Barrier-free environments




	[ Problem Addressed \| ESCAP’s Contribution \| Beneficiaries \| Physical Achievements \| National Developments \| Follow-up Action ] Problem Addressed For many city-dwellers, today's modern cities and towns may be convenient and fascinating places for working and living, offering a great variety of opportunities and experiences. But for disabled persons, such built environments are full of uncertainties, anxieties and dangers. Disabled persons encounter many obstacles that prevent them from moving about freely and safely. For wheelchair users, steps and stairways are obstacles. Blind people are endangered by the absence of directional and safety features that they can hear and touch. Many disabled persons live in poverty and need education and training, but these are often located in places where access is difficult for them. In addition, most community centres, parks and places of worship have not been designed to welcome users with disabilities. Public transport systems, too, are not user-friendly to persons with disabilities. Fortunately, awareness is growing that society is also penalized when disabled persons are prevented by an unfriendly environment from realizing their full potential. Societies incur hidden costs when their members, including those with disabilities, suffer from stress, fatigue and accidents. This awareness has recently taken hold among developing countries in Asia and the Pacific. ESCAP, with support from the Government of Japan, began activities in 1994 to promote barrier-free environments in the developing countries of the region. The activities have brought advantages to many groups -- children, older persons and pregnant women -- not only those with disabilities. People carrying heavy loads, travellers with luggage, and those who feel weak or ill also benefit. ESCAP's commitment to improving the lives of disabled persons was boosted with the launching of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002. Thus arose a campaign to remove physical obstacles in the environment. The Decade's goal is the full participation and equality of disabled persons in all aspects of mainstream community life. Irregular Pavement (dangerous). Bangkok, Thailand Top ESCAP’s Contribution ESCAP took up the challenge by issuing guidelines for use by architects, urban planners and engineers to encourage the creation of barrier-free physical environments in the region's developing cities. It supported moves to apply the guidelines in pilot projects in Bangkok, Beijing and New Delhi. Thanks to that support, the three cities have now become demonstration sites in the developing world for the promotion of barrier-free environments for persons with disabilities and for older persons. ESCAP helped to identify pilot project sites, advised on planning and implementation and conducted workshops for technical personnel and user groups. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) contributed the services of an expert to assist in the technical design aspects of project implementation. The expert worked at ESCAP for over two years. Beijing and New Delhi also received seed money to initiate their projects. The seed money stimulated the raising of local funding and other resources that far exceeded the seed amount. And, to emphasize the principle of participation under the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, ESCAP actively encouraged the involvement of disabled persons in the projects. Top Beneficiaries Two main groups benefited from the pilot projects: the participating disabled persons and older persons on the one hand; and the technical staff responsible for design and maintenance of the built environment on the other. Indeed, all community groups promoting standards of safety, public convenience and accessibility can draw inspiration from these projects to introduce barrier-free design. Another beneficiary of access feature in a Bangkok street Top Physical Achievements There were many physical improvements at the project sites: kerb ramps for wheelchair users were installed. Tactile Braille pathways and Braille markings on bus stops were provided for blind and visually- impaired persons. Clear signs and symbols were put in place to assist disabled persons' use of facilities such as banks, post offices, schools, shopping centres, and leisure and cultural centres. Other improvements included the installation of hand rails and accessible toilets. Braille sign at bus stop. Beijing, China In association with the pilot projects, similar innovations have also been introduced outside the project sites. Top National Developments China, India and Thailand have since produced their own technical guidelines, derived from the ESCAP guidelines, other reference materials and from their own pilot project experiences. Those experiences have also led to the development and strengthening of access-related legislation in the three countries. Barrier-free environment. Beijing China Top Capacity-building and Collaboration Bringing together technical personnel, policy makers for infrastructure development, agencies concerned with disability and disabled persons themselves in the pilot project workshops, opens a new chapter in multisectoral collaboration. It marks an important shift away from a charity approach towards disabled persons, in favour of one that emphasizes their equal opportunity and participation in mainstream society. For the technical personnel involved in the pilot projects -- the architects, the engineers and the urban planners -- it was the first time that most of them had direct, working experience with disabled persons. Both groups were able to gain a deeper mutual understanding of how they could work together as equal partners to remove barriers in society, including the undefined social barriers which have all too often excluded persons with disabilities. On the physical side, in special workshop exercises with disabled persons as resource persons, the technical personnel gained a first-hand appreciation of the obstacles that disabled persons have to cope with in their everyday lives. Their insights laid a solid foundation for positive change towards making built environments barrier-free. Each of the three countries (China, India and Thailand) set up working committees for the promotion of non-handicapping environments. Their members and supporters were selected from diverse backgrounds with, of course, disabled persons participating as active partners. Confidence through equal opportunity in India All three pilot projects have spurred technical cooperation with other developing countries in the region. Site visits and exchange of experiences were encouraged during the final workshops in Beijing and in New Delhi. Participating were concerned persons, many of them disabled, from Bumthang (Bhutan), Colombo, Dhaka, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Penang (Malaysia), Pattaya (Thailand), and Yogyakarta (Indonesia). Exchange visits also took place among pilot project team members from Bangkok, Beijing and New Delhi. In both China and India, technical personnel and disabled persons from other cities in the respective countries joined in the technical workshops. Through the pilot projects, a promising start has been made towards motivating planners and construction engineers to create physical environments which are more friendly to disadvantaged groups and senior citizens. In the process, ESCAP has promoted barrier-free design, or universal access design, for safety and convenience to benefit everyone. Policy makers have come on board by recognizing the importance of including barrier-free design in their technical training programmes. Top Follow-up Action ESCAP's follow-up action on barrier-free design includes the following: Produce a video programme on barrier-free environments, using pilot project documentation; Support the exchange of information and experiences through networking, including information for the training of technical personnel and disabled persons; Develop a guide for training disabled persons as trainers for the promotion of barrier-free environments; Explore the possibilities of supporting pilot projects in other cities of the region; and Mobilize funding for training multidisciplinary teams of access trainers, including persons with disabilities, architects, urban planners, transport engineers, and rehabilitation professionals. Blind telephone operators in New Delhi, India To learn more about this project and other ESCAP activities, please visit the ESCAP homepage for the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, at: http://www.unescap.org/decade