Opinion: Missing Ramps Just Tip Of The Iceberg — Barriers In Education & Workplace Run Deep For Persons With Disabilities

Representational image of a wheelchair user. Absence of ramps and lifts makes many premises inaccessible for people with disabilities.

Source : PTI

When it comes to people with disabilities, the ideal of inclusivity is often not fully realised, either at the workplace or in educational institutes. Despite positive changes in policy and society, there still remain many barriers that prevent individuals with disabilities from participating fully in these important areas of life.

It’s not just physical barriers, but also attitudinal, systemic as well as technological ones, which are a reflection of deep-rooted prejudice and inadequacies within the systems in place. Identifying the barriers is the first step towards building true inclusiveness.

The Many Barriers

The most obvious obstacle — and one of the most frequently mentioned — is the physical inaccessibility of buildings and infrastructure at places of employment and education. At a lot of locations, basic amenities like ramps, lifts, and toilets designed for the disabled are lacking or are poorly provided. For this reason, people with mobility impairments can find it extremely hard to access spaces that others take for granted. Educational establishments, for example, may lack accessible rooms, libraries, or laboratories, and workplaces may not have suitable workstations or means of transport. 

This reveals the stigma attached to people with disabilities and, more often than not, such shortcomings restrain people with disabilities from activities they could otherwise perform without assistance.

The attitudinal barriers are probably the most omnipresent and refractory. Misconceptions, stereotypes, and prejudices about disability continue to affect the perception and treatment of persons with disabilities. For example, in school, there is underestimation of the intellectual capability of such students, which contributes to low expectations from both teachers and peers. 

The consequences are limited academic challenge and opportunities for growth, impact on self-esteem, and lowered aspirations. In the workplace, such attitudes translate into questioning the capabilities of employees with a disability, which leads to fewer opportunities for advancement, professional development, or challenging assignments. 

With these attitudes, not only are persons with disabilities being marginalised, but organisations are being denied the various contributions these individuals can make.

Systemic barriers, meanwhile, are deeply embedded in the policies, practices, and cultures of schools and workplaces. This includes non-inclusive curriculum implementation, a lack of relevant support services, and an absence of adequate funding for services associated with disability. 

School and university curricula often follow a one-size-fits-all approach that lacks consideration for diverse learning styles and needs. When there are special education services, they may be underfinanced or handled by personnel who aren’t adequately trained, making their effectiveness minimal. Systemic barriers in the workplace include recruitment processes that are not inclusive, such as job descriptions that use words emphasising physical abilities not required for the job in question, or interview processes that are not accommodating to different communication styles. Furthermore, ambiguous policies on reasonable accommodations and poor enforcement of existing laws and regulations create an environment which, knowingly or unknowingly, excludes persons with disabilities.

With the world becoming an increasingly digital space, it is a place rife with severe technological barriers for persons with disabilities. This gap extends further in education. Many a time, learning tools and platforms are inaccessible, preventing students with disabilities from fully utilising and engaging with the learning materials found online.

For instance, there are cases where video content does not have captions, websites are not screen-reader-friendly, and learning management systems are not accommodative enough to address various types of disabilities. 

While technology has the capability to pave the way towards more flexible and accessible work environments, if it is not designed to be inclusive, it may also engender more inequality. For example, employees with disabilities may have trouble using inaccessible software or participating in virtual meetings held without consideration of different participants’ needs.

Moreover, the absence of technology training for both educators and employers erodes opportunities for competition on an equal footing.

Apart from the physical environment, a social and cultural barrier also contributes to the obstacles hampering education and employment for people with disabilities. Many view disability as something negative, which leads to social exclusion. This sometimes occurs via bullying or social marginalisation in schools. 

Such experiences affect students with disabilities during their psychic life and academic study. In the workplace, employees with disabilities may feel unwelcome or unsupported within businesses that do not actively work towards fostering a culture of inclusivity — even when it is not intended. 

Legal Hurdles

While there exist specific laws and policies that offer protection to the rights of persons with disabilities, disparity in enforcement and implementation often weaken such frameworks. In many countries, the legal mechanisms that establish the rights of people with disabilities are either weak or poorly enforced, enabling discrimination to persist. Even in countries like the United States, which boasts of great support through legislation like the Americans with Disabilities Act, full compliance is not always ensured. Employers and schools may be unaware of their legal obligations, or simply choose to ignore them as too expensive or inconvenient to observe. 

Also, the very structure of disability benefits and services can themselves give rise to legal and policy barriers. In some persons with disabilities, the structure of disability benefits and services may actually create a disincentive to work or pursue education due to the threat of losing crucial benefits. This is a catch-22 situation, whereby self-sufficiency is penalised, rather than encouraged, thus trapping people in dependency.

Overcoming many of the barriers in education and the workplace will require legal reforms, shifting cultural attitudes, and increased accessibility, among other things. Inclusiveness — envisaging universality in design to ensure that environments are accessible to all — should come first. Furthermore, changes in attitude about disability are greatly needed through awareness campaigns, and diversity training, and by involving persons with disabilities in decision-making. It is high time that existing laws are strengthened and new policies drawn up to plug the loopholes. The need of the hour is investment in accessible technologies, and equipping digital platforms to meet diverse needs. The redesign of systems, institutions, and attitudes as a collective undertaking will make inclusivity possible for all.

The writer is Associate Professor at Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences.

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