Every Wednesday, I notice an elderly lady in an electric wheelchair zooming past the main street flanking our residential society, heading towards the weekly farmer’s market to pick up groceries. Witnessing her navigate the street independently instinctively makes me happy. However, on reflection, I questioned why was it that I paid special attention to this incident and acknowledged it as positive. It then hit me- did this not indicate that this was a rare, one-off sight that was pointing to a stark reality- how many persons in wheelchairs or with other disabilities does one notice moving with complete independence in our city on a day-to-day basis?
According to a report by the People’s Archive of Rural India, approximately 2.41 % of male Indians and 2.01 % of female Indians report having a disability. Up to 18 million persons with disabilities — or 69% of the country’s disabled population — live in rural areas, and roughly 8 million — or 31% — do so in cities. Now this is a huge number to ignore. In fact, each and every person at some point experiences a disability or impediment of a kind- be it temporary disabilities like fractures, mental health issues, limited mobility with pregnancies, or age-related mobility issues. By designing for inclusion, we are in fact designing for all. Are our cities and built environments designed to really cater to All?
Need for integrated approaches towards accessibility in environments
The everyday routine that we all casually go about and rarely pay special heed to, can be arduous for several. How often do we notice the precariously undulating tiles on the footpaths, the pothole-filled roads, and the hurdles that we negotiate so nonchalantly during our everyday walks? Small details that we take for granted, that take able-bodied individuals minimum effort to get through, can be exhausting and tedious for persons with disabilities.
The biggest challenge that we face today is accessibility interventions done in a disconnected manner without a complete understanding of the end-to-end experience of the person using the environment. The result is spaces that are code compliant according to books but are not actually seamless and glitch-free as an experience for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs.) An example is the design of low-floor public buses for ease of access to wheelchair users in Indian cities. The purpose of these buses is not met without elevating bus stop levels to match the floor level of the bus and providing unhindered paths and ramps to access the bus stop. This article highlights the difficulties faced by PwDs in commuting by low-floor buses in Delhi. Piece-meal interventions form an incomplete navigation loop and are ultimately rendered meaningless and redundant.
Apart from physical barriers, what we often overlook while designing for access are also the less explicit but equally inhibiting- Invisible inequities. Basic fundamental rights such as access to good health and hygiene facilities, and opportunities in education are aspects that are crippling for marginalised communities. Be it socio-cultural barriers or gender barriers, these implicit disparities result in social fractures and anomie. A simple example is the lack of clean sanitation facilities for construction workers on a given site and the lack of access to education for the children of these construction workers. These basic humanitarian needs have to be incorporated right from the planning and construction stages of any architectural or urban design project.
Cognitive disabilities or mental disabilities are also equally ignored in Design. For persons with autism, for instance, signages and way-finding systems that are not universal or standardised may cause confusion and anxiety. For persons with anxiety disorders and phobias, the use of certain colours and patterns in the built environment may trigger heart rate and accelerate stress reactions. In fact, since the Covid 19 pandemic, there has been a significant rise in issues related to mental health. Recognising this pressing need for including invisible disabilities is crucial for a designer, and this can only begin with empathy and a user-centric approach to Design.
Inclusive environments will always remain a white whale as long as there is a deceptive mask of token integration- an afterthought with makeshift ramps and last-minute retrofitting that are shabby, uncomfortable and unsafe. The approach has to be more holistic and must be embedded right from design inception. One must understand that true inclusion only comes with the ability to use products, environments and experiences that are usable and accessible by All. This is where the term Universal design comes to play.
Universal Design, a term coined by Ron Mace, an American Architect in 1985, talks about the design of environments that are accessible to the greatest extent possible by all regardless of age, size, ability, ethnicity or socio-economic status without the need for any external adaptations. Mace speaks about Universal design as simply being smart design that incorporates 7 basic principles that include Equitable use, Simple & Intuitive use, to name a few. It seamlessly combines aesthetics, functionality and usability to make for intelligent design that caters to All.
Universal Design strives to remove systemic barriers that cause impediments and come in the way of achieving equal access. However, if Universal design solutions are not contextualised, they may result in creating alienating environments that are removed from specific cultural contexts.
Inclusive Design: Localising the Universal through Contextual Solutions rather than one size fits all.
Inclusive Design, on the other hand, looks at contextualizing the Universal. Even though universal standards may be essential in many cases, the Inclusive design approach takes into cognizance localised cultural contexts to include them. This also helps in preserving the character and identity of a place whilst making sure that each and every user group is included. For instance, the presence of roadside shrines is a cultural phenomenon and removing them for being obtrusive may be a total disregard for sentiments attached to faith. Arriving at a solution for navigating comfortably around the shrines and in fact making them accessible to all, would be the more sensitive approach. Numerous such dilemmas may arise while designing for accessibility in the local context that must be tackled with the utmost sensitivity to stakeholders of all socio-cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds.
