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