Encouraging A 'Barrier-free Built Environment'In A Malaysian University

Ha zreena H ussein

Dep artmen t of ArchitectureFaculty of the Built Environm ent

University of Malaya

Abstrac t

A goo d pedestrian netwo rk arou nd the campus should be accessible and friend ly for all usersincluding d isabled persons. The environment shou ld offer 'some activ ity nodes to ens ure thatthe learn ing and wo rking in campus is more pleasant. The paper will clar ify the importance ofcollabo ra tive developmen t among various professionals and organisa tions in order to achievea 'ba rrier-free bu ilt env iron ment', focusing on the University of Malaya as a case study . It w illsha re experience on the ed ucation of inclusive design for students who will become pro fessionalsand responsib le in implementin g the legislation relating to safety, accessibility and usab ility ofthe built env ironment. As the objective is the issue of ed ucating relevant professiona ls, it willintrodu ce meth od s in teaching professiona ls as a s trategy to advocate a 'barr ier -free builtenv ironment' . The paper will also illustrate the efforts done in encourag ing the agenda wh ichhave been implemented around the case study.

Keywords: Barrier-Free Built Environment, Education, Professionals

Introducti on

It is increasingly d ifficult for the di sabledpersons ' to use th e camp us? faci liti es inMalaysia d ue 10 prev ious planning policiesand implementa tions, w hich did not se tou t to provid e for a 'ba rrier-free buil tenvironme nt", For examp le, there were noprovisions for slopes with equa l or less than1:12 for th e w heelcha ir users, lifts were

I Disabled person..s means an indi vid ual who has aphys ical o r menta l impairment that subs tan tia llylim its o ne o r mor e of her /his major life activiti es(Disabili ty-Rela ted Terms and Definitions, h ttp: // www.duke.edu/web / eq uity /d isab_terms.htm).2 The word "C ampus" is used for exp laini ng sitesof a Unive rsit y . ) ' Barr ie r-free Buil t Environment'mea ns unhindered , wit hout obs tructions . to enabled isabled persons frce passage to and from and useof the facilitie s in the bui lt enviro nment. (Ministryof Housing and Local Go vernment ad minis tra tivedocument (19991 Guidelines I~('q lf iremellts fo r Accessin to Public Bui/iiillgs f or Disabled Pereone , Kua laLu m p ur).

p ro vid ed in compl ete w i tho u t Braill ebu ttons and audi o signals for the vision­impaired person s. There is a lot 10 be do netha t cou ld allow the d isabled persons topar ticipa te eq ua lly like everyone else .Ho we ve r, d is ab led person s andcollabora tors have ye t to make inclusionin planning as priority in their efforts toencourage a 'barrier-free built environ ment'.Survey had shown lack of awareness andknowledge on the needs of disabled personsamong campus citizens. Th is is the mainargumen t fo r p ush ing for d isa bi li tyawareness training to be one importan tact ivity where it wo uld be inte grated as thecu lt ure for a 'ca r ing ca lu p us socie ty ' .Prac tice had revealed that reg ulation aloneis not eno ug h to achieve the desired need sof disab led persons unless all pa rties areinvolved with the awareness programme.

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[ourna!Of Designand lileBuilt Enuironmen!

When m ore d isab led persons and theirconcerns are respectfully ack nowledged,this will move tow ards an all-encompassingagenda, w hich would be integral to thema ins tream development of planning thecampus.

The principl es of 'barrier-free'Barrier-free is achievable w hen thefollowi ng factor s are considered: safety,access ibi li ty a nd usa bi li ty . A moreencompassing concept is 'universa ldesign', w here the factors of affo rdabilityand aest hetics are considered . According toYaakob (2000), Universal Design is thedesign of produc ts and environments to beusable by all people, to the grea test extentpossible, w itho u t the need for adap tationor specialised design.

Safety is d efined as ' freed om fromdanger and risks'. The built environmentshould be designed that all p eople,including disabled persons can move aboutwithout und ue hazard to life and health ' .An exa mple is pavements tha t areconstructed with unprotected d ra ins (referfigure 1).

