Encouraging a 'Barrier-free Built Environment' in a Malaysian University

Encouraging A ' Barrier-free Built Environment'

In A Malaysian University

Ha zr eena H ussein

Dep artmen t of Arch itecture Faculty of th e Bu ilt Enviro nm ent

Un iversity of Ma laya

Ab strac t

A goo d pedestrian netwo rk arou nd the cam p us should be accessib le and friend ly for all users including d isabled per sons. The environme nt shou ld offer 'some activ ity nodes to ens ure that the lea rn ing and wo rking in camp us is more pleasant. The pap er w ill clar ify the importance of collabo ra tive d evelopmen t amo ng various profession a ls and organisa tions in ord er to achieve a ' ba rrier-free bu ilt env iron men t', focusing on the Un iversity of Malaya as a case study .It _{w ill}

sha re experience on the ed uca tion of inclusive design for stud ents whowill become pro fessionals and responsib le in implem entin g the legislation rela ting to sa fety, accessibility and usab ility of the built env ironme nt. As the objective is the issue of ed uca ting relevan t profe ssiona ls, it w ill introdu ce meth od s in tea ching pro fessiona ls as a s trateg y to advoca te a ' ba rr ier -free b uilt env iron men t' . The paper will also illustrate the efforts d one in enco ur ag ing the agenda wh ich have been implemented a round the case study.

Keyword s: Barrier-Free Built Environ ment, Ed ucation, Professionals

Int rodu cti on

It _{is increasingly d ifficu lt for the di sabled} p ersons ' to use th e ca m p us? faci liti es in Ma laysia d ue10_{prev io us planni ng policie s} and im p lementa tions, w h ich did not se t ou t to provi d e for a ' ba rrie r-free buil t en viron me n t", For examp le, there were no p rovision s for slopes w ith equa l or less than 1:12 for th e w heelcha ir user s, lifts w ere

IDisabled person..s m eans a n indi vid u al who ha s a phys ical o r menta l impa irment that su bs ta n tia lly lim its o ne o r mor e of her /his major life ac tiviti es (Disabili ty-Rela ted Terms and Definitions, h ttp: / / www .duke.edu /web / eq uity /d isab_ terms.htm). 2The word "C a m p us " is u sed for exp laini ng site s of a Unive rsit y . ) ' Ba rr ie r-free Buil t Environment' mea ns un hinde red , wit hout ob s tructions . to enable d isabled persons frce passage to a nd from and use o f the facilitie s in th e b ui lt enviro nment. (Ministry of H ous ing and Local Go ve rn me n t ad minis tra tive docume n t (19991Guidelines ｉ ｾ Ｈ Ｇ ｱ ｬｦ ｩ ｲ ･ ｭ ･ｬｬｴ ｳ fo r A ccess in to Publi c Bui/iiillg s f or Disabled Pereone , Kua la Lu m p ur) .

p ro vid ed in com pl ete w i tho u t Br aill e bu ttons and a udi o signals for the vision-impaired per son s. There is a lot 10 _{be do ne} tha t cou ld a llow the d isabled pe rso ns to p ar ticipa te eq ua lly like eve ryo ne else . H o w e v e r, d is ab led pers o n s and collabo ra tors have ye t to make inclusion in pl anni ng as p riority in thei r efforts to encourage a 'ba rrier-free b uilt environ ment'. Survey had shown lack of awareness and knowledg e on the need s of d isabled per sons among cam pus citizens. Th is is th e main arg umen t fo r p us h ing for d is a b i li ty awa reness traini n g to b e on e impor tan t act ivity w he re it wo u ld be inte grat ed as the cu lt ure for a 'ca r ing ca lu p us socie ty ' . Prac tice had revealed that reg u la tion alon e is not e no ug h to ac h iev e the d esired need s o f di sab led per sons unless all pa r ties are involved with the awa reness p rogramme.

[ourna!OfDesign and lile Built Enuironmen!

When m ore d isab led p erson s and thei r concerns are respectfu lly ack nowledged,

th iswillmove tow ards anall-encompassing agend a, w hich wo u ld be integra l to th e ma ins tream deve lopmen tof planning the

campus.

The principl es of 'barrier-free'

Barrier-free is achievable w hen the

followi n g fa ctor s are considered: safety, access ibi li ty a nd usa bi li ty . A more e ncompa ssing conce pt is 'un iversa l design', w here the factors of affo rdability

and aest hetics are co nsidered . According to

Yaakob (2000), Universa l De sig n is th e

design o f produc ts and environmentsto be

usab le by a ll people, to th e grea test extent possible, w itho u t th e need for adap ta tion or specialised design.

