jindal is one of the few women leading the cause of accessibility across the world. The organisation started an essential and much-needed conversation around accessibility at a time when little attention or means were given to individuals with reduced mobility.

Svayam’s motto, ‘Dignity for people with reduced mobility’ encapsulates its mission, that everyone, ranging from elderly, children, pregnant women, women with babies, people with physical injuries, and persons with disabilities are entitled to use the public infrastructure in the same manner, as everybody else.