Disability rights activist ramps up awareness for an inclusive society

On the morning of July 10, a dozen children had gathered near the Besant Nagar beach. Armed with sheets of paper and cartons of colouring material, they sketched their ideas of an inclusive society. This is one among many initiatives by ConnectSpecial, a magazine about the disability sector. Run by Bhavna Botta, who religiously conducts these events at Besant Nagar beach on Sundays, Connectspecial is working on sensitising people towards making of an inclusive society, using innovative formats to send out the message. 

In an email interview with DTNext , Bhavna, who was born with Athetoid Cerebral Palsy, wrote, “Apart from art, we use chiro dance, crosswords as well as #selfieonrampchallenge to create awareness. The vision behind the campaign is to gather momentum in the society towards inclusion. We believe the campaign for inclusion should not be restricted to people with disability or the activists. Each citizen of the country can contribute, which would go a long way in building an inclusive society. Positive change is possible only when there is a right perspective. We are trying to draw people’s attention and engage them on issues and challenges on inclusion and disability. The process would also involve efforts to educate people about disability.”

Bhavna is happy with the response which #selfieonrampchallenge has elicited. “The idea is simple – we wanted everyone to be a part of this inclusive movement by locating a ramp and clicking a selfie (or a picture) on the ramp in a public area and post it on social media with #selifeonrampchallenge. This is the first step for many to participate. We had such a good response that we extended this to another fortnight. The move towards an inclusive society can only be through a people’s movement,” noted this entrepreneur. 

Sunday’s seaside soul searching for solutions towards an inclusive society was a moment of truth for this young activist. “The art solution for inclusion on Sunday morning reiterated my belief that the society is open for inclusion. We had some amazing solutions offered by the young children. In the long run, we hope that more people are a part of this movement towards an inclusive society, especially with regard to attitudes. This would lead to changes at policy, government, administration and help push the inclusion agenda on a higher implementation priority,” she concluded.