While cost of universal design could remain low with its incorporation from the outset and local participation, the cost of not incorporating universal design can be significant, taking into account human cost and opportunity cost incurred due to inaccessibility.
When buildings are inaccessible, the human cost of having people to provide assistance would be greater. When someone does not have easy access, the time and effort of other helping individuals will have to make up the difference of the lack of universal design, although the whole scale of this cost cannot be easily calculated.
Furthermore, cost of inaccessible infrastructure would be sharply increased by eliminating economic opportunity for a number of individuals. Physical barriers reduce the economic and social output of persons with disabilities and elders, and investments in the removal and prevention of architectural and design barriers are increasingly being justified on economic grounds.
The cost of not incorporating universal design could be particularly significant for some types of countries: For example, countries affected by conflicts or natural disasters may have a high prevalence of impairments and disability. Failing to incorporate these people into economic, social, political and cultural activities will guarantee a cycle of poverty for survivors and their families, and prevent vigorous economic and social development in the long run. Similarly, aging societies, increasingly prevalent in some middle income and many high-income countries, are facing the challenge of enhancing social and economic participation of large numbers of senior citizens. While elders might not consider themselves to have disabilities, many of them may experience a decrease in vision, hearing, physical abilities, and cognitive abilities. Creating physical barriers to their participation will increase the financial impact on social protection systems, decreasing their quality of life.
While the above mentioned cases concern the large portion of citizens with functional limitations, countries that depend on a tourism economy are likely to pay high opportunity costs for inaccessible infrastructure by excluding people with disabilities, elders, or even parents with small children who may otherwise visit these countries. Studies indicate that the tourism market for senior citizens and people with disabilities is potentially large. For instance, the percentage of older Europeans who travel has increased from seven to 40 percent in the past 20 years. Evidence also shows that people with disabilities want to travel more frequently if facilities and services are more usable and accessible. Barriers in public transportation, hotel accommodations, and other facilities will prevent countries from capturing a share of the growing international tourism market that will exceed one billion tourists by the year 2010. It is estimated that by not adapting its inaccessible infrastructures the tourism industry fails to capture approximately 15- 20 percent of the global market share.
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