Annex IX

Report of the Regional Meeting on the Promotion of Non-handicapping Environments for Disabled and Elderly Persons Bangkok, 14 - 18 November 1994

I. ORGANIZATION OF THE MEETING

The Regional Meeting on the Promotion of Non-handicapping Environments for Disabled and Elderly Persons was convened by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), at Bangkok from 14 to 18 November 1994.

Attendance

The Meeting was attended by 62 participants with expertise in the following areas: architecture, accessibility, building research, civil engineering, housing, industrial design, law, local government administration, non-governmental organizations, public awareness promotion, social development and town and country planning. The participants were from national Ministries, government agencies, research institutions and non-governmental organizations, including national institutes of architects in the following: Australia, Bangladesh, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. A team of resource persons from local and prefectural government bodies and national research institutions and universities, and self-help organizations of people with disabilities in the following countries facilitated the deliberations: Finland, India, Ireland, Japan, Republic of Korea and Singapore.

II. OPENING OF THE MEETING

The Acting Executive Secretary of ESCAP delivered an opening statement. She informed the participants of the background of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002: Full Participation and Equality. Information was also provided on the Agenda for Action for the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002, and the recommendations pertaining to the elimination of barriers to freedom of movement of citizens with disabilities.

In her statement, the Acting Executive Secretary drew attention to the large numbers of people with disabilities in the Asian and Pacific region, the majority of whom were poor. Their opportunities for breaking out of poverty, noted the Acting Executive Secretary, were constricted by the physical constraints imposed by their environment. The overall size of the disadvantaged social group was matched by the extent of public ignorance and uncaring attitudes of society. Furthermore, the Acting Executive Secretary pointed to the phenomenal increase in the number of elderly people in the region and the prevalence of disability among that social group.

The Acting Executive Secretary urged the participants to consider macro solutions, as opposed to micro solutions, in undertaking their task to strengthen the draft technical guidelines on the promotion of non-handicapping environments. In that regard, she illustrated the barriers that existed in a wide range of types of buildings, public facilities and transport systems, that impeded the fulfilment of the human potential of people with disabilities throughout much of the region. The Acting Executive Secretary expressed her deep appreciation of the contributions of the Government of Japan to ESCAP endeavours to promote barrier-free built environments in the region.

His Excellency the Governor of Bangkok, Mr. Krisda Arunvongse Na Ayudhya, opened the Meeting. In his keynote statement, he expressed his appreciation of the convening of the Meeting at Bangkok as it provided a welcome opportunity for officials of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to learn more about issues concerning access for people with disabilities and elderly persons to the built environment. He emphasized that efforts were under way to improve access in Bangkok. For example, the BMAs traffic engineers were studying options for the installation in pavement surfaces of guide blocks for blind persons. Audible traffic signals were also being considered.

The Governor, an architect, expressed his hope that he would be able to change the designs of some public buildings, to facilitate access by persons with disabilities and elderly persons. He noted that BMA assistance to both groups had been in the form of goods and services. He lauded the efforts of the Meeting to promote accessible infrastructure and looked forward to using its contributions to improve access for persons with disabilities and elderly persons in the City.

A. Election of officers

The Meeting elected the following Bureau:

Chairperson:
Mr M. Khalid Durrani, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education Division, Islamabad

Vice-Chairperson:
Ms Alma D. Recio, Director, Policy and Planning Development, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, Manila

Vice-Chairperson:
Mr Josefa Davui, Deputy Director, Social Welfare Department, Suva

Rapporteur:
Mr Hiroyuki Uno, Director for Policy Planning, Ministers Secretariat, Ministry of Construction, Tokyo

B. Adoption of the agenda

The Meeting adopted the following agenda:

1. Opening of the Meeting.
2. Election of officers.
3. Adoption of the agenda.
4. Draft guidelines on the promotion of non-handicapping environments in the Asian and Pacific region and formulation of policy recommendations on their implementation.
5. Adoption of the draft guidelines and policy recommendations.
6. Other matters.

III. SUMMARY OF DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS CONCERNING THE FINALIZATION OF THE GUIDELINES ON THE PROMOTION OF BARRIER-FREE BUILT ENVIRONMENTS

To facilitate the discussions of the Meeting, a slide presentation was made on the active participation of people with disabilities and elderly persons in urban and rural community life, as well as the obstacles and hazards that they faced in everyday life. The participants also took part in a simulation exercise on diverse types of disability.

The Meeting considered a set of draft guidelines on the promotion of barrier-free built environments for persons with disabilities and elderly persons in the Asia-Pacific region. The highlights of its discussion on agenda item 4 are contained below.

