The focus of this lesson is intended to encourage professionals to promote access and thereby create opportunities for people with disabilities to engage in community leisure pursuits.
INTRODUCTION
During an average day, most people don’t even think about how they get around in their environment. It isn’t until we must confront some sort of personal limitation or physical hindrance that we become concerned with mobility. At some point in our lives, we will all experience a temporary or permanent limitation. It is then that the issue of accessibility arises.
Universal Design - attempts to make all products and environments accessible to all people (Moon, Hart, Komissar & Freidlander, 1995).
Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. (R. Mace, 2006)
The intent of universal design is to simplify life for everyone by making products, communications, and the built environment more usable by as many people as possible at little or no extra cost. Universal design benefits people of all ages and abilities. (College of Design, N.C. State University, 2006)
Universal design can often benefit individuals without disabilities as well.
PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN
POTENTIAL IMPACT OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN
The implementation of principles of universal design means more than just providing an entrance ramp in the back of a building or accommodating wheelchair seating with the poorest view of the event. It should mean that we provide people with a choice of seating locations and ticket prices and have ramps located at the main entrance. Too often the accessible areas have been relegated to undesirable locations with no opportunity for choice.
DEFINITIONS RELATED TO ACCESS
Access – "Freedom or ability to obtain or make use of" or "ability to enter, approach, communicate with, or pass to and from."
Accessibility – The degree to which a person with limitations can get to, enter and use a building or area surrounding the facility (usability of a facility).
Barrier – This implies that there is an obstruction that impedes an individual’s progress.
UNDERSTANDING TYPES OF ACCESS BARRIERS
It is important to understand that access is not limited to "physical access". Consider the following situations: A meeting can be inaccessible to a person with a hearing impairment when a sign language interpreter or an assistive listening device is not provided; the same is true for a person with a visual impairment if information in large print, Braille, or cassette tape is not provided.
People with disabilities are faced with architectural and attitudinal barriers every day.
Architectural barriers – Usually consists of structures constructed by humans which present an obstacle for people who have a mobility, visual or sensory disability.
Attitudinal barriers – Tend to be the most difficult to identify and therefore are more difficult to overcome.
We must look at an individual’s ability first and not the disability. We must focus on people’s potential, not their limitations.
TAKE ACTION TO INCREASE ACCESS
Recreation professionals should contemplate taking up strategies that can improve the
process of removing barriers to accessibility. Here are some suggestions:
KNOW WHICH ACCESS STANDARDS TO FOLLOW
Recreation professionals should:
Architectural Barriers Act (1968) – All facilities receiving direct or indirect federal funds must provide access to all people. It is considered the first federal policy to protect the rights of people with disabilities.
Rehabilitation Act (1973) – All people have equal access to jobs, education,
housing, transportation, and all programs that directly or indirectly receive federal
funds. Section 504 provide that no "otherwise qualified" person with a
disability can, solely by reason of his or her disability, be:
While the Architectural Barriers Act dealt with facility access and the Rehabilitation Act addressed program access, it wasn’t until the ADA that the federal mandate for access to public accommodations and programs was extended to the private sector which are not federally funded.
MAJOR SOURCES OF ACCESSIBILITY CRITERIA FOR RECREATION FACILITY PLANNERS
The following are the standards that agencies must follow to assure compliance with federal accessibility legislation and comply with state and local building codes, where applicable:
The Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) – These guidelines are for Buildings and Facilities and are of public record. ADAAG contains specific recommendations in providing accessible elements and technical requirements under numerous headings such as stairs, curb ramps, doors, bathrooms, telephones, elevators, entrances, windows, etc. Also included are detailed guidelines for: restaurants and cafeterias, medical care facilities, business and mercantile, libraries, accessible transient lodging, and transportation facilities. In October 2000 the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) issued the ADAAG for Building and Facilities designated as play areas. The guidelines were developed for play areas designed and constructed or altered for children age 2 and over to ensure that the play areas meet ADA requirements and are readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. If a complaint is filed against a particular play area, these guidelines are used. Companies that produce and sell playground equipment follow the guidelines and can be used as a resource. The guidelines include provisions for:
THE INTERNATIONAL SYMBOL OF ACCESS
The International Symbol of Access represents the hope of independence and mobility to people with disabilities. People are assured that obstacles will not prohibit their participation. It is used in parking lots to designate reserved parking spaces and in buildings to indicate accessible bathrooms. The Symbol of Access for Hearing Loss is becoming known as the directive for communication accessibility.
International Symbols
The symbols can also be used with directional symbols or messages such as "Ask for
Information Here." The following policies to govern the use of the ISA were presented
at the 1975 Assembly of Rehabilitation International meeting:
The Symbol was not intended to identify a person who is disabled, and it should not be used in that regard.
UNIVERSAL DESIGN IN A LEISURE SERVICES CONTEXT
Examples of Applications of universal design principles:
Universal Design is a critical step to inclusion and implies more than the ability to enter a building; it means being able to use all the services usually available for all people in attendance.
CONCLUDING STATEMENTS
Some professionals are under the misconception that because they rarely see individuals with disabilities accessing their community facilities, making their facilities and programs accessible is not necessary and will not promote increased participation. Many individuals with disabilities agree with the whispers heard in the movie Field of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come."
Copyright
1998 Northern Arizona University, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