Accessibility is defined as, 'that canbe readily reached or entered'. This meansdisabled persons can, without assis tance,app roach, enter, pass to and £1'0111/ and makeuse of an area and its faci lities w itho utundue difficulties '. An example issue isincorrect design of gratings (refer figure 2).

~ Min istry of H onsi ng an d Loca l Governmen tadm in istrative document [1999] Guldel ineeRequirements for Access illto Public Bllildillgs forDisnbled Persons, Kuala Lump ur

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Fig ure 1:Uncovered openings that could harm the

disabled person.

Fig ure 2:Gra tings should be laid with the d irection

across the travel of w heels for thewheelchair users and can be avoided

by short br idges (refe r to Fig ure 6).

5 Ministry of Housing and Local Governmentadminis tra tive docume n t [1999] GlIidt'lil1t'sReouirenicnte for Access into Public BlI ildillgs forDisabled Persons, Kuala Lumpur

EllcollagillgA 'Barrier-freeBuilt Enuironmeni' III A Malaysiall Ullillersily

Usability is; 'that can be used'. Use means'bring ing into serv ice' . The builtenvironme nt should be de signed so thatdisabled persons can use and enjoy it' . Asubseque nt problem is the inabili ty to usethe public facilities such as toilets (refer tofigure 3).

Figure 3:Insuffi cient space for use of the toile t.

Case Study: University of Malaya,Kuala LumpurThe Uni ver sity o f Malaya is a 750-acrecampus situated in the sou thwest of KualaLum pur, the cap ita l city of Mala ysia. Thisfir st uni versity of th e co un try w asestablished on 80h Oc tober 1949 wit h themotto 'Knowledge is the Key to Success',w hich refl ects th e philosophy of theUniversity in its co nstant endeavou r toseek knowled ge in all fields to p roducesuccessful g rad uates and a success fulna ti on' . Univers ity Malaysia 's ViceChancellor, Pro fessor Da to: Dr. HashimYaacob, mentioned in the New Straits Times,written by Na gu (2003:8) that the next s tep

" Mini st ry of Hou s ing and Local Governmentadmi ui st rat ivc docume nt (1 999 ] Gut det inesRequirements f or Ac c{'s s ; 11 10 Public Bllildings fo r

Disabled Persons, Kuala Lumpur

Afford ability is defined as 'having meansto provid e'. Public transportation aroundthe camp us (refer figure 4) is one of theissues.

Figure 4:Although public tran sportation is

provided, it is not sufficient.

is to outline a strategy to improve teachingand learn ing quality in the University ofMalaya. He also feels the time has come forthe in stitution to associ ate itse lf withpremie r uni versities suc h as Yale andOxford . Op timis tica lly , being the mostpres tigi ous universi ty in Malays ia, theUniversity of Malaya willbe more concernedwith creating a sus tainable envi ronment aswell as the academ ic aims . University ofMala ya should be barrier-free to disabledpersons in order for them to be an equalpa rt icipan t in the ac tiv i ties tha t theUniversity has to offer. The followi ng areobjectives that should be met in orde r toac hieve the agenda o f e ncoura g ing a'barrier-free built env ironment',

a. Educa ting releva nt professionals;b. Em p loy ing s ui ta b le me thods in

teaching professiona ls.

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iourno!of Design nlldtile Built Enuironment

We sha ll d ivide the efforts done based onfive ways as follows:

1. Co nsultancy for new and existingbu ilding and landscap ing projects.Academics and researchers w ho arebeing ap proached by the Universityoften find themselves engaged inadvising cu rre n t projects on thecampus. Thi s is becau se the Unive rsitydoes not have an in-house architectand campus planning office, but rely onthe maintenance and managementdepartment to h el p maintain thecampus facili ties and infrastructure.