The Meeting expressed its appreciation of the thoroughness and scope of the draft guidelines. While it was emphasized that the measuremnts contained in the finalized guidelines should not be considered absolute standards for access, the Meeting welcomed the document as a useful reference for facilitating the improvement of access in the ESCAP region.

The promotion of barrier-free environments in the ESCAP region was an issue that was of critical importance in view of the implications that it would have for the participation in society of large numbers and diverse groups of people. Barrier-free built environments would benefit not only people with disabilities, but also the rapidly increasing numbers of elderly persons, as well as children, women and people in less than optimal physical and mental conditions who were not necessarily disabled. Thus the elimination of barriers would mean the shaping of physical environments which were friendly to all groups in society, particularly the disadvantaged groups who did not as yet have a voice in planning and design, and were invisible to architects, urban planners, transport engineers and local authorities.

Planning and building design

The Meeting noted that, although some Governments might have embarked on addressing access issues, the guidelines would nevertheless be valuable for the further strengthening of their efforts.

Various aspects of planning and design were discussed. As the draft guidelines were acceptable, the Meeting entrusted the Secretariat with the task of finalizing it, taking into consideration the written comments submitted by the participants, as it deemed appropriate.

The Meeting considered the need for provision of accessibility in rural areas. It was noted that, in the rural areas, the normal urban-style planning controls and specific recommendations for accessibility contained within the guidelines were less applicable. This might be due to diverse forms of terrain, lower economic levels or difficulties in transportation. The Meeting stressed that the guidelines should draw attention to the particular characteristics of built environments in the ESCAP region, as they affected the living and working arrangements of people with disabilities and elderly persons.

A working group was set up which examined those aspects and considered possibilities of reflecting them in the guidelines.

The Meeting noted that, in terms of the external environment, rural communities in general, and persons with disabilities and elderly persons in particular, were less advantageously placed compared with their urban counterparts. Several basic amenities, such as protected water supply, sanitation, toilets and access to the mass media, which were available to urban households were available to rural inhabitants only as community facilities in several countries of the ESCAP region. The Meeting examined the issue of enhanced accessibility to rural built environment for persons with disabilities and elderly persons in rural communities in this context.

Several delegations drew the attention of the Meeting to a range of problems encountered by persons with disabilities and elderly persons in rural communities; for example,:

1. Rural roads, where they existed in many parts of the ESCAP reion, had no pavements and impeded the smooth movement of wheelchairs;
2. Standpipes had platforms which rendered them difficult to access and operate; in some cases, the standpipes were also located far from villagers homes;
3. Wells in most cases had no parapet walls and water drawing facility, which endangered safety, apart from being unusable;
4. Community toilets were built at a high plinth level that hindered access and use.

While the Meeting considered that the recommendations in the Guidelines were mainly applicable to new construction, there was a strong desire that their scope should be extended to include the introduction of access features into existing building stock. In that regard, a number of possibilities were discussed.

Attention was drawn to the grace period proposed in the draft (Chapter Three, 5.1.[1], pp. 19) for modification of existing buildings. In that regard, it was suggested that the proposed grace period be extended to "a reasonable one, in accordance with local conditions".

Some participants described their experiences of attempts to stimulate and implement access initiatives in the public sector. The view was expressed that Governments should consider taking action to prioritize areas for action and even to identify minimum or basic recommendations that should be made for existing buildings.

Other participants voiced their concern over the appropriateness of suggesting that all buildings which were used by the public should be made accessible. The Meeting discussed whether increased space requirements and cost factors would deter action on access. Participants with experience and technical expertise on those aspects underlined that, given proper management of space during the design process, new buildings which had accessibility features would incur marginal extra cost, as compared to the retrofitting of a building. In cost calculations, stressed the Meeting, the invisible costs incurred through the non-participation of people with disabilities and elderly persons should also be considered.

The Meeting requested that the case of slum areas, where the density of housing was high and basic amenities were absent, should be considered as a separate case from planned urban or rural settlement. Problems associated with slum areas included insanitary conditions, very high density and congestion of public spaces, proneness to fire and flooding, as well as vulnerability to health hazards, poverty and crime. Those problems made living conditions intolerable for people with disabilities and elderly persons. Thus, the issue of accessibility should be addressed on a priority basis. One way to do so would be to integrate accessibility concerns into slum improvement/rehabilitation/relocation programmes.

Chapter One of the draft Guidelines was accepted as a starting point for those countries where no codes on accessibility existed and as a reinforcement of existing legislation where those were already in force.