Safety is d efi n e d as ' free d o m from danger and risks'. The builtenvironment shou ld be designed that all p eople, inclu d in g disabled persons can move abo ut without und ue hazard to life and hea lth ' .

An exa mple is pavements tha t are

cons tructed with unp rotected d ra ins (re fer figur e 1).

Accessibility is defined as, 'that can

be readily reach ed or entered'. Th is means disabled persons can, wit hout assis tance,

app roach , en ter, pass to and£1'0111/and make

use of an area and its faci lities w itho ut undue difficu lties '. An example issue is incorrect design of gratings (refer fig ure 2).

ｾ Min istry of H o nsi n g an d Loca l Governmen t

adm in istrative docu ment [1999] Guldel inee

Requirementsfor Access illtoPublic Bllildillgs for Disnbled Persons,Kuala Lump ur

Fig ure 1:

Uncovered openings that could harm the disab led person .

Fig ure 2:

Gra tings should be lai d with the d irection

across the trave l o f w hee ls for the wheelchair users and can be avoided

by shor t br idges (refe r to Fig ure 6).

5 Ministry of Ho u s ing and Lo cal Government

adminis tra tive d o cu me n t [1999] GlIidt'lil1t's

Ellcollagillg A ' Barrier-f reeBuilt Enuironmeni' III A Malaysiall Ullillersily

Usability is; 'that can be used '. Use means 'bri ng ing into se rv ice' . Th e built en viro n me nt sho uld be de signe d so that dis abl ed persons can use and en joy it' . A subseque nt problem is the inabili ty to use the public facilities such as toilets (refer to figure 3).

Figure 3:

Insuffi cient s pace for use o f the toile t.

Case Study: University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur

Th e Uni ver sity o f Malaya is a 750-acre campus situated in the sou thwest of Kuala Lum pur, the cap ita l city of Mala ysia. This fir st uni versity of th e co u n try w as established on 80h_{Oc tober 1949 wit h the}

mott o ' Kno wled ge is the Key to Success', w hic h refl ects th e phil os o ph y o f the University in its co ns tan t endeav ou r to see k knowl ed ge in all fiel ds to p roduce s uccessful g rad ua tes and a success ful n a ti o n' . Univers ity Malaysia 's Vice Chancellor, Pro fesso r Da to: Dr. Hashi m Yaacob,menti oned in theNew StraitsTimes,

written by Na gu (2003:8) that the next s tep

" Mini st ry of Hou s ing an d Lo c al Governme nt

admi ui st rat ivc do c ume nt (1 999 ] G ut det i nes

Requirements f o r Ac c{'s s ; 11 10 Public Bllildingsfo r Disa bled Persons, Kuala Lumpur

Afford ability is define d as 'having means to provid e'. Publi c transp ortation around the ca mp us (refer figure 4) is o ne of the issues.

Figure 4:

Although publi c tran s portati on is prov ide d,itis not sufficient.

is to o utline a strategy to im prove teachin g and learn ing q uality in the Unive rsity of Mala ya. He also feels the time has come for the in stituti on to ass oci ate itse lf wit h prem ie r uni v ersities s uc h as Yale an d Oxford . Op timis tica lly , being the most pres tigi o us universi ty in Ma la ys ia, the University of Malaya w ill be more concerned w ithcreating asus tainable envi ron ment as w e ll as the academ ic aims . Uni ve rsit y of Mala ya sho uld be barrier-free to disabled persons in order for them to be an equal pa rt icipan t in th e ac tiv i ties t ha t the Universit y has to offer. The followi ng are objectives that should be met in or de r to ac h ieve the agen da o f e nco ura g ing a

'barrier-free built env iron me n t',

a. Educa ting releva nt professiona ls; b. Em p lo y ing s ui ta b le me t hods in

teaching professiona ls.

iourno!of Design nlldtile Built Enuironment

We sha ll d ivide th e effor ts done ba sed on five ways as follows:

1. Co n su ltancy for new and e x isti ng bu ilding and land scap ing p rojects. Academics and research ers w ho are b eing ap proached by th e University often find th em selves e ng ag e d in advising c u rre n t projects o n the campus. Thi s is becau se the Un ive rsity does not ha ve an in-house architect and ca mp us pl anning office, but rely on the maintenance and man a g ement departme nt to h el p mai ntain the

campus facili ties and infrastru cture.

