October 24, 2007

Jordanian Disability Act

Could this happen ... Maybe one day.

I always wonder why we don't see any disables in our streets, and one major reason is our urban streets and buildings that is not friendly to disables.

I read in the news today that there are some discussions to apply building codes designed to facilitate the movement of people with disabilities and ensure that all institutions adhere to such codes. HRH Prince Raad, the Chief Chamberlain and the Minister of Public Works and Housing Hosni Abu Gheida, head of the Jordanian National Construction Council discussed plans to construct a permanent headquarters to host the higher council.

These acts have been implemented since a long time in other countries. It's purpose is to prohibit discrimination on the basics of disability by public accommodations and requires places of public accommodation and commercial facilities to be designed, constructed, and altered in compliance with the accessibility standards established by this act.

It's such an important initiative to build such codes, however, we all know that movements in our streets need to be facilitated not only for disables but for pedestrians in general.

Moreover, some challenges might be faced in implementing the codes especially for existing constructions. Focusing on public facilities like ministries, Schools, Museums, and parks might be the first step for implementation.







Type rest of the post here

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Emad - did you hear of GAM's new blog site? www.ammancityblog.com - there u can post comments or questions and get prompt responses from official at GAM. Its really great - you should check it out.

Amman Voice said...

Yes I know about it and thanks for your recommendations, however, talking to "the officials" might bring me some headache due to the politics involved. I prefer to stay ractive rather than proactive in this case.