Public awareness initiatives

The Meeting agreed o the central role of continuous public awareness campaigns in the promotion of barrier-free environments.

Recognizing the rights of all citizens to participate fully in society, the Meeting stressed the need for intensive awareness campaigns which focused on enhancing public understanding of the rights of people with disabilities. Just as physical barriers to access, noted the Meeting, were manifestations of discrimination which infringed on the rights of people with disabilities to enjoy full participation and equality in society, barrier-free built environments were the physical features of "caring societies".

The Meeting recognized not only the importance of improving the physical environment and public transport for people with disabilities and elderly persons, but also the elimination of discriminatory procedures and practices, e.g., the requirement that medical certificates be submitted by passengers with disabilities in order to board airplanes or trains.

It was suggested that, in view of the role of elderly persons in the promotion of accessibility, Section 3 of the draft guidelines on "Public Awareness-raising: Principles and Strategies" should be moved to Section 2: "Key Actors Initiatives". It was also proposed that the order of the annexes should be changed to match the order of the topics covered by the respective chapters.

Noting the considerable gap in the level of public awareness toward disability between the urban and rural areas, the Meeting underlined the need for different approaches.

The Meeting recognized the importance of encouraging NGOs, including self-help organizations of people with disabilities, to play a proactive role in disability awareness campaigns. The Meeting discussed the need for self-help organizations of disabled persons to develop better mutual understanding of each others needs, with a view to working together to build a more accessible environment.

Furthermore, it was pointed out that self-help organizations of persons with disabilities in the rural areas were weak. The difficulties that rural disabled persons faced were discussed. The main problem that they faced was isolation. They faced physical difficulties, e.g., lack of affordable and accessible transport. At the same time, they lacked positive social experiences and were reluctant to make the effort to interact with other people.

The Meeting stressed the importance of training on access issues in order to sustain accessible conditions in the community. It recognized that disability simulation exercises were effective in changing perceptions of and attitudes toward people with disabilities. The Meeting strongly felt that all policy-makers and politicians, including their public relations staff and speech writers, as well as professionals (e.g., architects, town and country planners, and engineers) should undergo the simulation exercises.

It was recommended that, under Section 5 on "Regional Initiatives and Action", the contact details of each entry should be included to facilitate contact.

Access legislation and policy provisions

The participants described the access situation for persons with disabilities and elderly persons in their respective countries and territories with specific reference to the staus of efforts to improve access legislation and policies. The descriptions underscored the different stages of progress in the development of access legislation and policies in the ESCAP region. They ranged from countries with little or no provisions, to those with basic legislation providing for disability services, as well as access provisions in building codes and standards. A few Governments of the ESCAP region had adopted access legislation and anti-discrimination legislation, which had a significant impact on the improvement of accessibility.

Although many countries in the ESCAP region were at a preliminary stage in the improvement of accessibility, nevertheless, in view of the rapid economic and social change which was under way, there was general agreement on the need for the development, on an urgent basis, of legislation and policies to expedite the promotion of accessible environments for people with disabilities and elderly persons.

Participants identified many obstacles to the effective development and implementation of access legislation and policy provisions, as well as priorities in this regard. One obstacle was the lack of accurate statistical data on people with disabilities for planning purposes.

It was also noted that the diverse legal, political and constitutional systems in countries and territories of the ESCAP region required diverse access solutions and steps in the development of access legislation and policy provisions. Nevertheless, it was agreed that legal sanction for access, which pertained to the citizenship rights of people with disabilities, was desirable.

A number of suggestions for amendments and additions to Chapter Three of the draft guidelines was made and it was agreed that the Secretariat would consider them for incorporation as appropriate.

A working group was constituted to consider the possible inclusion of a draft pertaining to access legislation as an additional annex to the draft guidelines.

It was agreed that the provision of such an example had merit, especially for those countries in the ESCAP region which currently had no access legislation and policy provisions.

Concern was, however, expressed that the document, as it stood:

1. Might not be suited to the range of constitutional and political systems in the ESCAP region;
2. Might be viewed as prescriptive or as a best practice example when it was intended only as a reference document;
3. Contained figures, time-frames and percentages that might not be universally applicable;
4. Had not been adequately reviewed by all ESCAP members and associate members.

To overcome those concerns, it was agreed that the document should be referred to as an "illustrative sample outline of access legislation" and be included as an annex to the draft guidelines with the following modifications:

1. Deletion of all prescriptive reference to figures, percentages and dates;
2. Inclusion of an introduction explaining its development based on the inputs of the Expert Group Meeting on the Promotion of Non-handicapping Environments, held at Bangkok from 6 to 10 June 1994, and its intended use s a reference for those ESCAP members and associate members which were considering the introduction of access legislation;
3. Attribution of credit to its author in a footnote.

