By Dixon Bwalya –

YOU may have forgotten but there was a time when a trip on a United Bus Company of Zambia (UBZ) bus was a really transforming experience.
You would wait, may be for a few days, at a bus station before boarding a bus but by the time you reach Kalalantekwe village on the Great North Road in the now Muchinga Province, your hair would look as if one is wearing a red wig or toupee with matching eye lashes.
If you are the type that enjoys a hearty laugh your teeth would look as if you have been chewing clay and would require special toothpaste, a tooth brush with hard bristles aided by a tooth pick in order to dislodge the dust in your teeth.
This is now a thing of the past mainly because of the improvements in the quality of passenger buses coupled with the environmental improvements resulting from the quality of Zambia’s major roads that have now been tarred.
As Zambia celebrates its jubilee, it is important to reflect on past experiences as far as moulding of the built environment is concerned. One such aspect has been the impact of the built environment on the physically challenged persons.
Articles have been carried before under this column on this subject where shortcomings in the Zambia’s urban built environment have been highlighted.
It is encouraging to note that Zambia has, in the recent past, witnessed a significant shift of mind set in the design approach to take into consideration this requirement as exhibited in a number of new buildings constructed in the last decade or so.
Yes, we are not yet fully there but a reasonable start has been made although this has been mainly biased towards catering for those with challenges of movement as opposed to other categories of disability.
An examination of such recently constructed buildings as shopping malls and offices as is the case at the Levy Junction in Lusaka will reveal that significant design efforts have been made to accommodate needs of those that are physically challenged or those confined to wheel chairs.
There is evidence that design attention has been given in the choice of appropriate elevators in terms of size and speed and door types.
Elevator call buttons have been located at heights that are reachable by those on wheelchairs while surrounding floor areas have received appropriate textural treatment. Access approaches to these new buildings have included acceptably designed ramps and doors opening automatically through the use of sensors.
The design for the physically challenged has extended to the provision of toilet facilities specifically tailored for the use of the physically challenged with all sanitary fittings mounted with the needs of the end user in mind.
Even issues related to vehicular circulation and car parking facilities have taken into account needs of the physically challenged in that special car parking areas have not just been reserved but appropriate detailing of the surrounding fixtures have been attended to; thereby making manoeuvring by the physically challenged more bearable. This is a significant step in accommodating this group of people in Zambia’s urban setting.
While appropriate buildings on this score are now evident in most of Zambia’s towns and cities there is in abundance a number of very poor attempts at fulfilling this design requirement. There are a number of buildings where the design and construction of buildings have allowed for ramps meant for those on wheel chairs but these have been design to wrong slopes which are too steep for use by those on wheelchairs and to make matters worse these ramps have been finished in very smooth materials such as ceramic floor tiles which make surfaces too slippery for the easy ascent of wheelchairs while descending become too rapid as the physically challenged struggle against the forces of gravity.
The absence of hand rails along the ramps does not help matters as those on wheel chairs have nothing to hold on to in case of difficulties in either ascending or descending ramps.
Providing appropriate toilet facilities for the physically challenged is not resolved by merely providing a bigger toilet cubicle than the other toilet cubicles, yes the width of a toilet cubicle for the use of the physically challenged is important and so are the mounting heights of all sanitary fittings but what is even more important is an analysis and understanding of the exact functionalities that are required to take place in such toilet cubicles.
The user must easily access the toilet cubicle, move from the wheelchair unaided on to the toilet pan and successfully execute the assignment as well as attend to the paper work, gat back to the wheelchair, wash hands and easily exit the cubicles.
This entire exercise requires introducing aids to help the user move and manipulate his body to be able to fulfil each task with ease and without chances of messing up. It is the detailing of the toilet layout that is missing in most of these failed attempts to design for the physically challenged.
Those who are physically challenged are not restricted to circulating in building interiors only; they also must have easy means of circulating within the rest of the urban layout.
For instance, road widths are supposed to provide access for vehicles as well as pedestrians and those on bicycles and wheelchairs and accommodate such services as storm water drains and as such roads ought to be designed to safely and efficiently fulfil these functions.
Most recently constructed roads, especially in residential areas, are such that there is no meaningful provision for persons on wheelchairs to safely circulate around without the risk of being exposed to possible accidents because the road widths are too narrow.
Movements on wheelchairs are, in some cases, hindered by introduction of gratings and concrete bollards in pathways making manoeuvring difficult.
This new concerted effort to provide for the physically challenged must now be extended to cover such other disabilities as the hard of hearing and the visually impaired because the design solutions are not the same.
One major area which still remains a source of concern is the modification of existing buildings to provide for access for the physically challenged.
A number public offices and banks have no easy means of access by the physically challenged and do not have toilet facilities that can be easily used by these customers.
Remember any person may become physically challenged due to illness, age or indeed accidents the fact that the physically challenged are in minority cannot be a justification for ignoring their rights.
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