Inp uts are cer tain ly need ed from th e professiona ls concerned to int egra te facilities for th e d isabled persons in to mainstream de ve lop men t. Recently, a few acade m ic sta ff from the Faculty of th e Built En v iro nm en t wor ki ng as

part-time cons u ltants on 'barrier- free

b ui lt e n v iro n men t' cam e int o the re nov ation of the Tunku Chance llor

Hall, an im p o rt ant lan d mark in the

canlplls, wh ich is the historical m ulti-ptll'pose h all and ex h ib ition comp lex. Th ere were di sc ussion s on p rovid ing acc ess featur es s uch as ramps and acces sib le toilets alon g with land scape beautification aroun d th e h all. Up on thei r di scussion, a few problems were id entified and so lu tions were made. No propel' adm ittance for th e di sab led perso ns was on e of th e problem s (refer figure Sa and 5b).

2. Advi sor y in co m m i tte es a n d ta sk forces.

One o f the Uni v ersit y ' s tas k forces form ed co ns ists o f the acad emic staff fr om th e Facult y o f th e Built

Environment w orking in collabora tion

with an o ut side working group ca lled the Access Initia tive Croup (AIC) . AIC is a n informal group of p eopl e w orking

7His toryUn iversi tl Malaya,

ht tp:/ /www .urn.c d !! my / um /hist or y ,bl m

36

Figu r e Sa:

Before const ruction of the ramp.

.'

Fig u re 5b: Steel hand rail ins tallation .

on the promo tion of'ba rri er-free built env ironmen t' in Malaysi a. The group

had been inv olved in the co re work done a nd the y are s u ff icie n tly s k illed to

co nd uct disability awareness training co urse m odu les,incl ud ing simulation ex e rcises an d access su rveys. A lG 's

main aim is to ena ble di sab led persons

to be trained as pr om oters on

enco ura ging ' b a rr ie r - free b uilt envi ro n men t' an d to b e s u fficien tly skilled as resource person s . Thi s is to

create the groundwork for aw areness and

th us changes o f altitude for the p ublic,

EllcollngillgA_{'Barrier-freeBuiltEllvil'OlIIllell t' III}A_{Mn inysinll llll iversit y}

and pro fess ional bod ies, concerning d isability issu es.

Ano the r core ta s k force is th e Access ib ili ty an d Sa fe ty Resea rc h Cen tre (ACCESS) in th e Faculty of the Bu ilt Env iro n m en t, Uni versity o f Ma la ya . The m ain ob jec tiv e o f this

unit is to engage in research and provid e

resources for the U n ivers ity in access ibility and sa fety. Studen ts taking

land scape, architect ure, planning and

urban d esign d isciplines ma y ben efit frominter-di sciplin arycollabora tionon

a va rie ty of research topics. The unit w ill s u s tain a net w o rk o n s ha ring o f

information w ith oth e r institutions of

high er learning and research centres at bo th the local and in te rn a tiona l levels . Future co llabo ratio ns are encouraged to ob tain resea rch gra n ts and fund ing

in theresearchareas.

3. Di s a b ilit y a w a re ness tr ain in g a n d

seminars

Disabi lity a wa reness trai ning is a fairl y new phenom enon, w hich had only been int roduced in Malaysia by a few di sabled

persons as resou rce person s and trainers

train ed u n d e r the Un it ed Na ti on ' s Econo mic and Socia l Conun ission for As ia and the Pacifi c (ESC AP ). Th e concep t has been ve ry much a p plaud ed a nd such programmes were enthused by se c tio ns of th e go vern m ent s ec to r. According to Harrison and Parker (2001: 21-22), d is ability aw are n es s is n o t ac hievab le unless th e peopl e ha ve und ergone asimula tedex perience, long and im pact enoug h for the realisa tion that issu es a re connected to d isabili ty.

The mo d ule of simula tion exe rcise is an

impor tant co mponen tin achieving the

objectiv e o f sc ns itisa tion. Alt ho ug h

just tem porary, the pa rt icipants in the

train in g w il l find o u t ex ac tly th e probl em s th at di s a bl ed p e rs on s

e nco un te r, w he n they have don e the simula tors of bei ng in blind ness, using a w h eelchai r, cru tc h e s o r w alk ing

frames (re fer figure 6).

Figure 6:

Stimulation exercises - sharing experien ce and unde rs tandin g barriers.

