The National Parents' Society for Persons with Disability (NPSPD) feels it has to make the public aware of its concern in that there is too low a level of awareness regarding accessibility for disabled, elderly, parents with prams and pushchairs and all those who temporarily or permanently have special needs.
The environment continues to hamper and affect the functioning of disabled persons creating social barriers. Lack of accessibility in places such as roads, beaches, public areas, churches etc. is generally the main reason why disabled persons are being precluded from living a life of the same quality as the "non-disabled". Improvements have been done in many areas but, regretfully, five years after their introduction guidelines for public access are still not being implemented to the full.
Generally, non-disabled persons are unaware of these problems unless they happen to have an injury or a relative who is experiencing such difficulties.
Since the year 2000 the National Commission Persons with Disability had published the Access for All Design Guidelines which give the necessary principles, guidelines and specifications to ensure that everybody is able to access and use the internal and external facilities associated with buildings, including the outside environment and the approach to the buildings, entrance to buildings and the internal environment.
The guidelines are not only a legal requirement but also enhance the usage of all developments when these comply with the requirements. Thus, at each site where these are not being implemented disabled persons are being deprived by society of their rights.
Compliance with the guidelines should be seen as an investment for all, since though presently one may have no problems with access, it can be any one's problem tomorrow!
The public should be aware that the Equal Opportunities (Persons with Disability) Act 2000 may be resorted to for corrective action in cases of non-compliance. However, this involves more energy, expenses and difficulties to all concerned than if works are done to the required standards in the first place.
Solidarity should not be solely at charity events. All people who can somehow make a change in providing accessibility for all should implement requirements all year round.
Provision of accessibility has to be at all areas just like a chain. It is useless to provide accessible public gardens when one risks sustaining an injury in crossing a road to reach the garden due to lack of adequate ramps in pavements leading to the area to be accessed. What is the use of having ramps at entrances to churches but then there is not enough space for wheelchair access to reach the altar or other parts of the church?
The Occupational Health and Safety Authority monitors safety at work places but who is monitoring safety at public areas? Development plans for buildings that are intended to be accessible to the public are vetted by the National Commission Persons with Disability but compliance is not being enforced in the case of other important public works such as pavements!
It is worrying that in practice the requirements for access for all, especially with regard to public pavements and streets, are in many cases only partially observed or not observed at all! Many streets have been constructed recently and pavements rebuilt and all look well but, on closer examination, they have accessibility features missing.
To give just an example some of the accessibility requirements for street pavements one can mention:
Kerbstones should be no higher than 150mm above road level; ramps should be level or up to a maximum slope of 1:50; pavements should be free from obstacles and, if unavoidable, the unencumbered width of pavements should be no less than 1,000mm; pavements should contain physical guide features such as contrasting colours or tactile material; dropped kerbs should be provided at all pedestrian crossing points and where level access is required between the pavement and carriageway and at the end of each pavement; drop kerbs should have a slope 1:10 maximum, drop flush with road surface, have a minimum width of 1,200mm, complemented by a dropped kerb on the other side of the road and aligned to each other; resting facilities should be provided at intervals of at least 50m; pedestrian crossings must satisfy the needs of persons using wheelchairs and visually impaired, being well illuminated with well-defined and maintained road markings; pelican lights should have an audible signal; provision of coloured tactile surfaces at pedestrian crossings and tactile paving and the surface of traffic islands forming part of pedestrian crossings in middle of the road should be all level with the carriageway.
The above are just a few of the many items mentioned in the 73-page booklet!
The National Parents' Society for Persons with Disability being interested in the rights of disabled people and their cares are urging the concerned authorities to:
Ensure that all public tenders will have specific clauses in which compliance with the Access for All (Design Guidelines) is ensured in all applicable cases as legally required.
Set up the appropriate mechanisms to ensure implementation of the right specifications through quality assurance or otherwise with immediate effect.
Refer compliance documents to a monitoring entity such as the National Commission Persons with Disability or as may be deemed necessary.
Launch the necessary set-up to ensure remedial action in a short predefined time in cases of non-compliance is taken, otherwise penalties for each day of delay are to be implemented.
Implement a system whereby payments for works are to be effected solely on certification of compliance.
Examine public accessible areas implemented since 2000 for compliance purposes and ensure that programmes for corrective action would be implemented by the entities concerned.
The Access for All (Design Guidelines) booklet may be collected from the National Commission Persons with Disability or downloaded from the website www.knpd.org
The National Parents' Society for Persons with Disability is confident that if the authorities and all the entities involved put Accessibility for All implementation high on their agendas collective efforts would ensure a better quality of life for all.