Encouraging A 'Barrier-free Built Environment'

In A Malaysian University
Ha zr eena H ussein
Dep artmen t of Architecture
Faculty of the Built Environm ent
Un iversity of Ma laya

Ab strac t
A goo d pedestrian netwo rk arou nd the cam p us should be accessible and friend ly for all users
including d isabled persons. The environme nt shou ld offer 'some activ ity nodes to ens ure that
the learn ing and wo rking in camp us is more pleasant. The pap er w ill clar ify the importance of
collabo ra tive d evelopmen t among various profession als and organisa tions in ord er to achieve
a 'ba rrier-free bu ilt env iron men t', focusing on the Un iversity of Malaya as a case study . It w ill
sha re experience on the ed ucation of inclusive design for stud ents who will become pro fessionals
and responsib le in implementin g the legislation relating to sa fety, accessibility and usab ility of
the built env ironment. As the objective is the issue of ed ucating relevan t professiona ls, it will
introdu ce meth od s in teaching professiona ls as a s trateg y to advocate a 'barr ier -free b uilt
env ironmen t' . The paper will also illustrate the efforts d one in enco urag ing the agenda wh ich
have been implemented around the case study.

Keywords: Barrier-Free Built Environ ment, Ed ucation, Professionals

Introdu cti on
It is increasingly d ifficult for the di sabled

persons ' to use th e cam p us? faci liti es in

Ma laysia d ue 10 prev io us planni ng policie s
and im plementa tions, w hich did not se t
ou t to provi d e for a ' ba rrier-free buil t
en viron me n t", For examp le, there were no
p rovisions for slopes w ith equa l or less than
1:12 for th e w heelcha ir user s, lifts w ere
I Disabled person..
s means an indi vid u al who ha s a
phys ical o r menta l impa irment that su bs tan tia lly
lim its o ne o r mor e of her /his major life activiti es
(Disabili ty-Rela ted Terms and Definitions, h ttp: /
/ www .duke.edu /web / eq uity /d isab_ terms.htm).
2 The word "C am p us " is u sed for exp laini ng site s
of a Unive rsit y. ) ' Barr ie r-free Buil t Environment'
mea ns un hindered , wit hout obs tructions . to enable
d isabled persons frce passage to and from and use
o f the facilitie s in the b ui lt enviro nment. (Ministry
of H ous ing and Local Go vern men t ad minis tra tive
documen t (19991 Guidelines I~('q lf irem ellts fo r A ccess
in to Public Bui/iiillg s f or Disabled Pereone , Kua la
Lu m p ur).

p ro vid ed in com pl ete w i tho u t Braill e

bu ttons and audi o signals for the visionimpaired per son s. There is a lot 10 be do ne
tha t cou ld allow the d isabled pe rso ns to
par ticipa te eq ua lly like everyo ne else .
H o w e ve r, d is ab led pers o n s and
collabora tors have ye t to make inclusion
in planni ng as p riority in thei r efforts to
encourage a 'barrier-free b uilt environ ment'.
Survey had shown lack of awareness and
knowledg e on the needs of d isabled persons
among cam pus citizens. Th is is th e main
arg umen t fo r p us h ing for d is a bi li ty
awa reness traini ng to be one importan t
act ivity whe re it wo uld be inte grated as the
cu lt ure for a 'ca r ing ca lu p us socie ty ' .
Prac tice had revealed that reg ulation alone
is not eno ug h to ac hiev e the d esired need s
o f di sab led per sons unless all pa rties are
involved with the awareness programme.
33

[ourna! Of Design and lileBuilt Enuironmen!

When m ore d isab led persons and thei r
concerns are respectfully ack nowledged,
this will move tow ards an all-encompassing
agenda, w hich wo uld be integral to th e
ma ins tream development of planning the
campus.

The principl es of 'barrier-free'

Barrier-free is achievable w hen the

followi n g factor s are considered: safety,

access ibi li ty a nd usa bi li ty . A more
encompa ssing conce pt is 'un iversa l
design', w here the factors of affo rdability
and aest hetics are co nsidered . According to

Yaakob (2000), Universal De sig n is the

design o f produc ts and environments to be

usable by all people, to the grea test extent

possible, w itho u t the need for adap ta tion
or specialised design.
Safety is d efi ned as ' freed o m from
danger and risks'. The built environment
shou ld be designed that all p eople,
inclu d in g disabled persons can move abo ut
without und ue hazard to life and health' .

