22 Apr 2007
The story repeats Again!!
My experience at the RTO (Regional Transport Authority, Bangalore South, India) on 21st Apr 2007.
I am facing a lot of hurdles to get my permanent 4-wheel driving license. My present 4-wheeler Learner License is valid for 6 month and is getting expired early next month. Like everybody else I need to get my permanent driving license.
When I went for the driving test, the driving inspector asked me to walk up to him, as I did that, the first thing he told me was “You are not even able to walk and you are using crutches on both hands. I don’t know how and who gave you permission to get the learner license in the first place.”
He was not willing to hear one-word from me or was willing to see my file which contained the valid 4-wheeler learner’s driving license, medical certificate issued by the District Medical board (signed by 3 Head of Department from the Govt. hospital) certifying that I am fit to drive the car or my 10 year-old valid 2-wheeler (modified) permanent driving license.
The next thing he noticed was “How can you have ‘Invalid Carriage’ written on my learner’s license?” He told me that “invalid carriage” refers to only scooters with 2-additional wheels on the side – and that was the vehicle meant for persons like me. He did not have the patience to hear from me that my car has been modified with hand-controls for brake and accelerator and that my car has been fitted with an automatic gear transmission. All of which enables a person to drive only with his/her hands. He did not want to hear from me that the previous owner of my car had been driving using his hands for the past 19 years. It is the RTO that had written “Invalid Carriage” on my license. “Invalid Carriage” what is this supposed to convey and for whom?? Anyhow that is a different issue.
The inspector did not want to notice me driving the car independently. He just screamed at me and asked me to get my license from who ever gave me learner’s license in the first place. Had I stood there to argue may be he would have torn my existing license or “would have made some making in Red ink invalidating my license forever”
Even if I drive up to the Himalayas and return safely I doubt if the inspector will issue me the license. The inspector’s duty was to test my driving and not my walking. (Does it only happen only in India?)
I drove my car and searched in vain to find the previous inspector; I have to go to the Regional Transport Authority (RTO) again. What if I do not meet the “kind hearted” inspector?
Earlier in the morning, before the driving test, when I was at the RTO many of the desk officers and people around was sympathetic seeing me on a wheelchair. They were asking me “How much percentage do you have?” (‘Percentage’ meaning percentage of disability), “If you have more than 60% you will not get your license”, “Why did you trouble yourself by coming to the office?” I informed them that the nearest parking space is so far away; one has to wait endlessly to get the lift to reach the 3rd floor, there is no proper access to the toilet. And finally one has to wait and watch to catch one of the issuing authorities in a “good” mood. Who knows – he/ she might flare up on “me” for the “guts” I have to apply for a license.
This my friends, is another live example of how the system/ authority “scares the persons with disability” makes the person “disabled, dependent and feel grateful for doing their job”
When I faced similar hurdles 6-months ago while getting my 4-wheeler Learner’s Licence, I had written to friends, newspapers and to the Commissioner of Transport and the Commissioner Transport has sent me a reply that a ‘special window’ would be open in all 49 RTOs in my state to assist persons with disabilities. Nothing seems to have happened after that.
This experience in interacting with the ‘mainstream’ is not unique, but the same for every ‘person with disability’ and their family. Is there anyone who would like to challenge this statement?
Yes, I will once again use the ‘Persons with Disability (Equal Opportunities, Non-Discrimination and Protection of Rights) Act?’ and I feel stronger with the ‘UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ – as I have all the required documents I want to get my license at one go – within one-afternoon – like the majority.
Mahesh