Those responsible for providing access facilities for the disabled at government buildings and institutions have been given another five years to put such facilities in place.
Disabled persons are entitled by law, under the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, to facilities that give them easy or better access to government and public buildings. Regulation No. 1 of the Act, introduced in 2006, gave state institutions three years in which to install such facilities. However, because many public buildings still lack disabled-friendly facilities, the grace period has been extended by another five years.
“The extension was given because many public buildings are still not provided with facilities for the disabled, owing to financial constraints,” said V. Jegarasasingham, secretary to the Ministry of Social Services and Social Welfare. “If the three-year grace period is allowed to lapse this year, the ministry will be going to courts daily, because so many public buildings still lack the required facilities.”
According to Mrs. Jegarasasingham, President Rajapaksa had directed the secretaries of all ministries to ensure that all public buildings were disabled-friendly. Meanwhile, disabled rights activists and organisations have expressed doubts that the facilities will be in place even after five years.
“The Act was introduced some 20 years ago, and two decades on the physically challenged still don’t have decent accessibility – not in the workplace, not in schools, not in universities,” a disabled rights activist told the Sunday Times.
“The authorities seem to forget that the disabled need access to get an education, to go to work, to seek information, and to enjoy recreation.”
“The Act gives a list of things that can be done to help the disabled using public buildings, and at least 95 of these are relatively low-cost. These include providing ramps in reception areas and space for the easy movement of wheelchairs, luminous signs and tactile blocks for the visually impaired, and staff who know how to use sign language.
“Ten years ago the courts ordered the Colombo Municipal Council to provide disabled persons with the necessary facilities, but little has been done to date,” he said. “Five years from now things could still be the same. This kind of apathy on the part of government institutions must end.”
There should be penalties for non-compliance, says S. L. Hettiarachchi, secretary and executive director of the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind. “There’s an urgent need for a monitoring body. Social services officers can help here. The accessibility mechanism should be secured. People will forget if this is allowed to drag on indefinitely.”
Rienzie Benedict of the Sri Lanka Federation for the Visually Handicapped feared more delays and a failure to implement the law. “Tactile flooring to assist the blind was proposed many years ago, but we still don’t see this in any state offices,” he said. “The disabled continue to be overlooked or ignored. One reason is that they are a minority. Their votes don’t count for much in the eyes of the authorities.”
Major Anil Seneviratne, director and chief executive officer of the Nawajeewana Disabled Centre, pointed to a lack of co-operation and co-ordination between all parties concerned.
“There’s a need for technically capable people, such as engineers, with a knowledge of facilities for the disabled. There should be a steering committee, and town planners should be involved,” Major Seneviratne said.
The Supreme Court gave an order earlier this month that all new public buildings will be subject to the accessibility regulations No. 1 of 2006, under the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act No. 28 of 1996. Failure to comply with the law and provide access for the physically challenged would result in legal action.
Right of access
The physically challenged are entitled by law to easy or better access to public buildings, under accessibility regulations. The law covers the following categories:
1. Commercial: Office buildings, hotels, motels and guest houses, shopping centres, supermarkets, restaurants, food centres, wholesale and retail stores, shops, bookshops, banks, ATMs (automated teller machines), public telephones, financial and other service institutions, parking areas.
2. Community, social and educational: Educational institutions, schools, universities, hospitals, medical centres, nursing homes, pharmacies, dispensaries, homes for elderly persons, temples, churches, kovils, mosques, court houses, police stations, post offices, auditoriums, convention halls, community centres, assembly halls, exhibition halls, libraries, public toilets.
3. Recreational: Sports complexes, sports venues, stadiums, cinema halls, theatres, concert halls, opera houses, cultural centres, recreational places, public places such as botanical gardens, parks, zoological gardens, places of tourist interest and related attractions.
4. Industrial: Places of employment, such as factories, workshops and warehouses.
5. Residential: A minimum of 1 unit for 20 to 25 units, plus 1 additional unit for every 25 units thereafter, including staff residences, dormitories located within multiple dwellings and high-rise residential units and tenements. |
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