Improving accessibility makes sense

"I thought we would get an inclusive society!” That was the cry from the heart of a participant at a conference on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2018. The Netherlands ratified the Convention in 2016. Since then, in the perception of many people, little has been achieved to make the country more accessible and inclusive.

Dick Houtzager LLM is a legal researcher. He currently works for the National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism. This article is written in a personal capacity.

The participant’s call suggests that there is still work to do. With regard to urban public space and, in its wake, leisure events, accessibility for persons with disabilities requires attention.

In this article, I will address obstacles in urban public space and leisure events which stand in the way of participation. I will present some accessibility requirements for policy-makers, planners and builders of urban public space.

Given the fact that in the Netherlands around 2 million people have a disability (CBS 2022), the need to make society accessible and inclusive, is apparent. Just like persons without disabilities, they use public space and all types of facilities in the leisure sector. To improve accessibility is not only an ethical and legal requirement, but it also makes sense from a business perspective.

The concept of disability

According to the United Nations, disability results "from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others”. Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others (United Nations, 2006). These descriptions reflect the shift in thinking about disabled people. The medical perspective on persons with disabilities is replaced by the social model of disability. Under the medical model, an impairment is considered as something that needs to be treated or fixed. Disability is seen as a deviation from the normal health status. The social model on the other hand, explains disability as a social construct through discrimination and oppression. Its focus is on society rather than on the individual. Disability is regarded as a mere difference within the continuum of human variations (Degener, 2016).

The social model explains disability as a social construct through discrimination and oppression.

So, if we describe issues that persons face with access to urban public space in general and the leisure sector in particular, we should look at the way the different spaces are designed, built and maintained, rather than looking at the impairments of individuals.

Inclusive urban public space

Persons with disabilities experience various types of difficulties when using public space. To understand the types of problems they experience and what impact it has on their lives, the University of Leeds (UK) has undertaken a research project. The Inclusive Public Space project aims to understand how effectively law and politics are responding to problems caused by inaccessible or difficult streets. In the Netherlands, the research has been carried out in the cities of Utrecht and Almere. The results will be published in 2024.

Obstacles impeding pedestrians can be permanent or temporary. Permanent obstacles are often the result of street design or construction. Examples of these are road signs, street furniture, ramps and kerbs, fences, and street noise. Temporary obstacles can be ascribed to a lack of awareness, lack of space and neglect. Examples are parked bicycles, garbage bins, road works, billboards, and terraces.

For obvious reasons, these obstacles can be experienced differently by persons with different disabilities. For a person who is blind, street kerbs may be difficult to detect, but they may be overcome. For a person in a wheelchair, these obstacles may be easily seen, but impossible to overcome.

As a result of these barriers, persons with disabilities experience disorientation, anxiety and sometimes even injury. This results in reduced participation and increased social isolation (Lawson et al., 2022). In order to avoid confrontations with these barriers, many employ coping strategies. They prepare their walking route or use special clothing and equipment (sturdy shoes, use of walking apps, fluorescent jackets).

Inclusive leisure facilities

Experiences of persons with disabilities while visiting leisure facilities have not been the subject of research so far. However, leisure events can be made accessible and inclusive if several rules are followed. Successful elements of an inclusive leisure experience require the accessibility of:

• online information and ticketing;
• entrance to the venue;
• entry, usability and safety of attractions;
• information on site: signs in Braille, visual or spoken information;
• catering services, staff hospitality;
• bathroom facilities;
• escape routes for emergency situations.

Organisations in the Dutch cultural sector have realised this and have adopted a Diversity and Inclusion Code (https://codedi.nl/ Accessed 14 May 2023). Organisations that have signed the Code are required to take steps to improve the accessibility of their buildings and events. Many cultural organisations have taken steps to facilitate persons with disabilities. Some venues have appointed an accessibility coordinator, others have created low-stimulus spaces or built wheelchair ramps. The use of accessible online information, by applying WCAG standards, is increasingly common in the cultural sector.

Work to be done

However, exclusionary policies and practices still exist. Sometimes because of a struggle between aesthetics versus accessibility, which is often won by the aesthetical designer instead of the inclusion activist. In other areas there is a lack of awareness about inclusion among policy-makers, event managers, designers and builders. Existing laws and regulations are fragmented and insufficiently prescriptive to prevent or remedy inaccessibility. And lastly, complaint mechanisms are unsuccessful and ineffective. To rectify this, it is necessary to integrate accessibility in all stages of procurement, design, construction and enforcement in urban and leisure planning.

Existing laws and regulations are fragmented and insufficiently prescriptive.

Several legal and other measures are being developed to meet CRPD requirements. The European Union is promoting a Design for All approach to the built environment, with the objective to make buildings and public spaces usable by as many people as possible and accessible to all. Dutch equal treatment law (Article 2 and Article 2a from the Dutch Act on equal treatment on the grounds of disability or chronic illness) requires leisure events to provide reasonable accommodation for individual visitors and to gradually achieve general accessibility.

In the current Dutch Buildings Decree (Bouwbesluit) only a few accessibility requirements are included. The Decree is scheduled to be replaced in 2024 by the Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet). This Act contains new accessibility standards for urban planning. During the parliamentary debate, accessibility was included as a legal requirement. Article 4.21 of the Act stipulates that in the case of new developments in the design of public built environment, municipalities will take into account the promotion of accessibility. In addition, Article 5.103 of the Living Environment (Quality) Decree (Besluit kwaliteit leefomgeving) states that accessibility must also be taken into account in public space (Houtzager, 2021).

Conclusion

Urban public space is often not accessible to persons with disabilities. The same applies to the leisure sector. It has a negative impact on disabled people. They are excluded and feel left out. To effectuate their participation, they need to employ adaptive strategies. However, with awareness, sectoral agreements and effective laws and regulations, inclusion can be made a reality.

Note
Part of this article is based on the Leisure Toegankelijk! presentation at the BUas ‘The Future of Leisure’ conference by the author and M. van der Elst, 22 March 2023.

Sources

• https://inclusivepublicspace.leeds.ac.uk/about-the-inclusive-public-space-project/ Accessed 14 May 2023).
• CBS 2022: Van Zeijl J., M. Mateboer, C. Prevost, R. Pronk, L. Voorrips and C. Witvliet, Meting IVRPH-indicatoren 2020 - Indicatoren ten behoeve van de monitoring van het VN-verdrag handicap. Den Haag: CBS 2022 https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/longread/aanvullende-statistische-diensten/2022/meting-ivrph-indicatoren-2020-indicatoren-ten-behoeve-van-de-monitoring-van-het-vn-verdrag-handicap
• Degener 2016: Degener T. Disability in a Human Rights Context. Laws. 2016; 5(3):35. https://doi.org/10.3390/laws5030035
• Houtzager, 2021: D.C. Houtzager, Toegankelijkheid openbare ruimte, regels en realiteit, Handicap & Recht 2021-2, p. 45-50. https://www.bjutijdschriften.nl/tijdschrift/henr/2021/2/HenR_2468-9335_2021_005_002_003
• Lawson et al., 2022: Lawson, A., Eskyte, I., Orchard, M., Houtzager, D. and De Vos, E. (2022) "Pedestrians with Disabilities and Town and City Streets: From Shared to Inclusive Space?", The Journal of Public Space, 7(2), 41-62. https://doi.org/10.32891/jps.v7i2.1603
• United Nations 2006: United Nations. "Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.” United Nations Treaties Series. 2008, vol. 2515, p. 3.