The working group also agreed that there would be merit in the attachment to the sample of a list of titles of the access legislation of Governments represented at the Meeting, which wished to contribute brief descriptions of one or two paragraphs of their legislation.

Other proposed amendments to the sample legislation included:

1. The highlighting of the relationship between access boards at the national and provincial levels;
2. Use of gender-neutral language;
3. More emphasis on the usability of public facilities by people with disabilities and elderly persons;
4. Strengthening of measures concerning the accountability of access officers;
5. The reversal of the order of Chapters 2 and 3 to give more prominence to the rights of persons with disabilities and elderly persons;
6. Coverage of general principles and provisions only, as it was considered desirable for technical details to be covered under enabling rules and regulations.

IV. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS CONCERNING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GUIDELINES

The Meeting deliberated on measures that would expedite the implementation of the guidelines on the promotion of barrier-free built environments, as a means of improving access to the built environment in the ESCAP region. Noting the special opportunity for concerted multisectoral efforts during the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, it formulated the following policy recommendations with respect to the major topics covered by the guidelines (planning and building design; public awareness initiatives; and access legislation and policy provisions) and follow-up action to be pursued after the Meeting.

Planning and building design

Policy-oriented research should be conducted on the particular needs of people with disabilities and elderly persons in rural as well as urban environments, with a view to improving accessibility.

Access features should be introduced not only into new buildings, but also into existing buildings, wherever applicable; basic access requirements should be identified and introduced in a phased manner.

Buildings used by the public such a hospitals, schools, relevant government buildings and outdoor public toilets, to which improvements might be made, should be prioritized according to their purpose or function.

Representatives of potential user groups should be active during the whole planning and feedback process. Wide consultation with user groups should be a continuous process and should be user-focused.

Workshops, seminars, field attachment and exchange programmes and study visits should be conducted towards refining standards in the planning and design of the built environments.

In order to encourage access initiatives, public recognition should be given to works which give improved accessibility.

With respect to rural built environments, all ESCAP member and associate members should:

1. Seek to build up, through censuses and surveys, a reliable database on information about the nature and extent of disability in the rural areas, in order to effectively plan access policies and facilities directed at benefiting poor rural people with disabilities and elderly persons;
2. Take due cognizance of local conditions and limitations while working out the planning and design requirements for rural built environments, which are aimed at enhancing access to public places by persons with disabilities and elderly persons in rural areas;
3. Develop appropriate technology and promote improvisation using locally-available materials, with a view to achieving cost-effective and functionally efficient access design solutions;
4. Establish a regional network for regular exchange of information on successful experiences and illustrative examples;
5. Encourage innovative approaches to the design of equipment for use by persons with disabilities and elderly persons in rural areas;
6. Participate in regional cooperation activities to promote applied research in access design and encourage the transfer of technology.

Public awareness initiatives

Public awareness campaigns should emphasize the benefits of barrier-free environments for all citizens, including persons with disabilities, elderly persons, children, as well as expectant and nursing women.

A positive image of people with disabilities and elderly persons should be promoted in public awareness campaigns by focusing on ability rather than disabilities. Media personnel should be provided with human interest stories on and profiles of persons with disabilities who have received high recognition from the community as well as ordinary persons with disabilities.

Policies should be introduced to support the establishment of access committees to coordinate the promotion of public awareness of access issues at national, provincial and local levels; those committees should be composed of the representatives of concerned government departments, non-governmental organizations, including self-help organizations of people with disabilities, professional and other interested citizens groups.

Policies should be developed to support outreach activities by national organizations of people with disabilities to assist in the development or strengthening of local-level organizations so that they may play an effective role in access promotion.

In the preparation of public awareness programmes, consideration should be given to the diverse requirements of urban and rural communities; in the case of rural communities, the following strategies should be considered:

1. Identification of opinion leaders at the village level such as administrative heads, religious leaders, primary school teachers and community workers, to sensitize them to the needs of persons with disabilities and elderly persons;
2. Use of folk or traditional media (e.g., puppetry and shadow play in local languages and dialects) as campaign materials for the dissemination of messages on themes stressing the need for barrier-free environments in the rural areas, to dispel prevailing myths and superstitions about disability as punishment for sins committed, and encourage villagers to accept measures for the prevention of the causes of disability and the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.

In remote rural areas which do not have much non-governmental organization activity, local authorities should give particular attention to the promotion of access and other matters concerning persons with disabilities and elderly persons.

