AMMAN
— Over a million Jordanians are physically disabled. Despite this, the country
is woefully ill-prepared to accommodate these citizens in its services and
buildings. From schools to government buildings and hospitals, people with
disabilities are left out of Jordan’s physical spaces.
اضافة اعلان
“As
of now, there are only a few buildings prepared for people with physical
disabilities,” said media spokesperson for the
Higher Council for the Rights of Person with Disabilities (HCD) Raafat Zitawi in an interview with
Jordan
News.
“Facilities
overall are not fully designed for the physically disabled, especially since
the Law for Persons with
Disabilities [which stipulates] commitment to the
building code designed for such cases is still new,” added Zitawi.
The
Code of Requirements for Special Construction for People with Disabilities was created
under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act in 2017. The code regulates
public buildings and facilities, such as sidewalks, streets, parks, hospitals,
schools, and mosques and churches.
New
buildings and those under construction are examined by the Civil Defense, which
verifies whether they fit the standards of the special code or not.
In
contrast, old buildings pose a difficulty because they are mostly governmental
rentals and are not renovated unless the landlord allows it. Renovations to
make the buildings accessible are costly for the older buildings and in some
cases, the parameter of the building constricts the ability to provide the
necessary needs of people with disabilities, requiring alternative solutions
for which the council provides technical support.
Due
to the challenges related to the renovation of old buildings, the law sets a deadline
of 10 years, at the end of which 60% of these buildings will be modified.
In the meantime, many buildings are partially or
completely inaccessible to those with disabilities.
Accessibility
in schools
Education
is a basic human right guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
But students with disabilities, who constitute 5.4% of those in educational
institutions in Jordan, often struggle to access to the same resources as their
peers. The inaccessibility affects students with a wide variety of
disabilities.
“In
the field of education, a high percentage of deaf people are illiterate due to
the lack of education to which they were exposed,” sign language expert Ashraf
Hamoodeh told Jordan News.
Very
few public schools are prepared to welcome physically impaired students. The
private schools that are accessible are often very expensive, and students may
still face stereotypes and stigma because of their disabilities.
“During
my university years, my peers and I campaigned to advocate education for people
with disabilities and to provide them with accessibility,” recalled Abu 30-year-old Hadeel Abu Soufeh,
a consultant and trainer
for disability rights and a wheelchair user, in remarks to Jordan News.
Visually
impaired students also struggle to access educational resources. While some
schools do provide books in braille for blind students, they usually do not
provide a supportive or accessible environment for the visually impaired.
Computer
subjects and mathematics are not taught to the blind as part of a formal
exemption from the Ministry of Education.
In an
attempt to make at least some buildings more accessible, some hospitals and
universities are currently working on creating structures that fit the needs of
those with physical disabilities.
“We
are currently working on a project that prepares four model universities,
distributed among the north, south, and center of the Kingdom, providing the
necessary service to the physically impaired,” said Zitawi. “It is still a new
idea and a work-in-progress.”
‘Our rights are
violated’
“The majority of our governmental
institutions are not prepared for people with physical disabilities,” said
visually impaired 42-year-old Omar Haniyeh. “The ones
that supposedly are, are done in an inconvenient manner because the special
building code for people with disabilities was not used properly. It was more
diligence on the part of the contractor than an engineering matter.”
“Safe
passages are not provided for the visually impaired in most places in Jordan,”
he added. “As a blind person, I face many struggles with the sidewalks, as they
are unevenly placed and contain electric poles in randomly selected places.”
Public
facilities such as malls and hospitals often place glass doors, which may cause
injury for a visually impaired person, at the entrance or exit.
“Bright
colored adhesive tape must be placed on these doors to act as caution for the
blind,” suggested Haniyeh. “Civilians are very ignorant when it comes to seeing
a blind person on the street. I personally get bombarded with questions
regarding my disability and am often irritated by people when they forcefully
offer a helping hand.”
“As a
visually impaired individual I make sure to invest in technology that provides
a speaking program, which can assist me.”
Lack
of acceptance of and support for his disability has also affected Haniyeh’s
career path. “As a professor in the Arabic language, I am unofficially employed
(rather than formally employed with the protection of the labor law) due to my
disability as a blind person,” said Haniyeh. “And this is one of the issues and
rights that we demand.”
Deaf
and hearing-impaired Jordanians similarly struggle due to a lack of public
resources and spaces. “Institutions lack in providing sign language experts,
which limit deaf people’s accessibility to any services,” said Hamoodeh, the
sign language expert.
But
there is a solution: “Institutions can hire a sign language interpreter in the
main building in coordination with the call center of all other institutions
through a video call,” he explained.
“Our facilities are not prepared to
serve people with physical disabilities, and speaking on behalf of wheelchair
users, our rights are violated,” Abu Soufeh said.
“As a
person in a wheelchair, I face trouble entering Carrefour due to the
consecutive poles fixed in front of the doors, restricting me from doing so,”
she explained. “Unfortunately, the contractor responsible for this didn’t take
into account the people with physical disabilities, and avoided executing a
universal design for all,” she added.
“On a day-to-day basis, I face
challenges that don’t allow me to live like any other civilian and restrict me
from accessing public facilities,” she said.
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