Fig ure 1:
Uncovered openings that could harm the
disab led person.

An exa mple is pavements tha t are

constructed with unp rotected d ra ins (re fer

figur e 1).
Accessibility is defined as, 'that can

be readily reached or entered'. Th is means

disabled persons can, wit hout assis tance,
app roach , enter, pass to and

1'0111/

and make

use of an area and its faci lities w itho ut

undue difficulties '. An example issue is
incorrect design of gratings (refer fig ure 2).

Fig ure 2:
Gra tings should be lai d with the d irection
across the trave l o f w heels for the
wheelchair users and can be avoided

by shor t br idges (refe r to Fig ure 6).

Min istry of H o nsi ng an d Loca l Governmen t

adm in istrative docu ment [1999] Guldel inee
Requirements for Access ill to Public Bllildillgs for
Disnbled Persons, Kuala Lump ur

34

Ministry of Ho u s ing and Lo cal Government

adminis tra tive d o cu me n t [1999] GlIidt'lil1t's
Reouirenicnte for Access into Public BlI ildillgs for
Disabled Persons, Kuala Lumpur

Ellcollagillg A 'Barrier-freeBuilt Enuironmeni' III A Malaysiall Ullillersily

Usability is; 'that can be used '. Use means
'bri ng ing into se rv ice' . Th e built
enviro nme nt sho uld be de signed so that
dis abl ed persons can use and enjoy it' . A
subseque nt problem is the inabili ty to use
the public facilities such as toilets (refer to
figure 3).

Afford ability is define d as 'having means

to provid e'. Publi c transp ortation around
the camp us (refer figure 4) is o ne of the
issues.

Figure 3:
Insuffi cient space for use of the toile t.

Figure 4:
Although publi c tran s portation is
prov ide d, it is not sufficient.

Case Study: University of Malaya,

Kuala Lumpur
Th e Uni ver sity o f Malaya is a 750-acre
campus situated in the sou thwest of Kuala
Lum pur, the cap ita l city of Mala ysia. This
fir st uni versity of th e co u n try w as
established on 8 0h Oc tober 1949 wit h the
motto ' Kno wledge is the Key to Success',
w hich refl ects th e phil os o phy o f the
University in its co ns tan t endeav ou r to
seek knowled ge in all fiel ds to p roduce
s uccessful g rad ua tes and a success ful
n a ti on' . Univers ity Malaysia 's Vice
Chancellor, Pro fessor Da to: Dr. Hashim
Yaacob, menti oned in the New Straits Times,
written by Na gu (2003:8) that the next s tep

is to o utline a strategy to im prove teachin g

and learn ing q uality in the Unive rsity of
Mala ya. He also feels the time has come for
the in stituti on to ass oci ate itse lf with
prem ie r uni v ersities s uc h as Yale an d
Oxford . Op timis tica lly , being the most
pres tigi o us universi ty in Ma lays ia, the
University of Malaya w ill be more concerned
w ith creating a sus tainable envi ronment as
w e ll as the academ ic aims . Uni versity of
Mala ya sho uld be barrier-free to disabled
persons in order for them to be an equal
pa rt icipan t in th e ac tiv i ties t ha t the
Universit y has to offer. The followi ng are
objectives that should be met in or de r to
ac hieve the agenda o f e nco ura g ing a
'barrier-free built env ironmen t',

" Mini st ry of Hou s ing an d Lo c al Governme nt

admi ui st rat ivc do cume nt (1 999 ] G ut det i nes
Requirements f o r Ac c{'s s ; 11 10 Public Bllildings fo r
Disabled Persons, Kuala Lumpur

a. Educa ting releva nt professiona ls;

b. Em p lo y ing s ui ta b le me t hods in
teaching professiona ls.

35

iourno!of Design nlldtile Built Enuironment

We sha ll d ivide th e efforts done ba sed on
five ways as follows:
1. Co n su ltancy for new and existi ng

bu ilding and landscap ing p rojects.

