environments is often called to weigh in on structural modifications in buildings to render them disabilitycompliant while the ministry of tourism has issued star ratings for accessible hotels and the archeological survey of india has committed to making historical sites accessible much of the change is only on paper moreover a wide range of disabilities demands a wide range of adaptive interventions which are not comprehensively made she points out prof k raghuraman who teaches english at the government arts college in chennai suggests braille maps and city guides to help visually impaired people like himself find their bearings muse ums should have tactile instructions navigational cards or audio guides he adds when i went to a museum in mys ore with my parents they were too ex hausted to explain all the exhibits to me what about guides trained in sign lan guage for the deafmute neenu kewlani who has scoliosis and polio points out that specialised travel is the prerogative of the rich who can afford to travel by air or in their modified vehi cles and stay in pricey barrierfree rooms in 2011 kewlani and three of her wheel chairbound friends arvind prabhoo nishant khade and sunita sancheti set off on a 84day tour of 28 state capitals they experienced firsthand the inadequa cies of the road and pointed these out to state governments and nonprofits when more disabled people are visible on the streets it will encourage others to come out too says kewlani who travelled with a portable shower chair and bedpans as public toilets make no room for wheel chairs however the disabled wont ven ture out until provisions are in place to guarantee their safety and comfort away from home an admittedly daunting task in india where in classic cartbeforehorse logic hotels want to see the numbers be fore they make structural changes change will be slow in coming but it will arrive entrepreneurs like piya bose are confident the founder of girls on the go a travel company exclusively for wom en is planning to set up a travel vertical for the disabled shes beginning with a series of recces to holiday spots starting with goa which entails identifying an accessible beach people need to under stand the business potential of this seg ment she says even countries in east asia and africa are ahead of us in this regard bose wants to eventually custom ize tours for travellers with different kinds of disabilities no doubt the beginning of a long and promising journey