The massive tsunami, following the Indian Ocean earthquake on December 26, 2004, was one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. It devastated large parts of coastal areas in South East Asia, killed more than 225,000, and seriously injured about half a million in the region. Sri Lanka was one of the hardest hit, with more than 30,000 people killed and 835,000 losing their homes. Of those injured, many will become permanently disabled.
The Access for All campaign was launched in Sri Lanka in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami. A consortium consisting of DPOs and NGOs has been formed to push this campaign, which aims to promote the inclusion of all people with disabilities and their needs in the tsunami relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation work in Sri Lanka.
The first phase of the campaign mainly focused on architectural accessibility. Before the tsunami took place, many buildings were not accessible. Capturing this opportunity, from the early stage, the members from Access for All committee held meetings with other stakeholders involved in reconstruction and rehabilitation activities such as governmental authorities, NGOs and the public sector, and made them aware of the need for accessibility and the needs of people with disabilities. They provide training and consultancy in the area of architectural accessibility.
The members also made sure that water and sanitation facilities would accommodate the special needs of people with disabilities. For example, many people were living in camps or temporary shelters mostly school buildings and temples where the water and sanitation situation was relatively poor. They asked the people’s needs very early, so that necessary arrangements were made.
Thus, collaboration with government started very early. The department of social welfare and the DPOs see all the work that the government does and provide consultation for local government authorities and inform them about the needs and possible solutions. Access for All campaign members also made representations to the authority set up by the Government to handle reconstruction and rehabilitation. In this way the government has the input of the people with disabilities.
Due to these efforts, any new public buildings now have to consider architectural accessibility and regulations are in place. All inaccessible public buildings have to be made accessible within a stipulated period. Architectural Accessibility has become law in Sri Lanka.
Source: Access for All; Christian Blind Mission (n.d.).
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