Academics and research ers w ho are
being ap proached by the University
often find th em selves engage d in
advising cu rre n t projects o n the
campus. Thi s is becau se the Unive rsity
does not have an in-house architect
and ca mp us planning office, but rely on
the maintenance and mana gement
departme nt to h el p mai ntain the
campus facili ties and infrastru cture.
Inp uts are certainly need ed from
th e professiona ls concerned to int egrate
facilities for th e d isabled persons in to
mainstream de ve lopmen t. Recently, a
few acade m ic sta ff from the Faculty of
th e Built Env iro nmen t wor ki ng as

Figu r e Sa:
Before const ruction of the ramp.

part-time cons ultants on 'barrier- free

b ui lt en v iro n men t' cam e int o the

renovation of the Tunku Chancellor
Hall, an im p o rt ant lan d mark in the
canlplls, wh ich is the historical m ultiptll'pose hall and exhibition comp lex.
Th ere were di sc ussion s on p roviding
acc ess featur es s uch as ramps and
acces sible toilets alon g with landscape
beautification around th e hall. Upon
thei r discussion, a few problems were
id entified and so lu tions were made. No
propel' adm ittance for th e di sab led
perso ns was on e of the problem s (refer
figure Sa and 5b).

2. Advi sor y in co m m i tte es a n d ta sk

forces.
One o f the Uni versity' s tas k forces
form ed cons ists o f the acad emic staff
fr om th e Facult y o f the Built
Environment w orking in collaboration
with an o utside working group ca lled
the Access Initia tive Croup (AIC) . AIC
is an informal group of peopl e w orking
7 His tory Un iversi tl Malaya,
ht tp:/ /www .urn.c d !! my / um /hist or y ,bl m

36

.'

Fig u re 5b:
Steel hand rail ins tallation .

on the promotion of 'ba rri er-free built

env ironmen t' in Malaysi a. The group
had been inv olved in the core work done
a nd they are s u ff icie n tly s killed to
co nd uct disability awareness training
co urse m odules, incl ud ing simulation
ex e rcises an d access su rveys. A lG 's
main aim is to ena ble di sab led persons
to be trained as pr om oters on
enco ura ging ' b a rrie r -free b uilt
envi ro n men t' an d to be s ufficien tly
skilled as resource person s . This is to
create the groundwork for aw areness and
th us changes o f altitude for the p ublic,
ad ministrative personnel in government

Ellcollngillg A 'Barrier-free Built Ellvil'OlIIllell t' III A Mn inysinll llll iversit y

and pro fess ional bod ies, concerning

disability issu es.
Ano the r core ta s k force is the
Access ib ili ty and Sa fe ty Resea rch
Cen tre (ACCESS) in the Faculty of the
Bu ilt Env iro n m en t, Uni versity of
Ma la ya . The m ain ob jec tiv e of this
unit is to engage in research and provid e

resources for the U n ivers ity in

access ibility and sa fety. Students taking
land scape, architect ure, planning and
urban design d isciplines ma y ben efit
from inter-di sciplin ary collaboration on
a varie ty of research topics. The unit w ill
s u s tain a net w o rk o n s ha ring o f
information w ith oth e r institutions of
high er learning and research centres at
bo th the local and in tern ationa l levels.
Future co llabo ratio ns are encouraged
to obtain research gra nts and fund ing
in the research areas.

3. Di s ab ility a w a re ness tr ainin g a n d

seminars
Disabi lity awareness training is a fairl y
new phenom enon, w hich had only been
int roduced in Malaysia by a few disabled
persons as resou rce person s and trainers

trained u n d e r the Un it ed Na ti on 's

Econo mic and Socia l Conun ission for
As ia and the Pacifi c (ESC AP ). Th e
concept has been ve ry much applauded
and such programmes were enthused by
se c tio ns of th e governm ent s ec to r.
According to Harrison and Parker (2001:
21-22), d is ability aw are n es s is n o t
ac hievab le unless th e peopl e have
und ergone a simulated ex perience, long
and im pact enoug h for the realisation
that issu es are connected to d isabili ty.
The mo d ule of simula tion exe rcise is an
impor tant co mponen t in achieving the
objectiv e o f scnsitisa tion. Alt ho ug h
just tem porary, the pa rt icipants in the
train in g w il l find o u t ex ac tly th e
probl em s that di s a bl ed p e rs on s
e nco un te r, w he n they have don e the
simulators of bei ng in blind ness, using
a w h eelchai r, cru tc h e s o r w alk ing
frames (refer figure 6).

Figure 6:
Stimulation exercises - sharing experien ce
and unde rstandin g barriers.

