Nowhere safe for Jakarta's disabled people

Nowhere safe for Jakarta's disabled people

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Watching the participants of the Road Safety Day Workshop at the
Office of the Ministry of Communications recently, I became aware
of the formidable difficulty people with disabilities face in
trying to get around Jakarta.

Jakarta is considered by many as one of the unfriendliest
cities in the world for pedestrians. For the disabled, the
capital is, in fact, more like a landmine-peppered jungle.

Even along Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat -- one of the city's major
thoroughfares, adjacent to the National Monument Park --
pavements full of holes are always waiting to trap the unwary
pedestrian.

A person in a wheelchair may find his wheels stuck in a
grating, and the blind may suddenly find themselves running smack
into a tree or electricity pole while walking on the sidewalk.

"Our sidewalks are hazardous even for children," I Gde Jaya
Usadha from the non-governmental organization Yayasan Tanpa Batas
(No Limits Foundation) said, explaining that many of the
pavements were built too high and manholes were often not
covered.

The workshop -- organized by Pelangi together with the
Ministry of Communications, and held to mark World Health Day on
April 7 -- allowed students, building operators and ministry
officials to experience what it is like to be disabled in
Jakarta. Blacked-out goggles and sticks, crutches, and
wheelchairs were all provided to enhance the experience.

"It's no wonder you rarely see people with disabilities
walking on the streets," said one participant after trying out
the wheelchair.

Ramps linking buildings to the street, even at the Ministry of
Communications building, are far too steep. They are almost
impossible to climb by wheelchair-bound people, while coming
down, they are in danger of losing control.

After asking others to help, two participants tried to
maneuver up the ramp, Usadha -- himself wheelchair-bound --
wheeled his own chair up, "I've done this for eight years, I'm
strong enough now to do it without help."

Usadha said that the ideal slope for ramps was a 1 centimeter
incline for every 12 centimeters of ramp, with 1:10 still
acceptable.

Out on the road, the difficulties increase. Curb ramps are
absent on most sidewalks rendering wheelchairs useless and
creating complications for the blind and those using crutches.

Crossing the road poses another hazard. Although one could say
that the pedestrian crossings at Monas are both audible as well
as visual, as suggested by Universal Design, the absence of
guiding blocks meant the visually impaired will not be able to
cross safely without assistance.

"I don't know where to cross, nothing gives me an indication
of which way to go," a participant wearing the blacked-out
goggles and using a stick said. It was lucky he had somebody with
him to tell him where to go -- others may not be so fortunate.

Even the newly built busway system is not designed with the
disabled, children or elderly in mind.

The ramps leading to the bus stops are not covered with non-
slip material and are dangerous during rain. Some bus stops, like
the one at Harmony, Central Jakarta, are even inaccessible to
people with wheelchairs because of the absence of ramps.

These are only a few of the things that make it difficult for
people with disabilities to move around. The participants in the
workshop worked their way through sidewalks, phone booths, ticket
booths, busway stops, and even buses, and found many more
problems.

Ministry of Communications' director for the management of
city transportation systems, Suripno, admitted to these
shortcomings despite government regulations requiring public
facilities to be accessible to all.

"It's not that people with disabilities want special
treatment, we don't. There's nothing special about me, I am at
best ordinary. We just want equal access to public facilities,"
Usadha said.

Instead of designing or producing special equipment for the
use of the disabled, one way to provide equal access is to employ
the Universal Design Code when designing public facilities.

Universal design is the design of products and environments to
be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without
the need for adaptation or specialized design.

Universal design requires every design to be useful and
marketable to people with diverse abilities (equitable use),
accommodate a wide range of individual preferences and abilities
(flexibility in use), to be easy to understand regardless of the
user's experience, knowledge, language skills or current
concentration level (simple and intuitive).

The design should also communicate necessary information
effectively regardless of ambient conditions of the user's
sensory abilities (perceptible information), minimize hazards and
the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions
(tolerance for error). It should require only low physical effort
to use, and provide adequate size and space for approach and use.

"It is a known fact that 80 percent of people will use ramps
even when stairs are available. Why? Because they are easier on
the limbs, whether for the disabled or for women, children and
the elderly," Usadha said, adding that if this code were employed
prior to construction, there should be no additional cost.

"As it is, we can't study at (public) university as the
University of Indonesia doesn't even have elevators for lecture
rooms on the fourth floor," he said.