The goals of accessible design
In daily life, as we manoeuvre through society, nothing is more important yet taken for granted more often than access. For millions of people with disabilities, the access that most of us take for granted is difficult, impossible, or achievable only with the intervention of a third party. We live in what is considered an independent society, yet independent access to programs, facilities, and employment are not easily achievable by many. Physical access is historically the arbiter of success and the source of opportunity in education, employment, and social freedom. Thus, accessibility is a civil rights issue for many people with disabilities and for our society.
If we live long enough, all of us may eventually have a disability that requires a modification of the built environment. The number of people having a disability is projected to grow rapidly as our population ages. One outgrowth of this is that the line between who is and who is not a person with a disability will steadily erode. We must redefine and redirect our traditional understanding of designing for accessibility to not only include those persons permanently disabled, but also those temporarily disabled due to an injury as well as any other potentially debilitating condition. National Institute of Building Sciences, Washington DC, http://www.wbdg.org/design
Services provided by Disability Consultancy Services are designed to help clients create accessible built environments that comply with appropriate standards and legislation.