Given tha t Univ ersity of Malaya relic s

on the te chnic a l per son ne l from
Building Manageme nt and Maintenance
of Proper ty Devel o p ment O ffice for
im plem en tation of design, they sho uld
be 'in troduced a scheme to exp erience
simula tion exercises wi th the g uida nce
o f d isab le d p e rson s as reso urce
persons.. :8. This will fur the r emphasise
on the reco mme nda tions among w hich
disabili ty awa reness training sho uld be
cond ucted to rectify p roblems w he n
imp lem enting. For exarn plc, during the
Ekspo Konvokesyen University Malaya
(EKSKUM) 2001, disabled perso ns ha d
or g an is ed a se m inar w he re a fe w
spea kers who specia lised in accessibil ity
we re inv ited to d isc uss is s ue s that
happen ed around the ca mp us. Senior
academic s and staff w ere also invited, as
they are imp ortant key decision-m akers
in the Uni ve rsity s tructures. As a result,
we se e more peop le are awar e o f the
issue s an d ther e arc d iscu ssi ons to
suggest in crea ting a 'One-stop Se rvice
Cen tre' via the Office of Stude nts Affairs,
at least wi th a hi gh er ra nk ing officer

8 United Nations Economic and Social Commission

for As ia and the Pacifi c (ESCAP1 repo rt [19991
Asiall al/ll Pacific Decode of Disa/J /ed Persoll s: midpai n - ,,::~ iol/a l persl'('cfi ves 011 III lI l t isal oral
collaboration mIlt

II(l H OWI I

coordination, New York

37

[ourna! of Design and tile Buil! Enulrontneni

looking into the affairs of the disabled
studen ts.
4. Educationa l App roa ch.
One of the elective cours es offered by the
Faculty of the Built Environme nt is the

knowledgeable, hopefully w ith empathy,

after which they are actua lly involved in
facilitating a w orkshop o n 'Barrier-Free
Built Env iro nmen t', It wa s cond ucted for

pa rticipants from the University which

incl ude the managemen t, academ ic,

'Barrier-Free Buil t Environment' , w ith

te chnical a nd s u p p o r t s ta ff . Th is

its m ain o bjec tiv e to tra in futur e

imparts a certain objective of 'teamw ork'

professionals to beco me trainers and

enco urag e the Barrier-Free concept. In

and impa ct of learning, by having the

expos ure to le a d . St ude n ts a lso

orde r fo r i t to appea l n ot o n ly to

conducted access surveys and au d its

landscape archite cts and architects, the

teachi ng of des ign is lessened , so that it

on bu ildi ngs (in terna l and externa l)

id en tifi ed in th e Un ive rs ity (re fe r
figure 7).

is also suitable to building surveyors,

w ho are also th e p rofession als being
employed as building inspectors in the
local aut ho rities . O thers th at wo u ld
take int erest fire the facili ties managers

and qu an tity s urveyors, who often act

as proj ect man agers, mostl y employed
in de velope rs finn . Students are exposed
to issues concern ing th e problems of
disabled persons in Malaysia, in the
context of cur rent deve lop me nts. They
s t u d y th e bu ild in g regu la ti on s,

5. Trai n in g th e fu ture pro fessi onal s .

Professionals s uch as architects, land scape architects, bu ild ing s urveyo rs,
buil di ng sur vey, qua ntity surveyo rs and
planners are responsib le for how the
built environme nt had come to wha t it

Unit ed Sta tes and Japan a t a supe rficial

is. With the help of professional bod ies

such as Inst itute of Landscap e Architects
Malaysia (ILAM), Pert ubuhan Ark itek
Malaysia (PAM), Inst itute of Eng ineers
Malaysia (!EM), Ins titu tion of Su rveyor
Malaysia (ISM) and Malaysian Institute
of Planni ng (MII'), such efforts wo uld be
escala ted eve n more if the training of fu-

level. Dem on stration s and exercises arc

ture professiona ls includes aw areness

legi sl ati on, s tandards and g uidelines

that arc in ex is tence in Malaysia and
in countries such as Un ited Kingdo m,

provi d e

training, teachin g design mod ules in the

und er stand in g o f barr ier s and

simu latio n exercise. Inpu t on how to do
access surveys and audits 9 w ill be give n
so tha t s tu d en ts w iII be trained and

professional trainin g and ge nerally promo ting 'barrier-free bu ilt environment'.

