Strategy for Empowering the City of Surabaya as a Disability-Friendly and Elderly Friendly City

As citizens, persons with disabilities and the elderly have the same rights to live independently. This right can only be fulfilled if public facilities that support their accessibility are well available. Realizing this need, the Surabaya City government then launched a program to make Surabaya a disability and elderly friendly city. The approach in this study uses a qualitative approach by conducting observations, in-depth interviews and literature studies. One of the most significant strategies is to build public facilities that are disability and elderly friendly. However, empirical findings in the field show that public facilities are not yet fully accessible to persons with disabilities and the elderly. Facilities intended for persons with disabilities and the elderly do not provide optimal benefits because they are not in accordance with internationally accepted universal designs. There are several challenges that must be faced in realizing Surabaya as a friendly city for people with disabilities and the elderly. The bureaucracy and society lack awareness of disability and the equal rights of persons with disabilities. Coordination between parties involved in the construction of public facilities is not yet optimal, so there are many facilities that are planned to be disability friendly and in practice this is not the case. The replacement of regional heads and political dynamics also allows the slow formation of regulations at the regional level related to public services that are sensitive to the needs of people with disabilities and the elderly. In the midst of these challenges, it is still possible to make Surabaya a disability-friendly city by choosing the right strategy. This research produces strategies that can be used in realizing Surabaya as a friendly city for people with disabilities and the elderly.