International Wheelchair Day Access-alaide Launch
03/03/2014
Welcome, and thanks for coming along to International Wheelchair Day – it’s great to have a chance to celebrate something that is very important in my life and that of many others.
Today the Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood – who seems to be up for almost anything – accepted my invitation to spend an hour in a wheelchair. He’s actually using my old wheelchair and he’s experiencing what his city is like for those who live on wheels.
I don’t think Stephen will mind me saying that there are a few things that he found pretty challenging.
South Australia should be a state where being a wheelchair user is easy. It should be a place where people with any kind of disability can get to where they want to go and do what they want to do, because the infrastructure of the city supports their needs. But it’s not – and there’s a long way to go before we can call our home a truly accessible state.
Today I’m launching Dignity for Disability’s policy on accessibility. It’s a four-part plan that will make South Australia a place where people with disabilities aren’t segregated and excluded daily by unnecessary barriers.
The first part of our accessibility policy is the introduction of incentives for builders that go beyond the minimum standard for accessibility when designing new properties. Developers need to be encouraged not just to meet accessibility standards but also to go above and beyond them with the inclusion of things such as physical markers to help the vision impaired or Braille signage. Government and council should provide incentives like fast-tracked planning processes and reduced fees for applications that prioritise accessibility.
The second component of our policy is to run an accessibility design competition. Funding a design competition that calls for innovative and cost-effective design solutions to commonly occurring accessibility problems will generate new thinking on the issue and raise public awareness. Thirdly, Dignity for Disability will be pushing for grants to be given for accessible city activation. The Adelaide City Council’s hugely successful Splash Adelaide program should be augmented with the addition of grants to make pop-up venues accessible.
Finally, Dignity for Disability will work to make art more accessible. We will lobby the State Government to make extra funding available to arts organisations that accompany their performances and shows with accessibility measures such as audio description and Auslan interpreters.
These are relatively simple and low-cost measures, but they would make a huge difference to the lives of people with disabilities who too often find themselves locked out of our state’s best events, venues and performances because accessibility has been overlooked or completely ignored.
