Assessing building accessibility for university students with disabilities

Abstract

The University of Jordan is the first academic and research institution of Higher Education in Jordan. The university was established in 1962 and since then applied itself to the advancement of knowledge no less than to its dissemination. It is considered a comprehensive teaching, research and community-service institution which enables its students to choose from a wide range of programs. There are 18 faculties that offer more than 3500 different courses, for about 43.794 students and 255 students with disability.1 Data indicate that the number of students with disabling conditions in postsecondary institutions is increasing. The efforts made by universities were examined to ensure that special needs students are able to access higher education programs.2 In addition, the institution and course choice of some students was affected by physical access issues.3 They define disabled people as “persons with physical, mental and intellectual disabilities that hindered them from fully participating in a normal way in the community way of life.”4 The aim of rehabilitation is for the patients to return to the environment and his/her lifestyle. It also aims to encourage the patients to achieve satisfaction in productive activity and personal independency, by engaging in social and functional interaction with other people and his/her environment.5 Therapists strive to foster independence in all aspects of daily life. This includes not only activities of daily living, but also includes encouraging patient re-integration into the community. “Most of these needs are presented under the umbrella term ‘access’.6 Restriction of mobility is likely to be the most common handicap amongst persons with disabilities.7 Accessibility built environment is one of the primary concerns of urban planning and design. An urban space can be a successful public place if accessibility is provided. Besides this, a public place should provide accessibility to everyone, regardless physical abilities or financial resources, because ‘accessibility is the freedom and the ease of individuals to decide to participate in different activities’.5 Assessment of building accessibility and public accommodations is the first step in a planning process for readily achievable barrier removal. This assessment is usually done manually which is a source of errors that may affect the reliability of the evaluation results.8 However, assessments could be done through using some objective outcome measures and checklists that are valid and reliable. These checklists will help us to identify accessibility problems and solutions in existing facilities in order to meet obligations and accessibility universal standards.9 The goal of such checklists is to study how to make the facilities accessible for persons with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Checklist for Readily Achievable Barrier Removal “Checklist for Existing Facilities-Version 2.1” highlights some of the requirements found in the ADA Standards for buildings accessibility.10 Few studies have been identified that examined the degree of accessibility at universities in both eastern and western world. Furthermore, there is no descriptive research that studies the accessibility for the University of Jordan or any other university in Jordan. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the degree of accessibility for University of Jordan facilities and buildings for persons and students with disabilities.