Recommendations for further action to promote non-handicapping environments for people with disabilities and elderly persons

ESCAP organized the final workshops on the project "Promotion of non-handicapping environments for people with disabilities in the Asia-Pacific region" in Beijing in May 1998 and in New Delhi in June 1998. The Beijing workshop was attended by participants from 16 cities in the region. The New Delhi workshop included representatives of the South Asian Network of Self-help Organizations of People with Disabilities.

Based on the results of the pilot project sites and field visits, both workshops formulated recommendations for further action to promote non-handicapping environments in cities and towns of ESCAP developing countries.

The recommendations adopted by the Beijing Workshop are presented below:

Beijing recommendations

Policy

• Integrate access features into building by-law.
• Set two-year targets (phased over the next four years) to self-monitor progress on start-up of implementation actions for the promotion of non-handicapping environments, especially the incorporation of barrier-free design in new construction.
• Ensure that master plans, development plans and local plans anticipate fully the impact of demographic projections, particularly the need for designs that cater to ageing populations of the Asian and Pacific region, as well as diversity of users, to strengthen the building of caring societies.
• Provide appropriate incentives for the inclusion of access features in buildings, roads and public facilities, including transport systems.

Awareness-raising and capacity-building

• Develop understanding of the:
  (a) Value of accessible environments for all sections of society;
  (b) Principles of universal access design, reinforced by the development of technical expertise.
  
• Develop an active multidisciplinary core group of access trainers composed of the following to undertake the training and awareness-raising required for building a critical mass of commitment and expertise to initiate action: persons with disabilities, architects, planners, engineers and rehabilitation professionals (especially occupational therapists).
• Organize training for the following groups:
  (a) Planners and designers (architects and engineers) on access design, strategies, legislation and standards;
  (b) Officials of local building authorities in charge of planning and building approval;
  (c) Building inspectors to serve as access officers;
  (d) People with disabilities to serve as resource persons on accessibility, as trainers, and to advise planners, designers and access officers.
• Incorporate access issues into the agendas and continuing professional development programmes of:
  (a) Professional bodies of architects, engineers and planners;
  (b) Government statutory bodies (for example, state development corporations, housing boards, and regional development authorities).
• Conduct expert presentations for policy makers, chief executive officers in the public and private sectors, and elected functionaries of local bodies.
• Incorporate access topics into the existing curricula of design courses in schools of architecture, as well as courses on regional and local planning, urban design, landscape architecture, building, civil engineering and interior design.
• Ensure the incorporation, at appropriate levels, of university and college education through the following means:
  (a) In basic design courses, expose students to anthropometric data and ergonomic information on the functional requirements of designing for diverse users, including persons with disabilities and older persons;
  (b) Ensure that, at all course levels, project work by students addresses access issues with increasing levels of complexity;
  (c) Make available information on and practical examples of technical application of access principles, including existing legislation, standards and guidelines;
  (d) Use a full range of teaching and learning-by-doing methods, including lectures, simulation exercises, joint surveys with user groups, analysis of building problems, and design projects;
  (e) Develop group work among students to gather information, especially on local conditions and examples, to build a cumulative resource base for continuous reference;
  (f) Direct student project work to the generation of design ideas with the potential for presentation to local bodies and positive local application.
• Identify areas requiring policy-oriented research and detailed technical investigation to improve access features.
• Mobilize funding support and identify personnel, including user groups, for access research.

Maintaining impetus and enhancing sustainability

• Introduce self-monitoring of progress towards access achievements.
• Reappraise periodically and update legislation and implementation regulations, in consultation with diverse user groups, especially persons with disabilities and older persons.
• Mobilize the support of concerned owners and users to strengthen their sense of ownership of, and responsibility for, the upgraded accessible environments.

Networking

• Activate a network on access initiatives (AI) by establishing a mutual support arrangement with other participants of the Workshop, to keep each other informed of individual progress, problems encountered, as well as new technical information.
• Strengthen the AI network by seeking the means for technical exchange visits and documentation, as well as by introducing new contacts into the network.
• Promote exchange of experiences among groups of persons with disabilities engaged in access promotion, and encourage them to channel feedback on their views concerning technical designs and methods to the AI network.
• Establish a database of examples of good practice, especially on appropriate, low-cost solutions and implementation methods, for comparative analysis and to facilitate potential application in parallel situations.