Bengaluru: No city for the disabled Premium

A reputed eye hospital in Bengaluru has no ramps for patients to walk down after a surgery, a glaring gap repeated across the city. Wheelchairs cannot navigate most of the city’s dilapidated footpaths. The hearing impaired has no way to learn anything about anything as signage, even if rarely present, is hardly informative.

A reputed eye hospital in Bengaluru has no ramps for patients to walk down after a surgery, a glaring gap repeated across the city. Wheelchairs cannot navigate most of the city’s dilapidated footpaths. The hearing impaired has no way to learn anything about anything as signage, even if rarely present, is hardly informative.

To top it all, the government slashes funds for the differently-abled by a whopping 80%, though Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced its partial restoration in supplementary estimates later.

How did the city become so uncaring, wonders thousands of visually, physically and hearing-challenged Bengalureans as they struggle to get around. The allocation of a meagre ₹53 crore to address the disability needs of the entire State fell dramatically to ₹10 crore in 2024-25, crippling multiple programmes. The 2011 census identified 2.74 lakh citizens as people with disabilities in Bengaluru urban district and 13.24 lakh State-wide. But that was 13 years ago.

Mobility in the city’s public spaces is a cruel joke, particularly for the visually challenged. But Kiran Prithvik, a computer trainer at the Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, had dared to be independent. A daily bus traveller, Kiran flags multiple concerns: “There is no announcement system in trains and in some BMTC buses, I have noticed the drivers switching it off. The system is entirely absent in KSRTC buses, where we have to depend on the conductor or fellow passengers.”

One tech solution tried in Mysuru city could be replicated here, says Kiran. “This is an Onboard device introduced by Enable India, which helps the visually impaired board buses. When we press a button on the device, a speaker inside the bus activates alerting the driver that we are waiting to board. It could work well in Bengaluru, where we find it tough to get information on arriving buses and bus numbers,” he explains.

Navigating the city’s notoriously messy footpaths is a Herculean task for even the able-bodied. The visually impaired try bypassing the sidewalks by venturing onto the roads. As Kiran points out, this is an invitation to disaster. “Roads in good condition are dug up to lay cables, but not restored properly. This is a huge problem for us. Vehicles are either parked on footpaths or motorcyclists invade the space, speeding right at us. We are often caught unawares.” 

Token attempts to address their concerns have not really made much difference. Tactile tiles are now a standard feature in Metro platforms. But the visually challenged are rarely seen boarding the trains. As urban architect Sobia Rafiq from Sensing Local notes, they cannot rely on help from others since the trains are fast and the entry-exit process happens within a few seconds.