Inputs are certainly needed fromthe professiona ls concerned to integratefacilities for the d isabled persons in tomainstream de ve lopmen t. Recently, afew acade mic sta ff from the Faculty ofth e Built Env iro nmen t worki ng aspart-time consultants on 'barrier-freebui lt en v iro nmen t' came int o therenovation of the Tunku ChancellorHall, an im p ortant landmark in thecanlplls, wh ich is the historical multi­ptll'pose hall and exhibition comp lex.There were di scussion s on p rovidingaccess features s uch as ramps andacces sible toilets along with landscapebeautification around th e hall. Upontheir discussion, a few problems wereidentified and so lu tions were made. Nopropel' admittance for th e di sab ledpersons was on e of the problem s (referfigure Sa and 5b).

2. Advisory in com m i ttees a n d ta skforces.One of the Uni versity ' s tas k forcesform ed cons ists of the acad emic stafffr om th e Facult y o f the BuiltEnvironment working in collaborationwith an outside working group calledthe Access Initia tive Croup (AIC) . AICis an informal group of people working

7 History Universi tl Malaya,ht tp:/ /www.urn.c d!! my / um /hist ory ,bl m

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Figur e Sa:Before construction of the ramp.

.'

Figure 5b:Steel hand rail ins tallation.

on the promotion of 'ba rri er-free builtenv ironment' in Malaysi a. The grouphad been involved in the core work donea nd they are su ff icie n tly skilled toconduct disability awareness trainingcourse modules, incl ud ing simulationex ercises and access su rveys. AlG 'smain aim is to enable di sab led personsto be trained as promoters onenco ura ging ' b a rrie r -free b uiltenvi ro nmen t' an d to be s ufficien tlyskilled as resource person s. This is tocreate the groundwork forawareness andthus changes of altitude for the p ublic,administrative personnel in government

Ellcollngi llg A 'Barr ier-freeBuilt Ellvil'OlIIllell t' III A Mninysinll llll iversit y

and profess ional bod ies, concerningdisability issu es.Ano the r core task force is theAccess ib ili ty and Safe ty Resea rchCen tre (ACCESS) in the Faculty of theBu ilt Env iro n m en t, Uni versity ofMa la ya . The main ob jec tive of thisunit is to engage in research and provid eresources for the U nivers ity inaccess ibility and sa fety. Students takinglandscape, architect ure, planning andurban design d isciplines may benefitfrom inter-di sciplinary collaboration ona varie ty of research topics. The unit willsus tain a net w o rk on sharing o finformation w ith other institutions ofhigher learning and research centres atbo th the local and in ternationa l levels .Future co llaborations are encouragedto obtain research gra nts and fund ingin the research areas.

3. Di sab ility a w a re ness trainin g a ndseminarsDisabi lity awareness training is a fairlynew phenomenon, which had only beenint roduced in Malaysia by a few disabledpersons as resou rce persons and trainerstrained u nd e r the Un ited Na tion 'sEconomic and Socia l Conunission forAsia and the Pacifi c (ESCAP). Theconcept has been very much applaudedand such programmes were enthused byse c tio ns of the government sec to r.According to Harrison and Parker (2001:21-22), d isability awarenes s is no tac hievab le unless th e peopl e haveund ergone a simulated experience, longand impact enoug h for the realisationthat issu es are connected to d isabili ty.The mo dule of simula tion exe rcise is animpor tant componen t in achieving theobjectiv e o f scnsitisa tion. Alt ho ug hjust tem porary, the pa rt icipants in thetrain ing w il l find o u t ex ac tly th eprobl ems that di sa bl ed pe rsonsenco un ter, w he n they have don e thesimulators of being in blind ness, usinga w heelchai r, cru tches o r w alk ingframes (refer figure 6).

Figure 6:Stimulation exercises - sharing experience

and unde rstanding barriers.