Given tha t Univ ersity of Mala ya relic s

on the te chn ic a l p er son ne l from Building Manageme nt and Maintenance

of Pro per ty De vel o p m ent O ffice for im plem en tation of d esign, th ey sho uld

be 'in troduced aschem e to exp erience simula tion exercises wi th the g uida nce o f d isab le d p e rson s as reso urce persons ..

:8.

on thereco mme nda tionsam ong w hich disabili ty awa reness train ing sho uld be

cond ucted to rectify p roble ms w he n imp lem enting. For exa rn plc, during the Ekspo Konvokesyen Uni versity Malaya (EKSKUM) 2001, di sabled perso ns ha d

or g an is ed a se m in ar w he re a fe w

spea kers who specia lised in accessibil ity

we re inv ited to d isc uss is s ue s that

ha ppen ed around th e ca mp us. Senior

academic s and staff w ere also invited, as they are imp ortant key decision-m akers in the Uni ve rsity s tructures. As a result, we se e more peop le are awar e o f the issue s an d ther e arc d iscu ssi ons to suggest in crea ting a 'One-stop Se rvice

Cen tre' via the Office of Stude nts Affairs, at least wi th a hi gh er ra nk in g o fficer

8United Nations Economic and Social Commission

for As ia and the Pacifi c (ESCAP1 repo rt [19991 Asiallal/ll Pacific Decodeof Disa/J /edPersoll s: mid-pai n - ＬＬ Ｚ Ｚ ｾ ｩ ｯｬＯ｡ ｬ persl'('cfi ves 011 III lI l t isal oral collaborationmIltII(l H OWI I coordination, New York

[ourna! of Design and tile Buil! Enulrontneni

looking into the affairs of the disabl ed studen ts.

4. Educationa l Ap p roa ch.

On e of the elective cours es offered by the Faculty of the Built Environme nt is the

'Barrier-Free Buil t Environment' , w ith

its m ain o bjec tiv e to tra in futur e

professionals to beco me trainers and

enco urag e the Barrier-Free concep t. In

orde r fo r i t to appea l n ot o n ly to

landscape archite cts and architects, the teachi ng of des ign is lessened , so thatit

is also suitable to building surveyors, w ho are also th e p ro fession als being em ployed as building inspectors in the local aut ho rities . O thers th at wo u ld

take int erest fire the facili ties managers

and qu an tity s urveyors, who often ac t as proj ect man agers, mostl y em ployed in de velope rs finn . Students are exposed to issues concern ing th e problems of disabled persons in Malaysia , in the context of cur rent deve lop me nts. They s t u d y th e bu ild in g regu la ti on s,

legi sl ati on, s tandards and g uidelines that arc in ex is tence in Malaysia and in countries s uch as Un ited King do m,

Unit ed Sta tes and Japan a t a supe rficial

level. Dem on s tration s and exercises arc

m ethod s e m p lo ye d to pro vi d e

und er stand in g o f barr ier s and simu latio n exercise. Inpu t on how to do access surveys and audits9 w ill be g ive n

so tha t s tu d en ts w iII be trained and

'iAccess surve y is a too l to gauge a bu ilding's

pe rf o r m a n ce on acces s ibility for the d isable d persons. The method is structured in a format that consists of a se t of questi ons and gu ided by the particular coun try's leg islative cod es , s tandards

and gu ide lines . The 1001 en ables one to record

dimensionsa ndexisting specification of a building

element, hence provides for ane val ua tive method.

One goes through an d ch ec ks whet her the specifica tion is according to the s tandards and guide lines . One or many perso ns mus t create a rea listic rou te, often s tarting from the d rop-off point and go around the premises and records the inform ati on tha t wi ll be proce ssed la ter. The

a n a ly tica l tool also gui d es to the co rrect

38

knowledgeable, hopefully w ith empathy, after which they are act ua lly involved in

facilita ting a w orkshop o n 'Barrier-Free BuiltEnv iro n men t',Itwa s cond ucted for

pa rticipants from the Un iversity which

incl ude the managemen t, acade m ic, te chnical a nd s u p p o r t s ta ff . T h is

imparts a certain objective of 'team w ork'

and impa ct of learning, by ha ving the expos ure to le a d . St ude n ts a lso

conduc ted access s urveys and au d its

on bu ildi ngs (in terna l and externa l) id en tifi ed in th e Un ive rs ity (re fe r figure 7).

