On 3rd December a rally was organised and co-ordinated by United Way of Baroda’s Disability Forum and marked the beginning of a weeklong celebration for the differently able community. The preparation for the rally was commenced by the volunteers, a week before the celebrations. All the volunteers and staff members of UWB actively participated in preparing and setting up props for the event. All of them took great joy and pleasure in their team-work, and together prepared a number of props such as banners of slogans, props, etc. for distributing to the participants.

The rally, which was flagged off by the days’ Guests of Honourable, Mayor, Dr. Jyoti Pandya, and the Chairman United Way of Baroda - Mr. Amit Goradia and Additional Collector Shri. Vaja, started from Kuber Bhavan, and witnessed an overwhelming participation of approximately 2650 differently able groups from various NGOs’. Volunteers from UWB assisted the many participants who had assembled at the premises for the rally.

The rally was led by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation band which boosted the spirit of the participants, followed by the Guests of Honour, differently abled on tricycles and various organisations for the visually impaired, the mentally challenged, the deaf, patients suffering from leprosy and other NGOs. The enthusiastic slogans and calls made by the participants during the rally surely reflected their determination and dedication towards standing up and voicing their concerns to Barodians. The rally concluded at Vakad Seva Samaj, Sayajigunj, with the distribution of food packets, which the participants as well as the volunteers relished.

Each participant of the rally firmly believed that the differently able people should be treated equally and included in the mainstream development. They strongly voiced their concerns about increasing accessibility for them at public places and protested against discrimination. Together, they say that they choose not to place “Dis” in their “Abilities”.

All the participants signed on the Signature Campaign Board for making Baroda Accessible and barrier free. Sign Campaign Board thus proved to be an effective measure to reach out to a huge mass of thousands of minds and generate the sense of belongingness regarding Accessible Baroda.