Accessibility to the built environment in Delhi, India: understanding the experience of disablement through the intersectionality paradigm.

Accessibility of the built environment plays a significant role in the lives of persons with disabilities, as lack of accessibility results in exclusion from mainstream society. This paper aims to highlight the barriers faced by women with locomotor disabilities to access the built environment in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) of India. Building upon the author's M. Phil research, the paper engages with aspects of the lives of study participants that have hindered their access to the built environment. In-depth interviews with 12 women with different locomotor disabilities were conducted and the transcripts were analysed using the intersectionality paradigm. The analysis highlights problems faced by the women while accessing education, employment, healthcare and public transportation. These problems include negative attitudes of society which restrict the women's mobility outside their homes. The findings demonstrate that accessibility of the built environment is determined by a myriad of factors which encompass components elaborated by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) including health condition, personal factors and environmental factors. The paper discusses these findings in light of the Accessible India Campaign, recently introduced by the Government of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]