Given tha t University of Malaya relicson the technic a l per son ne l fromBuilding Management and Maintenanceof Proper ty Develop ment Office forimplemen tation of design, they sho uldbe 'introduced a scheme to experiencesimulation exercises wi th the guidanceo f d isab le d p e rsons as reso urcepersons.. :8.This will fur ther emphasiseon the reco mme nda tions among w hichdisabili ty awa reness training sho uld becond ucted to rectify p roblems whe nimp lementing. For exarn plc, during theEkspo Konvokesyen University Malaya(EKSKUM) 2001, disabled persons hador gan ised a seminar w he re a fewspeakers who specia lised in accessibil itywe re inv ited to d iscuss is sues thathappened around the camp us. Senioracademics and staff were also invited, asthey are important key decision-m akersin the Uni versity s tructures. As a result,we see more people are aware of theissues and ther e arc d iscu ssi ons tosuggest in crea ting a 'One-stop ServiceCentre' via the Office of Students Affairs,at least wi th a hi gh er ra nk ing officer

8 United Nations Economic and Social Commissionfor Asia and the Pacifi c (ESCAP1 repo rt [19991Asiall al/ll Pacific Decode of Disa/J /ed Persoll s: mid­pai n - ,,::~ iol/a l persl'('cfi ves 011 III lI l t isaloralcollaboration mIlt II(lHOWI I coordination, New York

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[ourna! of Designand tile Buil! Enulrontneni

looking into the affairs of the disabledstudents.

4. Educationa l Approach.One of the elective courses offered by theFaculty of the Built Environme nt is the'Barrier-Free Buil t Environment' , w ithi ts main o bjec tiv e to tra in futur eprofessionals to become trainers andenco urage the Barrier-Free concept. Inorder fo r i t to appea l not o n ly tolandscape architects and architects, theteachi ng of des ign is lessened , so that itis also suitable to building surveyors,who are also the p rofession als beingemployed as building inspectors in thelocal aut ho rities . O thers that wouldtake int erest fire the facili ties managersand qu an tity surveyors, who often actas project man agers, mostly employedin develope rs finn .Students are exposedto issues concern ing the problems ofdisabled persons in Malaysia, in thecontext of cur rent develop ments. Theys tud y the build ing regu la ti ons,legi slation, s tandards and g uidelinesthat arc in ex is tence in Malaysia andin countries such as Un ited Kingdo m,United Sta tes and Japan a t a supe rficiallevel. Dem onstration s and exercises arcmethod s em p loyed to provi d eund er stand in g o f barr iers andsimulation exercise. Input on how to doaccess surveys and audits9 will be givenso tha t s tuden ts w iII be trained and

'i Access surve y is a too l to gauge a building'spe rfo rm a nce on access ibility for the d isabledpersons. The method is structured in a format thatconsists of a se t of questi ons and gu ided by theparticular coun try's leg islative codes, s tandardsand gu ide lines . The 1001 en ables one to recorddimensions and existing specification of a buildingelement, hence provides for an eval uative method.One goes through and chec ks whet her thespecifica tion is according to the s tandards andguide lines . One or many perso ns must create area listic route, often s tarting from the drop-offpoint and go around the premises and records theinformati on tha t wi ll be processed later. Thea na ly tica l tool also guides to the co rrect

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knowledgeable, hopefully with empathy,after which they are actua lly involved infacilitating a workshop o n 'Barrier-FreeBuilt Env iro nmen t', It wa s conducted forpa rticipants from the University whichincl ude the management, academic,te chnical and s u p p o r t s ta ff . Th isimparts a certain objective of 'teamwork'and impa ct of learning, by having theexposure to lead . Stude n ts a lsoconducted access surveys and au ditson bu ildi ngs (in terna l and externa l)id en tifi ed in th e Un ive rs ity (re fe rfigure 7).

