Accessibility to the Built Environment for Mobility-Impaired Persons: A Review

Able-bodied persons have no apprehension regarding access when approaching a public building for the first time. For mobility-impaired people, access is likely to be foremost in their minds. Universal design aims at accessibility for all to the built environment. As does the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, an international treaty which came into force on 03 May 2008. Despite concurrent developments in disability law in many countries, including New Zealand, much of the built environment is inaccessible to the mobility-impaired. Governments and disability organisations try to understand the needs of mobility-impaired persons but, without empathy, it is difficult for abled-bodied building designers and lawmakers to envisage being mobility-impaired. This means that disabled people currently do not have the same quality of life as the able-bodied. A content analysis of literature found that researchers do not often address this difference. Lengthy sentences and considerable cross-referencing in disability law make interpreting difficult, further disadvantaging the mobility-impaired. Although the primary focus of this paper is on New Zealand, it also includes comparative analysis with international standards and approaches. The review identifies improvement opportunities in the Accessibility for New Zealanders Act (ANZA) that may enhance accessibility for the mobility-impaired. In its current form, ANZA is a bitter disappointment to mobility-impaired New Zealanders who have fought so long for better accessibility to the built environment and there is strong campaigning for it to be rewritten. This study may therefore provide a direction for future research into accessibility law.