Article 9 of the CRPD says that PWDs should be enabled to take part in all aspects of social life on an equal basis with other people. That means providing access to buildings like Schools, hospitals, houses, work spaces, transport, indoor and outdoor facilities. Access also means being able to access information, communication, electronic services and emergency services. All measures should also be taken to:
- Promote, develop, monitor and implement minimum access standards.
- Ensure private entities that provide services to the public are accessible in all areas.
- Provide training for people involved on accessibility.
- Provide signs in braille and other easily understandable forms.
- Provide intermediaries to act as sign language interpreters, readers and guides to make access more easy.
- Promote other forms of assistance to support PWDs and ensure their access to information.
- Promote access to information using new technology including the internet.
- Promote design, development, promotion and distribution of new technology so that it becomes cheap and easy to use.
Accessibility is one of the guiding principles of the CRPD, it has ramifications in throughout the Convention. Access is important for PWDs because access means equality and non discrimination.
Providing access is about making rights accessible, for instance accessible buildings mean that PWDs can access education, medical facilities or employment. Access may also be about changing attitudes through training that provides insights and understanding into disability thus removing stigma and prejudice. Or access maybe as simple as giving the ability to customize a computer screen (changing text and background colours or font sizes for instance) or the ability to use a cell phone as a magnifying glass or to receive text messages in an emergency.
Providing access is about making rights accessible, for instance accessible buildings mean that PWDs can access education, medical facilities or employment. Access may also be about changing attitudes through training that provides insights and understanding into disability thus removing stigma and prejudice. Or access maybe as simple as giving the ability to customize a computer screen (changing text and background colours or font sizes for instance) or the ability to use a cell phone as a magnifying glass or to receive text messages in an emergency.
Recognised by the Zero Project as an Innovative Policy on Accessibility in 2014, Uganda’s Accessibility Standards are an important start in advocating and enforcing an accessible environment for all persons, including persons with disabilities.
In 2007, a Ugandan ministerial report found that 95% of the buildings in Kampala were not accessible, despite the fact that several laws emphasised the need to have an accessible physical environment, such as the Persons with Disabilities Act and National Policy on Disability, both of 2006...
- Uganda is among the first sub-Saharan countries to have developed their own ‘Accessibility Standards’.
- Uganda’s Accessibility Standards are an important start to advocating and enforcing an accessible environment for all persons, including those with disabilities.
- By providing a series of practical and detailed maps for construction planners, the Accessibility Standards are a blueprint and tool for measurement, assessment and advice.
- In addition to a National Accessibility Audit Committee, committees in several districts were set up to enforce compliance.
If you are a PWD, accessibility means being able to access your rights.
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| Uganda’s mandatory accessibility standards. In many countries in the Global South, accessibility standards do not exist. In the few countries where they exist, they are very often not legally binding, not enforced and not monitored. Uganda is among the first sub-Saharan countries to have developed their own accessibility standards. Uganda’s standards are mandatory for school construction projects. "We call upon all stakeholders in the construction industry to play their part in making Uganda a barrier-free society by implementing these standards." Apollo Mukasa, Uganda National Action on Physical Disability. |
This is written in Article 9 of the CRPD in the following way:
Article 9
Accessibility
1. To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas. These measures, which shall include the identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility, shall apply to, inter alia:
(a) Buildings, roads, transportation and other indoor and outdoor facilities, including schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces;
(b) Information, communications and other services, including electronic services and emergency services.
2. States Parties shall also take appropriate measures:
(a) To develop, promulgate and monitor the implementation of minimum standards and guidelines for the accessibility of facilities and services open or provided to the public;
(b) To ensure that private entities that offer facilities and services which are open or provided to the public take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities;
(c) To provide training for stakeholders on accessibility issues facing persons with disabilities;
(d) To provide in buildings and other facilities open to the public signage in Braille and in easy to read and understand forms;
(e) To provide forms of live assistance and intermediaries, including guides, readers and professional sign language interpreters, to facilitate accessibility to buildings and other facilities open to the public;
(f) To promote other appropriate forms of assistance and support to persons with disabilities to ensure their access to information;
(g) To promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the Internet;
(h) To promote the design, development, production and distribution of accessible information and communications technologies and systems at an early stage, so that these technologies and systems become accessible at minimum cost.
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