Hello everyone! Welcome to another presentation of IN THE WHITE. Hope you all are doing well, as well as in good health.
This is the third and final part of the “Accessibility: A Right for Persons with Disabilities” report.
If you have not yet read the previous two parts, then I would suggest going through them first for a better understanding of this content.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Upon conducting thorough research on access to infrastructure, information, and education for persons with disabilities in Fiji, this paper wishes to provide the following recommendations to strengthen disability inclusion and improve disability access in the specific areas mentioned in this report.
For an advanced infrastructure, all office blocks must have provisions for ramps, lifts, and side railings while buildings are undergoing the planning phase. This will allow wheelchair accessibility as well as assist the blind and visually impaired in navigating the premises.
The transport sector needs more attention as highlighted in the audit report cited in this document, due lack of knowledge within the Land Transport Authority, laws such as “priority seats for persons with disabilities in busses” (OAG Performance Audit-on the Access for Persons with Disabilities to Public Offices and Public-Transport, 2020) needs effective implementation with government assistance in providing the service in a cost-efficient manner.
The state should invest in screen reading and Optical Character Recognition, OCR software (Kirsty Williamson, 2001) to enable digital access to information for persons with vision difficulties. The OCR converts scanned documents and Portable Document Format (PDF) files or images caught via a digital camera and enables reading or editing information. Government should consider subsidizing the costs of such software if persons with disabilities cannot afford to purchase it on their own.
An extensive level of community awareness needs to be carried out by the National Council for Persons with disabilities (fncdp.org, 1992), the coordinating body dealing with the care and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities, the Fiji Disabled Peoples Federation (fdpf.org, 2012) founded to be the voice for and of persons with disabilities in Fiji, together with its affiliates must do more to change the mindset of society, which would influence societal organizations such as mainstream school managements to enroll and cater for the needs of children with disabilities in their institutions.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, after Fiji ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 7th June 2017, it introduced the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act within a year, which showed the government and state’s commitment to building a disability-inclusive society. The paper acknowledges the different impairments that exist within communities and understands the versatile needs of differently abled individuals, as well as the importance of a developed infrastructure, the role of advanced technologies to access information online, and the requirement of robust community awareness by non-government organizations dealing with the welfare of children, adults alongside the elderly with disabilities. These awareness campaigns could prove an essential tool in influencing current or future government and its statutory body policies which greatly impact ordinary citizens’ lives, including persons with impairments.
Some notable findings of this report include; the inability of all offices and public transports to be disability friendly, the fact that physical barrier to accessing information is not the only challenge persons with disabilities are faced with but obtaining data online could be difficult if screen reading software’s, optical character recognition and the magnifier technology is not available or provided.
Apart from the above-mentioned point, it is pretty evident that the major issue surrounding accessibility development, maintenance, and law enforcement is the lack of knowledge of organizations and limited no financial capacity to meet the accessibility demands of persons with disabilities. The document suggests subsidizing modern technologies to accommodate the availability and affordability of resources and construction grants must be given to schools and other public facilities to facilitate ramps, lifts, side railings, and proper signage for persons with disabilities.
Finally, with regulations in place to cater to the necessities of persons with disabilities in Fiji, more effort is required from the government to practically enforce the legislations for which government and non-government agencies along with other stakeholders must work together in achieving a disability-inclusive Fiji.
Thank you for reading this article, as well as enjoyed watching he video. Although the video shows accessibility as a challenge for persons with disabilities in India, it is relatable in the case of Fiji.
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