Dr. Anjlee Agarwal, a National Award recipient and pioneer in universal accessibility and sustainable mobility, has spent decades working to make India’s public spaces, transport systems and services more inclusive for persons with disabilities.
An assisted wheelchair user living with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy since her teenage years, Agarwal has transformed her own experiences of navigating inaccessible environments into sustained advocacy for universal design and independent mobility. She is a Founder Trustee of Samarthyam Centre for Universal Accessibility and co-founder of the Asia-Pacific Network for Accessibility (APNA).
Samarthyam, which has worked for 36 years on accessibility and disability inclusion, recently developed a new Sensitisation and Training Handbook: Further Advancing the Accessibility of India’s Aviation Services, launched in New Delhi on November 4, 2026. Developed under the aegis of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), in collaboration with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the handbook addresses the needs of people with all 21 specified disabilities and seeks to improve assistance, safety and accessible communication throughout air travel.
A Life Shaped By Barriers
Agarwal’s advocacy is deeply connected to her lived experience. As muscular dystrophy progressively affected her mobility, everyday activities such as navigating buildings and travelling became increasingly difficult. Rather than viewing disability only through the lens of individual limitation, she began questioning why public environments were designed without considering the needs of people with different abilities.
Her professional journey eventually moved towards accessibility, urban design and mobility, where she began working with government agencies, planners, architects and transport authorities to identify and remove barriers. Her work has helped bring the principle of universal design — creating environments that can be used by as many people as possible without requiring special adaptation — into wider discussions around India’s infrastructure and public transport.
A 2026 interview with The Navhind Times highlighted her continuing focus on making accessibility part of mainstream urban planning rather than treating it as an afterthought.
From Advocacy To Policy
Through Samarthyam, Agarwal’s work has expanded from individual experiences to systemic change. The organisation conducts accessibility audits, works on inclusive mobility and engages with government and other institutions on disability rights and universal design.
Samarthyam’s current work covers built-environment and digital accessibility, while its advocacy has extended to public transport and other essential services. Agarwal has also been associated with the development of India’s accessibility standards, including the Harmonised Guidelines and Space Standards for Persons with Disabilities and Elderly, and has served on policy platforms concerned with accessibility and mobility.
Her advocacy during the COVID-19 lockdown also highlighted how restrictions could unintentionally exclude persons with disabilities and their caregivers; her interventions contributed to government directions allowing caregivers to travel to support persons with disabilities.
Making Air Travel Inclusive
The latest chapter in this work is the aviation handbook launched on November 4 at the India International Centre in New Delhi. The guide was developed by Samarthyam under the aegis of DEPwD, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, in collaboration with the Ministry of Civil Aviation. It provides practical guidance to airline personnel, airport operators, security staff and other stakeholders on passenger assistance, safety protocols, accessible communication and barriers faced throughout the air-travel journey.
It covers the requirements of people with all 21 specified disabilities recognised under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. At the launch, DEPwD Additional Secretary Manmeet Kaur Nanda stressed that a handbook alone cannot guarantee dignity unless frontline personnel understand and implement its provisions. She called for regular training, accessibility performance indicators and time-bound grievance redressal. S. Govindraj, Commissioner in the Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, called for priority assistance to continue during deplaning, while IndiGo’s Prateek Sen stressed that accessible infrastructure must be accompanied by properly trained personnel.
Agarwal, who delivered the welcome address, highlighted the role of civil society in converting advocacy into institutional action through awareness, capacity building and sustained engagement.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
Accessibility is ultimately about much more than ramps, lifts or designated spaces. It is about whether a person can travel, study, work, enter a public building or board an aircraft with independence and dignity.
Dr. Agarwal’s journey demonstrates how lived experience can expose gaps that conventional planning may overlook — and how sustained advocacy can turn those experiences into policy conversations and institutional change.
The government’s latest aviation initiative is encouraging, but its success will depend on what happens beyond the handbook: whether staff are trained, complaints are addressed, infrastructure works in practice and persons with disabilities are meaningfully involved in evaluating the systems designed for them. As Manmeet Kaur Nanda noted, rules alone cannot guarantee dignity; implementation matters. What more can India do to ensure accessibility is built into everyday life from the beginning, rather than added only after people face barriers?
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