Assessing the Efficiency and Challenges with Implementing Accessible Building Facilities for Persons with Disabilities in Public Building of Addis Ababa
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Date
2020-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
People pass though being elderly, pregnant women, children and with a temporary sickness
or injury and will be in need of help from others to maneuver in built environments. Thus,
public buildings should be accessible and barrier-free to both able and disabled people.
Disabled people find it difficult to gain access into and operate freely without assistance in
many public buildings in Addis Ababa.
The aim of this descriptive research was to examine the extent to which the persons with
Disability facilities have been incorporated in the designs and construction of public
buildings of Addis Ababa, to identify the challenges with the implementation of accessible
Building Facilities, challenges faced by of PWDs and to asses possible improvement
solutions To achieve the study‘s objectives, a comprehensive literature review, a
questionnaires survey and observation were carried out. The total population of grade one
consultant (44) from federal construction minister of Addis Ababa in the year 2019 was
taken to respond on the questionnaires. The study also sought to find out major challenges
that person with disability are facing by purposively selected 6 organizations, which are
working on disability and 30 PWDs were given the questionnaires based on their disability
type. In addition the study took inventory of facilities available for disabled people in
purposively selected ten critical public buildings. The inventory covered the identification
and ascertaining the functional state of the facilities.
Findings from the research shows that almost half of the respondents who were responsible
for taking decision on the design of built environment has got little or fair knowledge about
the inclusive, accessible, universal buildings and disability concerning laws. Therefore most
the building being provided are not disability-friendly. Even, if there are consideration of the
disability in design the frequently considered is mobility. And some of the challenging
factors for implementing accessible buildings are ranked as follow; lack of enforcement of
the law, lack of public awareness about the law and weakness in the provisions of the law.
Public education, review of the disability law and active involvement of disability groups in
decision making were some of the recommendations made.
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Keywords
Disability-friendly, Facilities, Public Buildings