How improving disability access can benefit everyone

[Music]

imagine a world where you can move

freely around your local area

participate in everyday activities and

have a voice in the decisions that

impact your own life

and the life of your community perhaps

you don’t need to imagine this because

this is your everyday life

well for many people around the world

and indeed one in five australians this

is not an

automatic reality approximately 4.3

million australians today have

disability

and many experience barriers isolation

and exclusion i’m an educator and i’ve

supported young people with disability

for over 20 years

this is an area of injustice that i’m

committed to changing

so i’m here today to challenge you about

some of the messages that you’ve heard

about disability

and encourage you to be part of the

solution to a more

accessible and inclusive world so let’s

have a look at

three images and think about their

underlying messages

what do you think of when you see this

image

the wheelchair icon has had several

names and is now known as the

international symbol of access

i can see a navy blue background and a

white figure representing a person

sitting in a wheelchair this image was

first designed in the 1960s by suzanne

cover

who was a danish design student at the

time

now interestingly it was first designed

without

the circle at the top because it was

designed to represent the wheelchair as

an assistive device

the head was added later after feedback

from the design committee

thus now representing a person sitting

in that wheelchair

now this small addition may not seem

relevant to point out

and yet it has particular significance

for those who have been objectified

by being viewed solely as an extension

of their wheelchair

this image is static it gives an

impression of passivity

and the person’s been added almost as an

afterthought

in australia we see this image most

commonly

in elevators bathroom doors

on public transport at building

entrances

and in 2015 it became an emoji

in the late 1960s and 1970s mike oliver

and other disability activists were

campaigning for the rights of people

with disability

mike believed that it was not the

impairment or diagnosis

that disabled an individual it was an

inaccessible environment let’s stop and

think about that for a moment

an inaccessible environment excludes

and disables a person

it was mike’s passion and commitment to

human rights that led to the social

model of disability

that we aspire to today

so let’s have a look at the second image

and think about how it’s different from

the first

in 2011 sarah hendren and brian gleny

from the accessible icon project

in the uk created this image as part of

a design activism campaign

to challenge the previous wheelchair

icon

let me describe it for you it has the

same

navy blue background it has a white

figure representing a person

however this person is leaning forward

and their arms are reaching backwards

there are broken lines in the wheelchair

which give an impression of the

wheelchair being propelled

forward by the person seated in it

this second image aligns well with the

social model of disability

as it shows an active rather than

objectified person and the focus here is

on the community

in providing an accessible environment

for this person who’s on their way

somewhere

how accessible is the environment where

you live

so both of these images were created

and designed to represent physical

accessibility

however they have come to represent

disability in a number of

other accessibility contexts

and as a result we are socially

conditioned

to see and associate the physical

characteristics

with the experience of disability

now while this does represent 79 of

australians with disability

there is part of the story that is being

untold

by these two images the remaining

one in five australians with hidden

or invisible disability this might be

your neighbor with dyslexia

or your school friend with juvenile

arthritis

hidden disability refers to any

diagnosis or impairment that cannot be

easily seen by

others and as a result the individual

experiences exclusion and an

inaccessible environment

so let’s now have a look at the third

image

in 2018 new south wales launched a

campaign called

think outside the chair

the campaign was to raise awareness of

australians with

hidden disability and followed examples

of stigma

and discrimination that individuals were

experiencing in the local community

so what’s the solution how do we know

about accessibility issues

if we cannot see them well

the seven universal design principles

are able to help us here

these universal design principles were

originally created

to address the design of

built environments and architecture

but they have since been adapted to

learning and social environments

as well as the provision of goods and

services

universal design principles attempt to

address the needs of as

many people as possible both with and

without disability

thus decreasing the need for

retrofitting and adaptation

and increasing inclusion in the first

instance

let’s say you are coming home from work

you arrive at the train station there’s

the platform is filled with people you

hop onto a train carriage

and you sit down the train heads off

and the noise increases as people talk

over each other

and talk over the sounds of the train as

it moves along the tracks

you take out your phone to catch up on

the latest episode of your favorite tv

show

and then you realize you’ve left your

headphones at work

what are you going to do you’re going to

stare blankly out the window for the

next half an hour

or perhaps you turn on closed captions

you see closed captions are an example

of universal design principles

that have a benefit for everyone closed

captions

increase cognition and comprehension

and they use the universal design

principles of

equitable use flexibility and use

simple and intuitive use and perceptible

information

the people who benefit most from closed

captions

include adults and children who are

learning to read

those who are deaf or hard of hearing

and those that are non-native language

learners

in this example closed captions are a

convenience

but for some they are a necessity

let’s get back to your journey home so

the train reaches your local train

station and you hop off the train

you assist an elderly lady to also get

off the train with her shopping cart

and the two of you walk side by side

down the ramp

towards the traffic lights you look down

curb cuts curb cuts are another example

of universal design principles you see

by creating

a ramp from the curb to the road

this has a direct benefit for parents

and prams

for those that are bike riders or

couriers

for those who use scooters or

wheelchairs and of course

the elderly lady with her shopping cart

curb cuts use the following universal

design principles

tolerance for error low physical effort

and size and space for approach and use

you see in one trip home from work you

have encountered

all seven universal design principles in

a way that you may not have ever

considered before

you see these are everyday activities

that many of us

take for granted and yet there are many

other examples in our community and

indeed around the world

where universal design principles have

not been utilized

and as a result people with disabilities

continue to be

excluded let’s have a look at the

education system in australia

we have an education system that

provides the curriculum

and methods for teaching australian

students and yet we still

have australian students with

disabilities that are being excluded

and directly and indirectly

discriminated within the classroom

legislation has been created to try and

address

this discrimination by providing

accommodations

and adjustments that a student may be

able to access

however i would argue that some of these

adjustments

and accommodations are in fact another

opportunity to reinforce the exclusion

rather than a more radical approach of

overhauling the education system

that has created the exclusion in the

first

instance

so in order to utilize the benefits

of these seven universal design

principles

governments businesses community

organizations

and individuals all have a really

important part to play

we must be committed to co-designing and

co-creating spaces

with people with disabilities in order

that all

voices in the community are heard from

the design

to the implementation of physical

environments

social and learning environments and the

provision of goods and services

so what can you do in your local

community to ensure that spaces are

accessible

are you aware of a disability action

plan

that outlines your community’s

commitment to inclusion

do you know of a disability advisory

committee

and are their knowledge and expertise

being asked for

in terms of new developments the next

time your

church group your community organization

or your sporting club runs an event

i would encourage you to look at the

seven universal design principles

and consider all members of your

community

both with and without disability for if

we focus on these principles

rather than relying on the one element

of disability that we can see

then together we will move forward to a

more

accessible and inclusive world thank you

you