Accessibility and its Effects on Lifestyle

A noticeable difference in living and studying in Canada, is that I'm pleasantly surprised to see a numerable amount of students and teaching staff on campus in electric wheelchairs and scooters. Lecture halls and classrooms are designed so lowered desks can allow a person and his mobility device to fit comfortably around it. The doors of every entrance and bathroom have automated mechanisms that open at the touch of a elbow-height button, so they do not require someone to be present in order to hold the doors open. Public transit buses in Canada are venerable modes of transport that are the closest modern-day likeliness of a Transformer: seats flanking both sides of the aisles at the front of the bus can be folded up and down to allow more floor space, while height adjustable air suspensions allow the bus to "kneel" down so users can make an easier transition from curb to vehicle.

A wheelchair or scooter user would have to sit at the front in this lecture hall, assuming that there are wheelchair accessible ramps. Hard to not pay attention in every class, huh?

In Singapore, rarely do you see students using mobility aids attending a public institution. The few times that I've ever seen a student using a basic manual wheelchair, are usually the product of a fractured knee from a basketball game or some other temporary injury. These individuals always required the assistance of a fellow student or instructor to navigate from building to building, curb to ground, across walkways, away from drains and out of school gates. So where does this leave those with chronic physically disabilities? 

Since regular educational facilities do not have the universal design elements to cater to their needs, "special" schools are built to accommodate such students. Students of all ages, with either physical, cognitive or mental disabilities, are grouped together based on their requirement for an environment that is different from the public norm. Here, you have a segregation of people according to their physical capabilities -- intelligence, creativity, dedication and aptitude notwithstanding. Using assisted mechanisms or amenities of proper design to facilitate one's mobility does not necessarily make one much less of a student, worker, parent, friend or human being.

Thus, physically disabled students in Singapore attend schools that are not necessarily the closest to home or in their neighborhood. While they are designated to specific locations to receive their lessons, the very lessons that ought to be no different than what is taught to their able-bodied peers in regular collegiates, this separation undermines their ability to integrate into normal society and experience the life, hobbies and friends that come with a standard school setting.

So for how long do people with physical disabilities have to endure a lifestyle with restricted choice? Limiting these individuals' experiences and options on where to go, what to do and the things to see is an erosion of their natural rights. Treating them as a different class will only continue the pervasion of idea that people with physical disabilities are capable of less; the only places fit for people in electric wheelchairs or motorized scooters are "special" institutes for the young (usually meant to help those with learning disabilities) while adults are treated like retirees, abandoned at "Assistive Nursing Homes" when  many are able to acquire training and knowledge for just about any skilled profession.

The arrow indicates designated access. This however, does not amount to universal accessibility.

Accessibility and the freedom of choice is a right every person should enjoy. More organizations (not just welfare societies) and businesses in Singapore should aim for the proper development and promotion of universal accessibility, instead of designating access to only specific locations, services or buildings. Making choices available, convenient and functional for everyone, would mean a society where people with and without physical disabilities can enjoy the same number of options. In the spectrum of tourism and development, universal access would allow local citizens as well as international visitors to navigate and live comfortably in Singapore with a measure of freedom, dignity and independence.