Infrastructure is the basic physical and organizational structure needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for a society to function. The term typically refers to the technical, organizational, and service structures that support a society, such as roads, bridges, tunnels, water supply, sewers, energy supply, telecommunications, transport systems, health, education, and social support systems, etc.
Accessible infrastructure creates an inclusive environment for people with disabilities, allowing them to enjoy their civil, cultural, political, social, and economic rights and entitlements. It is also a precondition for independent living and full and equal participation in society by children and adults with disabilities.
Infrastructure facilities for people with disabilities include accessible transportation, assistive technologies, access to resource personnel, recreation programs, extracurricular activities, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs. Disability-inclusive infrastructure in low-income countries sets out key enablers for infrastructure as part of a journey to leave no one behind. One billion people, or 15% of the world’s population, experience some form of disability, and disability prevalence is higher in developing countries.
Infrastructure, if designed and implemented correctly, can empower people with disabilities to be part of societal and economic development. Much of the world’s infrastructure is not designed in an inclusive way, creating unnecessary barriers for people with disabilities.
Entry points by infrastructure and urban sector: transport, WASH, ICT, Energy, Housing & land, Informal sector, Safe spaces and security, Formal workers, Environmental.
Transport & road safety
Transport & road safety-is road and pedestrian environment, bus, bus shelters and terminuses, railway stations, and rolling stock, rapid transit systems, waterways, and integrated public transport systems. Without accessible transportation, people with disabilities are more likely to be excluded from independent access to employment, education, and healthcare facilities, as to social contact and recreational activities.
Transport Infrastructure is critical, as it is the means by which other services are accessed, including health, education, employment, etc. Urban environments without a universally accessible transport system will exclude people living with disabilities, marginalizing them and breaching their human rights.
WASH
WASH refers to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene people with disabilities often have limited access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in emergency and development situations. All those responsible for providing WASH services have a key role in reducing attitudinal, institutional, and environmental barriers.
People with disability already face multiple barriers when it comes to accessing WASH, WASH services also play a key role to ensure the ability to exercise other human rights and fundamental freedoms for all persons with disabilities including women and girls, children, and older persons with disabilities. WASH investments must include persons with disabilities to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and leave no one behind.
.-A lack of accessible WASH facilities is more likely to affect admissions, retention, and dropout rates of girls with disabilities in schools and vocational training institutions when compared to boys and non-disabled
ICT
With the world going online, ICT accessibility, or e-accessibility, has the potential to define social inclusion of the future. Accessible ICT has three distinct features: accessible design, availability, and affordability
Electricity / Energy
An access to Electricity is an essential service. For people with disability, its beneficial properties are not limited to light and heat; it also powers life-support equipment and devices that provide mobility, communication, and independence. These include reading, writing, and speaking aids, hearing aids, mobile and cordless telephones, electronic door openers, motorized wheelchairs, mobility scooters, portable lifts, etc.
People with disabilities are often more likely to have less income and therefore struggle to afford electricity costs, requiring greater support
Safe space & security
Safety audits on public infrastructure to include assessment of accessibility of design, e.g. assessing barriers to mobility (high pavements, open sewers, lack of crossings, lack of seating for resting), and sensory access (poor lighting, lack of signage, inclusion of sensory guides for visually impaired)
