By Sarah Hannan
Although Sri Lanka passed its Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act in 1996, 24 years later we still don’t see any progress in making public spaces and institutions accessible to persons with disabilities (PwDs).
Increasing disability access is important in increasing employability of PwDs in an effective manner, thereby garnering their contribution to the national economy.
According to data from the Department of Census and Statistics, 70.93% of PwDs are not economically active. Out of the persons who are not economically active, 47.96% are too old to work and 36.92% are engaged in household work, while the rest is a composite of students, children not attending school, income recipients, pensioners, social workers, and others.
In accordance with the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act No. 28 of 1996, all existing public buildings, public places, and areas wherever common services are available, shall be made accessible to persons with disabilities in compliance with the Disabled Persons (Accessibility) Regulations No. 1 of 2006 published in the Government Gazettes Extraordinary No. 1467/15 on 17 October 2006 and No. 1619/24 on 18 September 2009.
The Sunday Morning learnt that these Gazettes were being amended to suit present times, and measures were being taken to create awareness on the urgent need to provide accessibility to PwDs at the institutional level.
The Sunday Morning contacted the National Secretariat for Persons with Disabilities (NSPD) to gauge the progress made following the issuance of these Gazettes.
Responding to our query, NSPD Assistant Director Ishanka Herath said that issues prevail with many of the buildings that were constructed prior to 2009, and that most of the new buildings are compliant to the regulations listed under the Gazettes.
“When we consider the designs of the old state institution buildings, none of them were constructed with a disabled person in mind. Therefore, if they are to make any changes to the structure, they would have to incur a considerable cost, and the approval process for such changes would also take a considerable amount of time,” Herath explained.
However, since 2009, their Secretariat saw some progress, especially in buildings constructed under the purview of the Urban Development Authority (UDA), as these had strictly adhered to the guidelines stipulated.
Further amendments
She also noted that the previous Gazettes did not permit the Secretariat to impose penalties against those who did not adhere to the regulations. Therefore, they are discussing the inclusion of some amendments to the regulatory act in that regard.
“We are hopeful that with the ongoing discussions with the UDA, National Transport Commission, Sri Lanka Railways, Road Development Authority (RDA), Ministry of Transport, and other relevant stakeholders, an all-inclusive regulatory act can be drafted in the next two months,” Herath added.
In the meantime, the NSPD also proposed to the public transportation authorities and institutions to pay attention to the standards that should be followed when designing public spaces, especially when bringing down transport coaches that could be purpose built to enable PwDs to move freely with minimum assistance.
At the moment, one such project that can be used as a benchmark is the Makumbura Multimodal Transport Hub in Kottawa, which has been built with the consideration of providing convenient access to PwDs.
“However, we still have a small issue with the buses and railcars that are in use, as these are still not wheelchair-friendly. The Government has been advised on replacing such passenger coaches in the future, or at least having a ramp facility installed on public transport until such time.”
Herath said that the biggest obstacle in public transport is with railcars and train stations, as much of the railway infrastructure is outdated, and replacing it would require a massive budget and a considerable amount of time. The Secretariat is looking forward to working closely with Sri Lanka Railways and the Ministry of Transport on how the spaces could be converted to provide suitable access to PwDs.
Ensuring barrier-free access
In a paper published under the title “Disability Access in Public Buildings” for the International Research Conference on Sustainability in Built Environment, the authors W.A.D. Keerthirathna, Gayani Karunasena, and V.A.K. Rodrigo of the Department of Building Economics of the University of Moratuwa, noted that increasing disability access is important to “acquire their contribution to the national economy through employing them in an effective manner”.
During their research, they discovered existing facilities with disability access; hospital buildings were found to have provided sufficient facilities at entrances, doors and openings, staircases, and lifts; banks provide fewer facilities for disability access – ramps are provided in only 40% of bank buildings and 20% of ramps only provide handrails according to requirements.
In addition, while 90% of bank buildings are equipped with lifts, only 20% of buildings have lifts with the required space for disability access. Ramps are rarely seen within office and administration buildings (only 20%). In addition, certain buildings have toilet facilities that do not have grab rails installed, while only 20% of buildings provide toilets with doors that open outwards.
At the design stage of school buildings, less consideration is given to disability access. “Sixty percent of school buildings have thresholds of more than 15 mm in height at the entrance, hence it is difficult to enter on wheelchairs. No school building could be found with lift facilities. There were no ramps either. Railway and bus stations do not provide satisfactory facilities for disability access. Railway stations do not have enough space at entrance doors for wheelchair access. Seventy percent of buildings use more than 15 mm-high thresholds for the doors and openings. There are no ramps at the entrances for wheelchair access, and toilet facilities that were provided were of very poor quality,” the report read.
It is necessary to be concerned about a barrier-free environment. According to the Ministry of Social Services, there are four major groups of PwDs:
- Persons with impaired hearing
- Persons with intellectual impairment
- Persons with impaired vision
- Persons with physical disabilities
- Unexpected vertical changes of levels (curbs, steps, ruts, gutters, etc.) prevent continuous accessible paths of travel
- Excessive slopes (camber) across the direction of travel on a footpath, which makes control of the wheelchair difficult
- Inadequate provision of space at doorways and within rooms to allow for wheelchair dimensions and turning circles
- Not paying specific attention to steps and handrail design to ensure adequate support and a feeling of confidence and ease when negotiating steps
- Seating does not consist of waiting areas at counters and along lengthy walkways to reduce tiredness
- Access vulnerability associated with doors, including the need to manipulate a handle while using a walking aid and difficulty in moving quickly through swinging doors
- Visual signs are not very clear and accurate. A flashing light unaccompanied by a message can be confusing (e.g. a flashing fire exit sign would be preferable to a flashing red light; it gets the message across much faster)
- Lack of loud speakers with supplementary messages for public premises (e.g. railway stations, bus stations, and airports with visual messages)
- Edges of walls, furniture, and other items are not rounded to prevent physical injury if people walk into it
- Unguarded projections at heights such that someone who cannot see them would be in danger of walking into them
- Obstructions such as cupboards, etc. along corridors or hallways