Let's think more intentionally about physical accessibility

My friend has a physical disability. She recently slipped in her hotel room and fractured her leg. She told me this was not the first time she was falling in highly inaccessible environments. She is not the only one. Others have developed phobias about falling. This is because they have fallen and ended up developing further disabilities.

We recently toured a recreation facility in Naivasha and one of the buildings that we used to access boat rides had a steep step at the entrance. As a result, we had to use a portable ramp to support colleagues with physical disabilities to manoeuvre the step. A few colleagues, however, could not make it past the steep step. This was a classic example of how people with disabilities are excluded from different spaces, whether by accident or by design.

Physical inaccessibility is one way people with disabilities (PWDs) are denied a chance to actualise their rights. Accessibility enables persons with disabilities to live independently and to participate fully in all aspects of life. To realise this right, Kenya has to take appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, the physical environment, transportation, information and communication technologies and systems and other facilities and services provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas.

Recently I was in America and witnessed how accessibility is highly regarded. I acknowledge that Americans with disabilities fought hard for the Americans with Disabilities Act, and ensured accessibility by sticking to what the Act offers to ensure inclusion for Americans with disabilities. Sadly in Kenya, I cannot imagine my friends, who use wheelchairs, making their way through traffic going to work, and coming back home in the evening in one piece. Does it have to be this way? Is it the law that will change us, or it is our attitudes towards being accommodative of each other, including those with physical disabilities?

The Persons with Disabilities Bill, Senate Bill No. 7 of 2023 speaks to the issue of accessibility broadly. Among other provisions, it says that persons with disabilities are entitled to a barrier-free and disability-friendly environment to enable them to have access to buildings, roads and other social amenities. The National Building Code 2024 that willo commence in March includes comprehensive accessibility features. It has a section on people with disabilities and explains in depth about accessibility within buildings for people with disabilities. Both pieces of law, if fully enacted, will play a key role in ensuring that our spaces become more physically accessible.

I think about my friend who fractured her leg in the hotel room. She will have to put on a cast for about six weeks, further increasing her needs for support as a woman with a disability. I think of my many friends who sometimes have had to cancel plans to visit places because they know that these places remain physically inaccessible.

I think about the laws that we have. I know that sometimes a piece of law may not do much, sometimes it may just be an awareness that the steep step at the entrance of your office will automatically exclude someone; that the unavailability of an accessible toilet, will automatically exclude someone from paying your facility a visit.

Maybe what we need to do is pause and ask; what should I do to make my facility accessible to those with mobility difficulties? This may be the first step to ensure that you make your space  accessible and safe for such people.

-Ms Ombati is a disability activist