Make A Room For Wheelchairs

Children and adults in wheelchairs in Jammu and Kashmir face blocked roads, schools, and workplaces every day. Inclusion means removing barriers and creating real access for all.

- Mohammad Hanief

December 3, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, asks all of us, especially here in Kashmir, to think about how we include everyone in daily life.

Every day, a child in a wheelchair struggles to reach school, a young adult cannot get to work because streets and buses are not accessible, and families carry their loved ones through mesh and mess.

These are the realities that show how much work remains. Progress cannot be measured while wheelchairs get stuck at doorsteps and people are left out of the places where life happens.

The annual observance invites everyone to see inclusion as a transformation in how we value human diversity. It asks institutions to create systems that allow every person to participate fully.

A disability-inclusive society sees accessibility as a core part of development.

The 2025 theme stresses that inclusion needs to be woven into planning for education, employment, healthcare, transport, public services, and civic life. Rights should guide this effort.

But despite the sanguine statement, persons with disabilities continue to face deep structural barriers.

There are schools without assistive tools, clinics without trained staff, workplaces without basic accommodations, and transport systems that make movement difficult.

Many people are pushed into poverty and isolation because systems fail to understand their needs. The barriers are often social and attitudinal.

When a school has no ramp or a workplace cannot make a small adjustment, it shows that people with disabilities are still overlooked.

This global concern becomes even more telling in Jammu and Kashmir.