Disability Inclusive Infrastructure — opportunities and challenges
16th March 2019 marks Disabled Access Day — a day to celebrate good access and to create opportunities for people to try something new.
The ICED Facility is working with the Department for International Development (DFID) to develop a new paper on disability inclusive infrastructure in low income countries, setting out key enablers for infrastructure as part of a journey to leave no-one behind.
One billion people, or 15% of the world’s population, experience some form of disability, and disability prevalence is higher in developing countries.
Infrastructure, if designed and implemented correctly, can empower people with disabilities to be part of societal and economic development. Much of the world’s infrastructure is not designed in an inclusive way, creating unnecessary barriers for people with disabilities.
The paper being developed forms part of DFID’s focus to highlight the need and routes to disability inclusion in key partner countries.
Last year, the ICED facility worked with DFID to produce a Disability Inclusive Infrastructure and Cities Briefing Note, to stimulate thinking on how DFID investments can be leveraged for greater Disability Inclusion (DI) impact. The upcoming work will build on this briefing note.
Responding to global commitments to Disability Inclusion
The UN Agenda 2030 for sustainable development (its action plan for inclusive prosperity) notes that more than 80 per cent of people with disabilities live in poverty, which puts people with disabilities at the centre of poverty eradication throughout the development agenda.
Five of the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals explicitly mention people with disabilities (education, growth and employment, inequality, safe and inclusive human settlements, and data collection and monitoring). Goal 11 focuses on urban development and accessibility is explicitly mentioned as an indicator for success.
In July 2018 the UK Department for International Development (DFID), Government of Kenya and International Disability Alliance co-hosted the Global Disability Summit, in which inclusive infrastructure was one of the six themes used to bring together global leaders, civil society and the private sector.
Leading international development bodies such as CDC Group, the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and World Bank made global commitments to improve their approach and delivery of disability inclusive infrastructure; demonstrating the need for improvement in how the world delivers infrastructure.
At the Global Disability Summit, the Secretary of State for DFID committed to the launch of DFID’s pioneering Disability Inclusion Strategy which was then published on 3rd December 2018. The Disability Strategy sets out DFID’s committed approach to improvement in disability inclusion, including the role of infrastructure:
“To promote accessibility and usability we will invest in and strengthen our approach to accessible infrastructure (including transport) by providing greater guidance and support for disability-inclusive infrastructure.”
In response to DFID’s commitment and support on disability inclusive infrastructure, a new paper is being developed which sets out key enabling features and good practice examples of disability inclusive infrastructure in low income countries, as part of a journey to leave no-one behind.
The Challenges and Opportunities for Disability Inclusive Infrastructure
Aimed at donors, NGOs, governments, civil society and private sector stakeholders, the document, due to be released this Spring, will set out key challenges and opportunities in legislating, designing and financing Disability Inclusive Infrastructure (DII). It will use case studies to illustrate door-to-desk approaches (joined-up design processes) and what effective DII looks like in practice.
Key areas covered in the paper will include:
Policies and Legislative Framework. The paper will outline the scope of international frameworks and provides examples of how international policy can be translated into local laws and regulations promoting disability inclusive infrastructure, using illustrative case studies.
Standards, Design Principles and Audits. The paper will discuss technical standards and design principles, and the role of robust accessibility audits in promoting inclusion throughout the infrastructure development life cycle.
Enforcement of Regulations. Where policy and legislation exists, poor enforcement often results in poor implementation of disability inclusive infrastructure. The paper will outline several strategies that could be adopted to counter poor implementation of policy and regulations.
Data and disability inclusion. Information and data play a significant part in disability inclusive physical and digital infrastructure. Procuring high-quality data and a robust evidence base enables programmes and infrastructure providers to make informed decisions when developing infrastructure projects, policies or initiatives.
Cultural and Behavioural Factors. Cultural and behavioural factors affect how persons with disabilities are viewed and treated in society and have significant impacts on the effectiveness of inclusive infrastructure service provision. The paper will discuss how stakeholders can address cultural and societal barriers to inclusive infrastructure.
Financial and Procurement Considerations. Financial resource or investment constraints are often perceived as common bottlenecks in achieving disability inclusion in infrastructure. However, the costs of ensuring that infrastructure is inclusive can be low if considered during early design phases and the impact can be transformational.
The full paper will be published on the ICED facility website. In the meantime, you can read more about work ICED has done to date with DFID in supporting disability inclusion in urban and infrastructure programming here.