Changemakers for an Inclusive Society
There are several organisations that are making a difference in their attempts to restore dignity through Design for all, in everyday lives. Nature-Nurture Architects and Planners in Mumbai, led by Ar. Parul Kumtha is a design studio committed to working in the realm of Inclusive Design. Their work spreads across a wide spectrum from Architecture, Urban Design, and Accessibility audits to Education and Awareness- building initiatives. One of the key projects undertaken by them was the Accessibility project for Nashik wherein the organisation audited 10 public sites of diverse functions in the city for access and put forth a detailed design proposal for making the sites universally accessible and inclusive. The team has collated their experiences of the project in a publication called the N.A.S.I.K. Project- Negotiating Accessible Spaces for Inclusion in a Keystone Project (both in physical as well as audio-book formats).
To illustrate their contextual approaches with a brief example- during an accessibility audit of Ramkund, a pilgrimage site in Nashik, Maharashtra, the team identified an issue of compromised conditions of dignity for pilgrims, owing to the lack of accessible changing rooms near the site of immersion (holy dip). The simple, yet effective solution they arrived at, emerged from context. A vacant arcade near the ghats was proposed to be converted to changing rooms with the addition of lightweight screens for privacy. This helped economise the solution and also proved to be sustainable in terms of tapping into existing resources. This was one small example of many such practical, functional and inclusive solutions that were prescribed across the complex layers of this cultural site.
Zooming out to global perspectives, Openn, an inclusive design firm in Mexico has been working towards achieving inclusion within public spaces of the city. One of their projects- The Museum of Natural History and Environmental Culture in Mexico City, looked at making the experience of the museum inclusive for the most excluded.
Reflecting on the process of identifying the main stakeholders for the project, Alejandra Bortoni, Co-founder at Openn says, “When we mapped out the end-to-end journey of the museum through a detailed audit, we realised that people with visual impairments were the most excluded from the experience because the museum was primarily designed to be enjoyed only through sight. This way we were able to narrow the challenge question to- How can the museum be more inclusive to visitors with visual impairments?”
And with that question, the team went through a back-and-forth process of attempting to make the most crucial aspect of the museum inclusive- the Exhibits. Instead of addressing the solution solely through code compliance for navigation using tactile markers and ramps, they wanted to approach inclusion through a more holistic multisensory experience. The team designed a miniature prototype of the larger exhibit of a Forest ecosystem that could be experienced through touch, smell and sounds. The design process also incorporated intensive public participation and feedback mechanisms to help iron out the kinks and glitches and help achieve a design prototype that was immersive and inclusive in the true sense. Post the testing phase Regina and Alejandra, Co-founders at Openn speak about an important realisation, “The most important discovery was that visitors were engaging more with the miniature prototype than with the original diorama. In fact, multisensory interactions helped not just the visually impaired to better experience the exhibits, but allowed each and every visitor to process and remember the information in a more effective way.”
These trailblazers lead by example with their inspiring work towards achieving Inclusion in the built environment. It is high time that policymakers, educators, inventors, service providers and professionals across domains understood the urgency of bringing accessibility in all spheres including City planning, Public policies & guidelines, Architecture, Product Design, Service Design, Digital interfaces, Art and Cultural experiences, and numerous other areas. It is crucial to note that Architectural environments can only ever be completely immersive and inclusive if they integrate seamlessly with inclusive systems, products, technologies, human resources and all domains affecting the overall experience of the environment.
Inclusion- a path to Empowerment
Sminu Jindal, managing director of Jindal SAW Ltd and the founder chairperson of Svayam speaks about accessibility becoming an enabler when she quotes in her column for the Indian Express, “It is worth investing in an accessible environment. When people have the freedom to choose how they want to live their lives, they become more productive and contribute more to society. So instead of seeing someone with reduced mobility as vulnerable, empower them with proper access; they will be breaking the glass ceiling.”
In a democratic society, Inclusion is a pillar for ensuring social equity. It is the fundamental right of each and every individual to achieve access to equal opportunities. There is no doubt that the road to inclusion is layered and complex. But if the processes are democratic, participatory, empathetic and holistic, the journey would definitely be one that brings dignity to all.
— Rama Raghavan (Guest writer for Maximized, Xeno Co-lab)
Rama is an Architectural writer based in Pune, India. She strongly believes that multidisciplinary perspectives enrich design thinking and trigger critical discourses. Rama has worked as an Editor for the publication cell of an Architectural Institute in Pune. She is passionate about expressing her ideas through Research and Architectural Writing, and several of her articles have been published on various platforms.
