Rising Flame conducted a two-week long campaign #AccessIsAzaadi and #IndiaWantsAccess from 15 August to 31 August 2022.
Despite 2022 being the year of India’s 75th Independence Day, and annual celebrations of independence being bigger than ever, a large section of the country’s population are still not able to independently navigate their day-to-day lives — not just in physical spaces, but also in digital corners.
Despite a fast-burgeoning digital ecosystem, no true revolution in daily lives is possible when the vast majority of applications are simply not accessible to persons with disabilities. Since applications that make the lives of abled folks easier do not stop to think about disabled people who use the internet, partners from cross-disability experiences came together with Rising Flame to highlight everyday inacess in digital life, including but also going beyond social media. These applications included ride-sharing, grocery, telemedicine, and more.
Our Facebook Live with SafeCity titled ‘Digital accessibility and urban living’ highlighted an inaccessible digital (that in turn affects physical) reality faced by millions of disabled people in India, and a Twitter Spaces with Point of View zeroed in on the inter-connectedness of (in)accessibility and the Right to Privacy in everyday life.
Having digital access needs accounted for means experiencing freedom – to live their lives independently – for many disabled persons, and it is a vital need in a society where the digital is fast-growing as a way of life — which is why we collectively said #AccessIsAzaadi and #IndiaWantsAccess. Find a list of resources here and search campaign hashtags on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn for more information.