Buildings & Outdoor
Buildings and outdoor areas are of the most common barriers to access to people with disabilities, but also to the greater public.
The following are only a few of the key areas which may present some access issues.
- Accessible parking
- Walkways / ramps / steps / landings
- Kerb height / guardrails / handrails
- Information / signage / wayfinding / orientation/ Tactile Ground Surface Indicators (TGSI’s)
- Doorways / entrances
- Door opening pressure / handles
- Wheelchair circulation space inside / outside
- Stairways and lifts
- Auditory assistive devices in lifts
- Unisex Accessible Toilets (USAT)
- Emergency egress
If you believe that you have been discriminated against through Non Compliant Built Environments, please feel free to fill out and submit our Disability Discrimination Complaint (DDC) Form, which we will review, then take to the relevant authororities.
You can also read the information below the form to find out more about Accessible Built Environments and the companies and organisations that provide Universal Design & Access services in South Africa.
The South African National Standard for Building Regulations
Persons with disabilities are often excluded from many events, services, information, communication, products and venues because during the planning phases all users were not considered. This can be prevented by applying Universal Design Principals during the design phase. Government Regulations have been put in place in South Africa and around the world to try to make public places more accessible to persons with disabilities, including persons with Mobility Impairments.
The Government often makes laws that insure that new buildings are designed & built with certain features to make them wheelchair friendly. These are known as The National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act, which was amended and published by the Department of Trade and Industry in May 2008. Some parts of the Act Part S deals with facilities for persons with disabilities and directly affected the building industry. They include information about:
- Disabled Toilets
- Ramps
- Disabled Parking Bays
- Disabled Bays in Movie Theaters, Sports stadiums & Music Concerts
Organizations & Companies That Can Assist With Universal Design & Access
Unfortunately many buildings and most houses in South Africa were not designed and built to accommodate wheelchair users or the elderly. The owners of these buildings and houses may therefore be challenged by the need to find architects and renovators familiar with accessible design issues in order to make them accessible.There are now various Organizations and Companies that specialize in Universal Design and Access to make sure that persons with disabilities are not excluded from any events, services, information, communication, products and venues. These Organizations and Companies can assist in different ways including: