by Marlon Madden
One disability and accessibility specialist is calling on lawmakers in Barbados and the rest of the region to consider setting up an “accessibility standard board” or hiring “accessibility officers” as they ensure compliance and enforcement with accessibility legislation within organisations.
Gwladys Feler, Researcher at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Centre for Disabilities Studies, put forward the suggestion as she called for greater governance when it came to ensuring full inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of society.
Feler recommended that one of the first steps governments should take was a comprehensive review of existing legislation to identify any areas of non-compliance and determine what measures were necessary.
“We need some sort of accountability system in place,” said Feler, adding that “facilitating accessibility for person with disability requires a comprehensive approach with various laws, policies and programmes”.
“We need to be aware and consider that with accessibility legislation there will mostly likely be a creation of a number of responsibilities for boards. For example, these could be an accessibility board that will be responsible for the development and revision of accessibility standards,” she said.
“There could also be a position of an accessibility officer that is responsible for ensuring compliance and enforcement with accessibility legislation and reporting and enforcement within organisations,” she added.
Feler also recommended that governments could consider offering incentives to ensure individuals and firms comply with accessibility policies and standards.
“Accessibility legislation could allow for the creation of incentives to help individuals and organisations comply with legislation and standards. These incentives could include the creation of a national or parish accessibility programme to share practices in accessibility, it could be funding of programmes of certain procedures to help individuals and organisations to become accessibility leaders or to go a step further, reduce taxes or compulsory contribution
for individuals or organisations that show accessibility leadership,” said Feler.
She was addressing a session of the recent Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies 22nd annual conference on the theme The UN 2030 Agenda and Persons with Disabilities – Acceleration in the
Decade of Action.
Feler said while some Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states have established disability specific legislation, the legal and policy framework fell short in addressing the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities.
“In order to protect their right and dignity and for countries in the region to achieve the targets identified in the Sustainable Development Goals the Caribbean governments must formulate specific legislation to protect this group of individuals and create accessible environments,” she said.
Insisting that governments had an obligation to ensure the full inclusion of and accessibility for people with disability, Feler said this was part of basic human rights.
She said there was need for more inclusive education facilities, access to transportation and access to safe, inclusive and accessible green and public spaces.
She said that in drafting accessibility legislation, it was crucial to ensure three key principles – inclusion, diversity and collaboration.
“Too often in the decision-making process the role of persons with disabilities has been ignored. Governments must ensure that persons with disabilities and their representative organisations participate in policy making, thus, giving them a direct opportunity to shape the laws that directly affect them,” she said.
“In drafting legislation for accessibility, we need to acknowledge the diversity of needs within persons with disabilities and how we do that is by making provision for different types of disabilities and recognising that no one measure can and will fit all.
“When we draft those legislation, we need to create opportunities that allow government entities, communities of persons with disabilities as well as the private sector to make a contribution that works for persons
with disabilities and the rest of the population,” she added.
Presenting on the topic Creating Legislation to Build an Accessible Environment for Persons With Disabilities in the Caribbean, Feler said accessibility should support the development, implementation and enforcement of accessibility standards.
“These standards should be included in our entire discrimination and equality laws, and these laws should aim at eliminating barriers to access that constitute both direct and indirect discrimination,” said Feler.
She explained that a variety of measures could be considered to ensure compliance, adding that this must include input from people with disabilities.
“Regarding enforcement, governments must ensure there are appropriate measures in place to enforce accessibility legislation.
“Enforcement measures must be available in case of non-compliance and that is because we need some sort of accountability system in place . . . One suggestion would be accessibility inspection that could be annually or the publication of information about known barriers to accessibility or even a step further with financial penalties,” suggested Feler.
She acknowledged that “while new legislation alone cannot remove all barriers regarding accessibility, governments are in a unique position to bring about real changes to the lives of persons with disabilities, and most importantly, contribute to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals by creating efficient legislation that aim to bring accessibility into the development agenda at all levels”.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