5. Trai n in g th e fu tur e pro fessi onal s .

Profess ionals s uch as architects, land -scape architects, bu ild ing s urveyo rs, buil di ng sur vey, qua ntity surveyo rs and planners are responsib le for how the

built environme nt had co me to wha t it

is. With the he lp of professiona l bod ies such as Inst itute of Landscap e Architects Malaysia (ILAM), Pert ubuhan Ark itek Malaysia (PAM), Inst itute of Eng ineers Malaysia (!EM), Ins titu tion of Su rveyor Malaysia (ISM) and Malaysian Institute of Planni ng (MII'), such efforts wo uld be escala ted eve n more if the training of

fu-ture professiona ls includes aw areness

training, teachin g de sign mod ules in the

professional trainin g and ge nerally pro-mo ting 'barrier-free bu ilt environment'.

specification, which can contribute to the formation of an access audit. This in turn cou ld enable the quantity surveyor or contractor to put a cost to the specifications and help to quicken the process of

implementation. The building owner could easil y

see if the cos ts could be mel the budget that the)' ha ve and co uld pla n wh e n to ins tall the

sp eci fications . Access surveys objective is 10 find

out as muchdet ailed information froma building

as to whetherit is accessible for the disabled. This

eva lu a tio n ca me abou t b eca u se the di s abl ed person s need to com munica te techn ica lly and

effectivelyconcerning thelack of access features in

a building(Yaacob,N .M.120001 A(f('ssS Urllf.'y 11$ (/

Figure 7:

Access survey do ne in one of the faculties in the campus.

Co n cl us io n

Awareness and understanding of the basic

needs of di sabled persons mus t be propagated and one of the best methods to

propa gat e awaren ess is throu gh ed ucating

both the s taff and st udents of Uni versit y Ma laya .Thro ug ho u t our expe rienc es in

promoting 'barrier-free built environment',

th e mos t im p o rt a nt pa r t o f th e en tire

Ell collagillg A 'Barrier-f ree Bull! Enuironmeni' III A Malaysiall LIlliversity

process is the involvement of all possible pa rtic ipan ts, i.e.the un iversi ty exec u tives, academ ics, rese arche rs, ad m inis trative , support sta ff, techn ical, the man agement

and mai nte na nc e. Having a di sabili ty

co mp lia nce unit at th e S tude n t Aff airs a lso help ed the disabled p ersons to orga ni se e ve nts tha t could promo te Non-Ha nd icapping Environment. Differen t local condi tions wo uld nee d the sens itiv ity

of acade mics to disce rn problematic areas

tha t co uld help effort s in 'ba rrier-free built

e n v iro n men t' prom oti on ki ck-start as

st ud en ts could pro vide for help to d o access

surve ys and run training co u rses.v\lith

the leadership and me n toring,academics,

o ther profe ss iona ls co ncerned, disab led

persons as reso u rce pe rso ns and local

govern ment con tacts could put their head s together to so lve problems in the local co n tex t. It _{is ho p ed th at with ca re fu l} plannin g and sensitive approaches, all ca mp uses will be more accessible, friendl y a nd sa fe for all use rs in o rd e r that the

university's objec tive o f a 'caring camp us

society' be achieved .

R efe rences

Unite d N ati ons Eco nomi c an d Socia l

Comm iss ion for Asia and the Paci fi c

[ESCAP] (1999),Asiall alld Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons: Mid -poillt - regi ona! perspectives on muliisecioml collabomtion and nntional coordination,New York.

Ministry of Housing and Local Governmen t (1999), Cuideline«Requimnentsjo rAccessillto Public Blli/dillgs f or DisabledPersons,Kuala Lump ur.

Journ al Art icle:

Harrison, Ja me s Doug la s and Park er ,

Kenne th Ja me s (2001),lnitiatlues and Isslies ill Education and TrainingillDesigllillg for Seniors and Persons witlt Disabilities,pp. 21-22

Interne t references :

H istory Universiti Malaya, available:

h ttp: / / w ww .tun .edu.my /um / hist ory.htm [Accessed: May 28th, 2004]

Disability-Rela ted Terms and Definitions, av ailable: http: / /w ww.duke.edu /web / eq uity / di sab j cr rns .htm [Accessed: June 12th,2004 ]

Paper Article

Nagu , Suz ieana [2003 May 4] Reva mped for

Top Gear. LearningCurver: N ew Sunday

Times,pg8.

Un p ublishe d Papers

Yaakob,Na ziaty [2000] Konsep Alam Bina

Bcbas Halangan dan Prins ip Dimensi

Yaacob, Na zialy[2000J Access Sur vey as a Tool for Empower men t