Chennai student’s struggle to obtain disability certificate exposes gaps in accessibility

Multiple visits to three govt hospitals, calls to disability rights activists, three days’ leave from school, and a race against time — this was the ordeal Saidapet resident G Rajagopalan and his hearing-impaired daughter, 15, endured to get a doctor’s attestation on her disability certificate for the Class X board exams in Feb. When Rajagopalan first approached the state resource-cum-training centre near ESIC Govt Hospital in KK Nagar, he was directed to Stanley, where doctors were unavailable.