RURAL ACCESS AND MOBILITY
OKEKE, ADOLPHUS,
Spinal Cord Injuries Association of Nigeria, Anambra State, Awka, Nigeria
e-mail:
Assisted by NGWUBE, HOPE,
Spinal Cord Injuries Association of Nigeria, Anambra State, Awka, Nigeria
e-mail:
SUMMARY
The elderly and the physically challenged persons in African countries, who live in rural areas, are seriously faced with a lot of challenges due to the fact that there is not yet a deliberate policy for barrier free environment. In fact barrier free design is not yet taken seriously in most African nations in general and Nigeria in particular.
In Nigeria, most physically challenged persons live in rural areas and poverty is prevalent within the disabled community. Mobility challenges are high most especially for the wheelchair users due to the unpaved streets, making them highly dependant on people, thereby limiting their freedom.
A deliberate policy which encourages the persons with disabilities to get into policy making echelons of the society will go along way in alleviating the problem.
Purpose of the study
The paper was aimed at consentising the international community on the special community on the special challenges being faced by the elderly and the disabled persons, most especially the wheelchair users living in rural areas of most African countries.
Methodology
It is based on the practical experiences and personal interaction of the author, the author being a wheelchair user himself, with other persons, who are affected in one way or the other.
Results
It is hoped that this paper will help to create more awareness internationally and ginger more actions from the world bodies that will be geared towards barrier free designs, most especially in the developing nations of the world.
Conclusion
At the end it will contribute in making the world a better place for all irrespective of the physical state.
In trying to discuss this topic, I wish to approach it from the perspective of a wheelchair user in African setting, precisely Nigeria. Having that in mind, May I now reframe the topic thus. Rural Access And Mobility – Experience of a wheelchair user in Africa.
Also being a Nigeria, my country is used as a case study.
Definitions:
1. Rural:
Longman Dictionary of contemporary English defines the word rural as relative to the country side not the city. The other word that can be used is remote. The country sides in most African countries are very remote.
The characteristics of rural areas are unpaved ways. The streets are not tarred. They are mostly either sandy or covered with mood or very stony and hilly.
2. Access:
How easy or difficult it is for people to reach a place. With this the barrier free design and normalization come to mind.
3. Mobility:
The ability to move easily from one area to another
4. Wheelchair:
This is a chair with wheels which the physically challenged person who has lost the functions of the lower limb and the elderly use to move around.
With these definitions in mind, one can imagine the accessibility of a rural area to a person who is a wheelchair user residing in Nigeria.
NIGERIA SITUATION
1. Terrain-
Nigeria, just like most countries in Africa is mostly rural. The streets are undulating hilly and sandy. They are unlike paved cities in the developed world.
The residential houses are located very far away from the few tarred roads. Therefore, the wheelchair user will have to wheel himself from the house, through the unpaved streets to the tarred road.
Also, till now, there is no deliberate policy for barrier free design. Therefore the built infrastructures do not take care of the physical challenged persons and the elderly in general.
2. Buses and Cars
The buses do not have low floor construction. They all have high steps. You still see elderly and the disabled persons highly dependent on the mercy of fellow commuters to enter or disembark from street cars or buses.
3. The Railway
The railway vehicles where they exist are the high step type without a space provided for the wheelchair user.
4. Airport
At the airport one can hardly see any deliberate attempt at barrier free designs. The seven principles of universal design which include that products and buildings shall (i) Be used fairly (ii) Provide high degrees of freedom (iii) Be simple (iv) Be easy to understand (v) be safe (vi) Shall not require unnecessary bodily strength and (vii) Maintain an appropriate space and size that is easy to be used cannot be found in any built environment in Nigeria
In fact a bill on disability rights that has been passed by the legislative house of the country has not been signed into law by the president for a year now. I wish he would do that soon.
5. Wheelchairs
Before now, the wheelchairs being used in most African countries were the ones designed and made for those developed countries that have started considering barrier free environments. When these wheelchairs were brought into Africa, due to very rural and rough terrain, they do not last long.
They break after a very short time. Some do not even last up to three months. Motivation Africa, a non governmental organization, based in UK took a step towards solving these problems in early 2000 by designing and making, even training Africans who would be able to design and make wheelchairs that will last in those African rural environments by introducing three wheel rural wheelchairs that will be used for a long time in African rural settings.
The summary of it all is that there is not yet a deliberate policy towards barrier free environment in most African cities let alone the rural areas of Africa.
Suggested Solution:
Most African countries are made up of rural areas. With deliberate policies aimed at improving the lots of the rural wheelchair user, most of these problems will be solved.
These policies can only be made and pursued by persons in authority. This is why it is very important for the United Nations and other world bodies to pursue domestication of disability issues with more vigor, just like the gender issue is being pursued now.
Organizations and nations should be made to be disability sensitive just like we have gender sensitivity now. Persons with disability should be encouraged to take part in politics so as to be able to take part in decision making in their various countries. Changes can mostly be made from inside.
More bodies like motivation Africa who are interested in making wheelchairs for African environment should be encouraged to research more in areas that need improvement. This is while issues of barrier free environments are being pursued.
Conclusion:
African rural settings are hardly accessible for the elderly and the persons with disabilities. This is more especially for the wheelchair user. This makes mobility very difficult.
With deliberate policies on barrier free design and total integration of the elderly and the persons with disability, the accessibility can be highly improved.
Reference
[ Adeleke,B.O. and Leong, Goh Cheng, 1978, Certificate physical and Human Geography, West African Edition ]