Transcript Ministry of Housing`s Presentations

HOUSING AND PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS:
ENSURING ACCESS FOR
PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
A KEY NOTE SPEECH
BY
TIROP KOSGEY, CBS
PERMANENT SECRETARY
MINISTRY OF HOUSING
AT
THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE
ON
DISABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY RIGTHTS:
TOWARDS
IMPLEMENTING THE PERSONS WITH
DISABILITIES ACT 2003
AT
KENYATTA INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE CENTRE
26TH JUNE, 2012
Introduction
To find the right house or apartment
several things among them price range,
location, aesthetics, overall floor space
and the number of bedrooms are
considered
People with disabilities face the same
considerations, but as important as they
are, they are overshadowed by the need
for housing to be accessible: housing
that enables people with disabilities to
live their lives as independently as
possible. A dwelling must be fully
accessible to become a home for people
with disabilities.
The Constitution of Kenya under part 2
Rights and fundamental freedoms article
27 provides that every person is equal
before the law and has the right to equal
protection and equal benefit of the law.
The State shall not discriminate directly or
indirectly against any person on any
ground, including race, sex, pregnancy,
marital status, health status, ethnic or
social origin, colour, age, disability,
religion, conscience, belief, culture, dress,
language or birth.
The state is empowered under this article
to take legislative and other measures,
including affirmative action programmes
and policies designed to redress any
disadvantage suffered by individuals or
groups because of past discrimination in
order to give full effect to the realization of
these rights.
The Persons with Disabilities Act 2003
Section 21 provides that persons with
disabilities are entitled to a barrier –free and
disability friendly environment to enable
them to have access to buildings, roads and
other social amenities, and assistive devices
and other equipment to promote their
mobility.
Section 22(1) goes further to provide that a
proprietor of a public building shall adapt it
to suit persons with disabilities in such a
manner as may be specified by the council.
It is therefore against this background that
the Ministry of Housing being responsible for
matters related to housing has formulated
policies and legislations to ensure the
achievement of the guaranteed bill of rights.
These include the built environment Bill,
2011, the Building Surveyors Bill 2012, the
Housing
Bill,
the
National
Building
Regulations and the National Building
Maintenance Policy.
These legislations
requires that there should be reasonable
provisions for access to and use of
buildings by the persons with disabilities.
Housing Policy
Among the objectives of the National
Housing policy is to offset the negative
effects and impacts to vulnerable groups in
the society which include the poor, women,
children in difficult circumstances, the
handicapped, the elderly and displaced
persons
The Policy advocates that public buildings
and facilities, public housing and
transport systems put in place measures
that ensure access by elderly and persons
with disability.
The Legislations
The draft National Building Regulations
which is a review of the current Building
Code of 1948 Part B deals with access and
facilities for the persons with disability
and provides for the following:
Buildings to Be Designed For Use by
Persons with Disability
The regulations require that all public
buildings and spaces should be designed
to accommodate needs of persons with
disability.
Initial Access for Persons with Disability
Convenient access to the entrance and
car park should be provided. At least one
car parking space or one percentage of
car parking spaces, whichever is higher,
should be provided and be accessible
from the said entrance and lift.
Parking Facilities
The regulations require that all public
buildings should have designated parking
spaces for the wheel chair users. The route
to the facility or parking spaces should be
free of any obstruction that may impede or
endanger the travel.
The reserved parking and route should
be located as close as possible to an
accessible entrance of the building and
has to be clearly marked. The reserved
spaces should be denoted by painting
the internationally recognized symbol
on the ground using durable yellow
paint and by signposting at the entrance
of the car parking.
Ramps for Persons with Disability
The regulations also requires that ramps
should be provided at all changes in levels of
building spaces vertically or horizontally.
Gentle ramps should be provided at all
changes in levels not served by a lift or at
kerbs.
The regulations further require that
dropped kerbs should be provided at
pedestrian crossing and at each end of
the footpath of a private street or access
road.
Lifts for Persons with Disability
The regulations requires that all floors of a
building should be provided with at least
one lift matching the specifications for
persons with disability for their use.
Lifts should be provided with access to all
floors to enable access throughout the
building.
The passenger lift should have clear landing,
doors should have clear opening width, the lift
installation must be provided with tactile call
buttons both in Braille and raised numbers or
letters on each storey served and within the
lift, tactile storey selector buttons and in a lift
serving more than two storeys visual and
voice indicators on the storey reached.
A flashing red light should be installed
inside the lift to warn deaf persons of a fire
within the building whereas touch sensitive,
illuminated and audible lift controls, with
embossed digits should be used both inside
and outside the lift. Embossed numerals
should also be used to identify the floor
number level
Corridors and Lobbies for Persons with
Disability
All corridors and lobbies should have space
for manoeuvring wheel chairs.
Doors for Persons with Disability
The regulations provide that the door
specifications for use by persons with
disability should be complied with.
Water Closet Cubicles for Persons with
Disability
The regulations provide that there should
be adequate number of water closets (WCs)
for use by persons with disability in each
floor depending on the total number of
water closets provided on that level or the
number of cubicles assigned to each sex.
Location of Water Closet Cubicles for
Persons with Disability
Water closet cubicles for persons with
disability should be easily accessible in a
building
Rooms for Persons with Disability
A hotel with guest rooms should provide
adequate number of rooms with full
facilities for persons with disabilities.
Built Environment Bill
The Built environment Bill 2012 provides
for Control of Building Works and in
particular grounds for refusal to approve
building plans. The non inclusion of the
requirements
of
the
persons
with
disabilities in the building plans forms one
of the grounds not to approve the building
plans.
The appointment of authorized persons as
provided for in the bill is aimed at
ensuring proper supervision of the
building development works to ensure
that the construction is done as per the
approved building plans.
Building developers are required to have
all the building development stages
inspected and certified before proceeding
to the next stage.
The bill and the regulations also
recommend that after the building is
completed, a certificate of occupation is
issued. Where, the completed building
differs with what is in the approved
building
plans,
the
certificate
of
occupation will be denied.
Gaps and challenges in implementation of
provisions of the Persons with Disability Act,
2003
Although the ministry has formulated
legislations as empowered by the constitution
of Kenya under the bill of rights and article
43, the approval of the Bill and finalization of
the drafting of the regulations has been very
slow. This has hampered the implementation
of the provisions of the regulations
particularly on areas addressing issues of
persons with disabilities.
Strategies for implementing the Persons
with Disability Act
The Persons with Disability Act is in tandem
with the
Regulations and once they are
approved
will
spearhead
the
implementation and enforcement of the
Act.
The regulations are under Legislative drafting
stage.
Kindly
send
your
[email protected]
contributions
to
Ramps for use by persons with Disability
Toilets for use by persons with disability
Lifts for use by persons with Disability
Parking spaces for use by Persons with
disability