Council

In 2018, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported 236,300 employees with a disability avoided work. This is not to say talented Australians with disabilities shunned work, rather workplaces more often than not did not have access points or appropriate facilities in place to make working equally easy and pleasant for people with disabilities. Here are the top 5 workplace access problems need to be resolved in order to remove the barriers to entry for this brilliant, immobilised talent pool.

1. Ramp access

The first step to providing equal workplace access for the disabled is to include an entry access point. This step ensures that anyone with mobility issues can navigate into the building with ease. Many commercial buildings have a short flight of stairs without any nearby ramp or lift access connecting to the entry of a building. Or if they have, often the ramp does not meet the minimum design requirements nominated by the Australian Standards.

2. Building doorways

Aside from ramps, workplace doorways must account for wheelchair-bound individuals. There have been cases wherein applicants arrive at the workplace only to discover they cannot enter the building because their wheelchair cannot fit the main entry. Door width and standards have also been specified clearly in the Australian Standards to provide equal access for everyone.

3. Service lift or elevators

Once inside the building, there is another hurdle a person with mobility issues must face: getting to another level. While a short flight of stairs for mobile people is not a problem, it’s a different story / experience for someone who has mobility issues and/or is more dependent on a wheelchair for most of the time. Getting up a flight of stairs may make one winded for hours, whereas having a lift or even a ramp will help one navigate the levels with ease.

4. Bathroom facilities

Bathrooms and toilets are usually one of the most cramped spaces in workplace buildings, especially when the number of people served is of the utmost importance. However, it’s just not the same for a person with mobility issues.  If a wheelchair-bound person cannot access the toilet due to a doorway that doesn’t meet bathroom door regulations or toilet cubicle dimensions, one is simply barred from the most basic physical necessity and can even be more detrimental to a disabled person’s health.

It can even be more inaccessible if the bathroom facility is on an upper level in a building with no lift or even a ramp to help a person with disability access it.

5. Workplaces in “heritage” buildings

While the Disability Standard for Access to Premises gives people with disabilities the right to have amenable access points to public spaces and areas, heritage buildings are not an exception to this. Disability Law is Federal Law while Heritage Law is State Law. The provision of accessible access to heritage buildings has resulted in some very creative solutions such as the ‘Sesame’ stair system which retracts to expose a platform lift installation. 

Where the workplace is inaccessible, can anyone still wonder why 236,300 Australians with disability cannot secure meaningful employment? These talented, educated Australians and maybe more out of the 4.4 million people with disabilities must be provided equal access to workplaces so they, too, can maximise their human potential, contribute to the economy, improve self esteem and erase anything barring their way to success save for their disability.

Companies like Toyota recognise this potential and have developed a ‘Start Your Impossible’ campaign to start a ‘ground up’ shift in the way the world looks at ability.

Don’t lose out on talents just because of physical impediments in the building structure. If you are a building or company owner who want unprecedented access to a wealth of untapped potential and talent pool, consider having your building inspected for workplace access for the disabled and disability standards for entry and navigation. At iAccess, our access consultants are here to help make your workplace more accessible and welcoming to people with disabilities. Get in touch for a consultation!

Movement is growing in Australia for building better homes equipped to provide equal access to everyone, especially those with disabilities. Big names are coming together and lending support behind this important cause. Former Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Graeme Innes, and Social Advocate, Kathryn Greiner (Building Better Homes), have met with building ministers for an approval to their proposal. 

This means the accessibility standards will be deemed mandatory in the 2022 National Building Code. Depending on individual State nomination, new houses will now have accessibility features that most elderly and people with disabilities need in order to live and navigate easily in their own homes. With a future-proofed home like this, Australians will be able to stay in their houses for longer without having to move to care homes. Furthermore, what will a future-proofed home look like? Here are some features that will be raised to meet the disability standards.

Main Doorway Threshold with No-Step Level Surface

It may be a small step for most people, however, a higher doorway threshold can be a dangerous snag that can result in a slip or fall for people with mobility issues and can be a point of friction for wheelchair users. Most homes should have a level surface. If raising the home’s floor surface level cannot be avoided, instead of a step, a better alternative is a mini-ramp to ease into the home.

Interior Entrances: Bathrooms, Kitchens, Bedrooms

Next to the main doorway, the entrances to key areas of the house should also follow and abide by liveable housing design guidelines. Key areas of the house include bathroom, kitchen and bedroom/s. In order to provide door access, the doorway width must be 850 mm in order to accommodate the passage of a 760mm mobility aid. Meanwhile, if there is a door, handles must be placed 900mm to 1100mm above the floor.

Bathroom

Another cramped area in Australian homes where most residential bathrooms are not built to accommodate those with mobility issues. But with the Building Better Homes proposal, bathrooms can be built to follow the accessibility standard. This will allow wheelchair-bound or those with mobility issues, to easily use the bathroom in their own homes.

Fixture Fittings

For people with a disability, the elderly or the injured, having light switches, wall lighting fixtures, air-conditioning units or even an intercom at the right height, can mean all the difference between living independently or depending on others for simple basic tasks. By following the accessibility standards when building a house, the added cost is still much cheaper than if one retrofitted a home for accessibility. Thinking of the future can also mean a lot of savings for the average Australian with an already future-proofed home.

Technology

Going one step further from following liveable housing design guidelines, home builders and developers can also use technology to further meet accessibility standards. From voice-controlled lights and temperature, automatic doors, sensors in the bathroom for the water faucet and toilet flushing, and many more. Such technology can immensely help giving people a better living standard right in their own home.

Apartment Design Guidelines

All residential apartment developments are required to satisfy the requirements of the Apartments Design Guidelines (ADGs). Section 4Q of the ADGs nominates that as a minimum 20% of all dwellings provided are to satisfy the provisions for Silver liveable housing design guidelines (LHA). The silver liveable housing design guidelines nominate the following 7 criteria to be incorporated into the design:

1. Dwelling access from boundary and garage
2. Dwelling entrance (step free)
3. Internal doors (820mm clear) and corridors (min 1m clear)
4. WC with a clear 900 x 1200mm zone in front of the WC Pan
5. Hobless shower
6. Wall reinforcement to bathroom sarees for the future installation for grabrails.
7. Provision of a handrail to stairways with a rise of more than 1m

Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA): Existing Policies and Prototypes in Place

There has been great legislation and policies such as the SDA, that give people with disabilities a new lease in life and accommodation. Specially-built apartment complexes all follow the SDA dDesign Guidelines —from sturdy wheelchair hoists, voice recognition technology, and bathrooms that follow and comply with Disability Standards.

One unique feature the complexes have is on-call support workers ready to assist if anyone needs help or support.

But the biggest impact these specially-built apartments has provided is that younger people with disabilities now have an option to live life fully independently. This is as opposed to the other alternatives of either being stuck in an aged care facility where it is more regimented or at a group home where privacy is almost non-existent.

We at iAccess Consultants are extremely excited to see this initiative pass and approved. This decision means that we are giving all Australians the most basic need and fulfilled right from the very beginning— an accessible home that meets everyone’s needs, regardless of the physical state they are in.