Dubai: Dubai is in the process of transforming more than 1,000 buildings like schools, mosques and hospitals into disability-friendly, barrier-free spaces over the next two years as it aims to become one of the most disabled-friendly cities by 2020, officials said on Wednesday.
The move is part of the “My Community ... A City for Everyone” vision of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of the Executive Council, that seeks to turn Dubai into an inclusive city.
Dr Salem Al Shafe’ei, director of Policies and Programmes, Rights of People with Disabilities at the General Secretariat of the Executive Council of Dubai, said on Wednesday that Dubai is doing its best to achieve this target.
“We’re working to retrofit 10 key sectors in Dubai, including educational buildings, starting from nurseries, schools, universities, colleges across Dubai, and health-care facilities, all mosques, tourism venues, including hotels,” Dr Al Shafe’ei said during the #TogetherLimitless platform on Wednesday.
The community discussion, organised by Emirates NBD’s flagship advocacy platform, brought together policymakers and corporate executives from the Dubai Executive Council, Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), and Expo 2020, as well as Emirates NBD, to discuss sustainable solutions to make Dubai an inclusive city.
Dr Al Shafe’ei said new buildings are required to follow the Dubai Universal Design Code announced in July that details the standard requirements for making all public spaces accessible.
Old buildings, meanwhile, will be retro-fitted following an audit to meet the requirements of the code.
From the transport side, Ahmad Hassan Mahboub, executive director, Customer Services Department at RTA, said RTA has, for years, made inclusiveness part of its daily operations thanks to its bold vision of “Safe and Smooth Transport For All”. All changes needed in the public transport sector to allow access to people of determination are taken into account through constant feedback from end users as well.
Since the initiative is citywide, even the Expo 2020 site has been designed to be accessible to all. Ahmad Al Khateeb, senior vice-president of Real Estate and Delivery, Expo 2020 Dubai, said the master plan was revised and improved 24 times to ensure a good visitor experience for all.
For the banking sector, Muna Al Falahi, representing Emirates NBD and panellist at the forum, said that through its advocacy platform, it has facilitated workplace inclusion of people with cognitive disabilities, opened 17 disabled-friendly bank branches so far, and promoted financial inclusion, among other initiatives.
Dr Al Shafe’ei, however, said that making Dubai an inclusive city goes beyond just eliminating physical barriers.
He said others exist like attitudinal barriers or people’s mindsets towards disabilities and institutional barriers like laws and policies.
The discourse should also be beyond numbers, said Yahya Abdi Siyad, one of the forum’s attendees who also advocates for social inclusion.
Working as a learning development assistant manager at Tanfeeth, Yahya, who has visual impairment, said inclusiveness should not be based on numbers. The disability prevalence among the total population is 0.8 per cent, specifically 3.2 per cent among Emiratis and 0.5 per cent among non-Emiratis, according to the Dubai Social Survey 2015. Of these, chronic diseases together with visual impairment and difficulty in movement are the top three disabilities among Emiratis.
He said: “People say people of determination make up only five per cent of society, why are we spending millions to retro-fit? The point is, disability can be temporary as well. If you play football and break your leg now, you become temporarily disabled. Everywhere you look, you can be impacted with a limited or temporary disability, that if we design better features that will include this, then we’re actually serving a lot more than five per cent.”