5. Train ing th e fu ture pro fessi onal s .Professionals s uch as architects, land ­scape architects, bu ild ing surveyors,building sur vey, qua ntity surveyors andplanners are responsib le for how thebuilt environme nt had come to what itis. With the help of professional bod iessuch as Inst itute ofLandscap e ArchitectsMalaysia (ILAM), Pert ubuhan Ark itekMalaysia (PAM), Inst itute of EngineersMalaysia (!EM), Ins titu tion of SurveyorMalaysia (ISM) and Malaysian Instituteof Planning (MII'), such efforts would beescala ted even more if the training of fu­ture professiona ls includes aw arenesstraining, teaching design mod ules in theprofessional trainin g and ge nerally pro­mo ting 'barrier-free built environment'.

specification, which can contribute to the formationof an access audit. This in turn could enable thequantity surveyor or contractor to put a cost to thespecifications and help to quicken the process ofimplementation. The building owner could easilysee if the costs could be mel the budget that the)'have and co uld plan wh en to ins tall thespeci fications . Access surveys objective is 10 findout as much det ailed information from a buildingas to whether it is accessible for the disabled. Thisevalu a tion ca me abou t beca u se the di sabledperson s need to com municate technica lly andeffectively concerning the lack of access features ina building (Yaacob, N.M. 120001 A(f('ss S Urllf.'y 11$ (/

Tool for E IlI I'0Wl'TlIl l' lI t)

Figure 7:Access survey done in one of the faculties

in the campus.

Con clus io nAwareness and understanding of the basicneeds of disabled persons mus t bepropagated and one of the best methods topropagat e awareness is through ed ucatingboth the s taff and st udents of Universit yMa laya .Throug ho u t our experiences inpromoting 'barrier-free built environment',th e mos t im p ort ant pa r t of th e en tire

Ellcollagillg A 'Barrier-free Bull! Enuironmeni' III A Malaysiall LIlliversity

process is the involvement of all possiblepa rtic ipants, i.e. the un iversi ty executives,academics, rese arche rs, adminis trative ,support sta ff, techn ical, the man agementand mai nte na nce. Having a di sabili tycomp lia nce unit at th e Studen t Affairsa lso helped the disabled personsto organise events tha t could promoteNon-Hand icapping Environment. Differentlocal conditions wo uld need the sens itivityof acade mics to discern problematic areasthat could help effort s in 'barrier-free builtenv ironmen t' promotion kick-start asstudents could pro vide for help to d o accesssurveys and run training courses. v\liththe leadership and men toring, academics,o ther profess iona ls concerned, disab ledpersons as reso urce pe rsons and localgovernment con tacts could put their headstogether to solve problems in the localco n tex t. It is ho ped th at with ca re fu lplannin g and sensitive approaches, allcampuses will be more accessible, friendlyand sa fe for all use rs in ord er that theuniversity's objective o f a 'caring camp ussociety' be achieved .

R eferences

United N ations Eco nomic and Socia lCommiss ion for Asia and the Paci fi c[ESCAP] (1999), Asiall alld Pacific Decade ofDisabled Persons: Mid -poillt - regiona!perspectives on muliisecioml collabomtion andnntionalcoordination, New York.

Ministry of Housing and Local Government(1999), Cuideline« Requimnentsjo r Access illtoPublic Blli/dillgs for Disabled Persons, KualaLumpur.

Journal Art icle:Harrison, Jame s Doug las and Park er,Kenneth James (2001), lnitiatlues and Issliesill Education and Training ill Desigllillg forSeniors and Persons witlt Disabilities, pp. 21­22

Interne treferences:History Universiti Malaya, available:http: / / www.tun .edu.my /um / history.htm[Accessed: May 28th, 2004]

Disability-Rela ted Terms and Definitions,available: http: / /www.duke.edu /web /equity / di sabj cr rns.htm [Accessed: June12th,2004]

Paper ArticleNagu , Suz ieana [2003 May 4] Revamped forTop Gear. Learning Curver: New SundayTimes,pg8.

Unpublished PapersYaakob, Naziaty [2000] Konsep Alam BinaBcbas Halangan dan Prins ip DimensiYaacob, Na zialy [2000J Access Sur vey as aTool for Empowermen t

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