Government policies should be introduced to target children and young people in the promotion of disability awareness through educational programmes and projects; efforts should be made to project positive images of people with disabilities in text books, as well as literary and cultural materials.

Direct peer contact between non-disabled children and young people and their peers with disabilities should be fostered.

Governments should take the lead in promoting positive attitudes and good practice concerning the integration of persons with disabilities and elderly persons into society through, inter alia, presentation of awards to persons who contribute significantly to the improvement of accessibility.

National as well as local governments should assist, e.g., through financial and technical support, in the development, in urban and rural areas, of self-help organizations of persons with disabilities, which could initiate local groups to promote access issues.

When new policies and legislation are enacted, training should be provided to promote their full implementation; regular training should also be conducted to maintain accessibility in buildings and facilities run by both public and private sector organizations.

Policy-makers, professionals and politicians who could play a role in access promotion, as well as their public relations personnel and speech writers, should be encouraged to participate in simulation exercises to sensitize them to the needs of persons with diverse disabilities.

Access awareness campaigns should be conducted to encourage the integration of persons with disabilities in regular recreational, sports and cultural events.

Access legislation and policy provisions

The Governments of the ESCAP region are urged to:

1. Develop an integrated package of access legislation and policy measures which contain provisions for monitoring, review and consultation with people with disabilities;
2. Take immediate action to identify areas for policy and/or legislative intervention to improve access for people with disabilities;
3. Develop and adopt access legislation which refers to the human and constitutional rights of people with disabilities, and which treats access to the built environment as a civil right;
4. Provide a conducive policy environment for cooperation and coordination among, as well as effective participation by non-governmental organizations, including self-help organizations of people with disabilities, in forums related to the promotion of access;
5. Collect information on the nature and extent of disability in the population through censuses and surveys, in order to effectively plan for access policies and priorities;
6. Apply a combination of punitive action and incentives in access legislation and policy provisions to facilitate their implementation and fulfilment of access requirements;
7. Recognize legally enforceable rights of persons with disabilities to ensure compliance with access legislation and policy provisions;
8. Integrate access issues into all levels of planning and decision-making, e.g., town, urban and master planning;
9. Utilize existing powers to make executive orders, regulations, rules and by-laws to facilitate early removal of barriers to access through the inclusion of those policy instruments in legislation;
10. Promote the inclusion of work on access standards in the work programme of national standardization bodies and international organizations dealing with standardization, including the International Standards Organization (ISO);
11. Ensure that access standards developed as a result of work on legislation and policy measures are submitted to national standardization bodies.

Follow-up action

In view of the importance of regional action to promote barrier-free built environments,:

1. All participants at the Meeting should urge their respective Governments to support the inclusion of consideration of the guidelines on barrier-free built environments in the agenda for the fity-first session of the Commission, to be held at Bangkok in 1995, for its endorsement;
2. All participants at the Meeting should bring the guidelines to the attention of concerned Ministries in their respective countries for implementation purposes;
3. ESCAP should strengthen its support of training and exchange of experiences and expertise among countries within the region, the monitoring of progress in achieving accessible environments, as well as the development and review of the guidelines and other tools for use as resource materials.

V. OTHER MATTERS

The participants were informed of related action to be pursued following the Meeting:

1. Subject to the availability of resources, ESCAP would soon start implementation of the second of its regional initiatives to improve access. The second initiative would focus on assisting major cities in developing ESCAP countries in the implementation of pilot projects using the guidelines on the promotion of barrier-free built environments in the Asia-Pacific region.
2. The first regional review meeting on progress in the implementation of the Agenda for Action for the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Person, 1993-2002, would be convened by ESCAP at Bangkok from 26 to 30 June 1995, with the support of the Government of Japan. The status of efforts concerning the promotion of accessibility would be among the areas to be covered by that meeting.
3. ESCAP, with the support of the Governments of the Republic of Korea and India, and in cooperation with concerned agencies and organizations, would implement a regional project to promote the indigenous production and distribution of assistive devices. In that regard, a regional workshop would be convened in 1995.

VI. ADOPTION OF THE REPORT

The Meeting adopted its report and the guidelines on the promotion of barrier-free built environments in the Asian and Pacific region on 18 November 1994.

VIII. CLOSING OF THE MEETING

The Meeting was closed by the Director of the Social Development Division. In closing the Meeting, the Director expressed his warm appreciation of the contributions of the participants and resource persons.

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ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
Promotion of Non-Handicapping Physical Environments for Disabled Persons: Guidelines
- ANNEX 9 -

UNITED NATIONS
New York, 1995