For countries who follow the International Building Code (IBC) and American National Standards/ANSI A117.1-2017: Accessible and Usable Buildings requirements, most of the physical accessibility requirements consistent with the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility requirements would be met during construction or remodeling.
What about access to education, public areas, and employment rights for people with disabilities around the world?
Data from the World Health Organization website states that “An estimated 1.3 billion people – about 16% of the global population – currently experience significant disability.” What protection is available for all of us?
An article from NPR dated July 24, 2015 called “How A Law to Protect Disabled Americans Became Imitated Around the World” discusses how before and “since 2000, 181 countries have passed disability civil rights laws inspired by the ADA.”
Some of these laws include the United Kingdom Equality Act of 2010, the Canadian Accessible Canada Act of 2019, the Australian Disability Discrimination Act of 1992, the Japan Act on the Elimination of Disability Discrimination from 2013, the Brazilian Law of Inclusion of People with Disabilities Statute of 2015 and many more.
The United Nations website lists the various Disability Laws and provides links to read.
After reading a few of the different laws, some offered very expansive coverage such as the Antiqua and Barbuda Disabilities and Equal Opportunities Bill, 2017, which covers areas such as protection from abuse, violence and exploitation, rights to access to education and training, employment discrimination, equal access to health care and access to public buildings, transportation, and premises.
Some of the laws were more limited such as the Proclamation to Provide for the Right of Employment of Persons with Disability from 2008 in Ethiopia but which provides a starting point.
As we consider disability rights as part of the greater civil and human rights, we appear to be making progress since the United Nations General Assembly resolution 217 on December 10, 1948, presented the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The preamble which starts “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”
And speaking of civil and human rights, the ADA National Symposium 2025 will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, where the National Center for Civil and Human Rights is located. Be sure to visit this historical Center when you attend next year’s symposium!
Thanks to our guest blogger, RMADAC Advisory Committee member Corey Birkholz, M.S., CRC, ND Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.