Draft law for disability-friendly city ready in six months

Dubai The civic body has commissioned a team of specialists to draw a draft law that will pave the way for Dubai to take its first steps towards becoming a disability-friendly city, a senior official announced on Wednesday.

The draft law is expected to be ready in six months.

“We have building regulations that clearly state how it should incorporate the needs of disabled people, and you can see it in shopping malls, government buildings and schools,” said Hussain Nasser Lootah, director general of Dubai Municipality.

“A team of consultants are analysing the current rules and after their study is carried out, will inform us about which sectors have to be improved, such as roads and buildings,” he said, pointing out that although the building code applies to new structures, older ones will also be revised.

Once the draft law is amended and implemented, it will become a significant tool in enabling Dubai to become a disability-friendly city by 2020 under the initiative “My Community ... A City for Everyone”, which aims to maximise the participation and integration of disabled people in society.

The vision of “My Community ... A City for Everyone” is to transform Dubai into a disability-friendly city by launching a set of laws, legislative frameworks and initiatives. It will also ensure the provision of quality healthcare to persons with disabilities, as well as supportive social services.

“In the first few months of 2016, we will start dividing Dubai into different sectors and launch a pilot project to implement a new standard for people with disabilities,” said Majid Al Osaimi, president of the Asian Paralympic Committee and member of the Higher Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disability.

“The project will be rolled out in multiple phases. Once the progress of the first phase is evaluated, we will then decide when and how to implement them in the other sectors,” he said.

Al Osaimi explained that residents can start seeing some noticeable improvements by next month, focused on promoting an accessible environment for the disabled, although he did not reveal any further details on the project.

“A seven-member taskforce of consultants, who represent people with disabilities and their families, is responsible for implementing the project that will incorporate the best practices from the US and Europe. The challenge is now avoiding a bad start, and for it to run in a way that keeps on getting better,” he said.

Al Osaimi, who has been unable to walk since he was two years old after a bout of polio, added that the level of participation of disabled people in society has improved over the years, “for example, the members of the Olympic Paralympic team increased by 25 per cent from the Olympics in London to the one in Rio de Janeiro, and we are now 15”.