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.