Access surve y is a too l to gauge a bu ilding's

pe rf o r m a n ce on acces s ibility for the d isable d
persons. The method is structured in a format that
consists of a se t of questi ons and gu ided by the
particular coun try's leg islative codes, s tandards
and gu ide lines . The 1001 en ables one to record
dimensions and existing specification of a building
element, hence provides for an eval uative method.
One goes through an d chec ks whet her the
specifica tion is according to the s tandards and
guide lines . One or many perso ns mus t create a
rea listic rou te, often s tarting from the d rop-off
point and go around the premises and records the
inform ati on tha t wi ll be processed la ter. The
a n a ly tica l tool also gui d es to the co rrect

specification, which can contribute to the formation

of an access audit. This in turn cou ld enable the
quantity surveyor or contractor to put a cost to the
specifications and help to quicken the process of
implementation. The building owner could easil y
see if the cos ts could be mel the budget that the)'
have and co uld pla n wh e n to ins tall the
sp eci fications . Access surveys objective is 10 find
out as much det ailed information from a building
as to whether it is accessible for the disabled. This
eva lu a tio n ca me abou t beca u se the di s abled
person s need to com municate techn ica lly and
effectively concerning the lack of access features in
a building (Yaacob, N .M. 120001 A(f('ss S Urllf.'y 11$ (/
Tool for E IlI I'0Wl' TlIl l' lI t)

m ethod s

'i

38

e m p loyed

to

Ellcollagillg A 'Barrier-f ree Bull! Enuironmeni' III A Malaysiall LIlliversity

Figure 7:
Access survey do ne in one of the faculties
in the campus.

Co n cl us io n
Awareness and understanding of the basic
needs of di sabled persons mus t be
propagated and one of the best methods to
propa gat e awareness is throu gh ed ucating
both the s taff and st udents of Universit y
Ma laya .Thro ug ho u t our experienc es in
promoting 'barrier-free built environment',
th e mos t im p o rt a nt pa r t of th e en tire

process is the involvement of all possible

pa rticipants, i.e. the un iversi ty exec u tives,
academics, rese arche rs, ad m inis trative ,
support sta ff, techn ical, the man agement
and mai nte na nc e. Having a di sabili ty
co mp lia nce unit at th e Stude n t Aff airs
a lso help ed the disabled p ersons
to orga nise e vents tha t could promote
Non-Hand icapping Environment. Different
local conditions wo uld nee d the sens itivity
of acade mics to disce rn problematic areas
that co uld help effort s in 'barrier-free built
e n v iro n men t' prom oti on ki ck-start as
st ud ents could pro vide for help to d o access
surve ys and
run training co u rses. v\lith
the leadership and me n toring, academics,
o ther profe ss iona ls concerned, disab led
persons as reso u rce pe rso ns and local
government con tacts could put their heads
together to solve problems in the local
co n tex t. It is ho p ed th at with ca re fu l
plannin g and sensitive approaches, all
ca mpuses will be more accessible, friendly
and sa fe for all use rs in o rd er that the
university's objec tive o f a 'caring camp us
society' be achieved .

R efe rences

Unite d N ati ons Eco nomi c an d Socia l

Comm iss ion for Asia and the Paci fi c
[ESCAP] (1999), Asiall alld Pacific Decade of
Disabled Persons: Mid -poillt - regi ona!
perspectives on muliisecioml collabomtion and
nntionalcoordination, New York.

Ministry of Housing and Local Government

(1999), Cuideline Requimnentsjo r Access illto
Public Blli/dillgs for Disabled Persons, Kuala
Lumpur.
Journ al Art icle:
Harrison, Ja me s Doug las and Park er ,
Kenneth Jame s (2001), lnitiatlues and Isslies
ill Education and Training ill Desigllillg for
Seniors and Persons witlt Disabilities, pp. 2122

Interne t references:
History Universiti Malaya, available:
http: / / w ww .tun .edu.my /um / hist ory.htm
[Accessed: May 28th, 2004]

Disability-Rela ted Terms and Definitions,

av ailable: http: / /w ww.duke.edu /web /
eq uity / di sab j cr rns.htm [Accessed: June
12th,2004 ]
Paper Article
Nagu , Suz ieana [2003 May 4] Revamped for
Top Gear. Learning Curver: N ew Sunday
Times,pg8.
Unpublishe d Papers
Yaakob, Na ziaty [2000] Konsep Alam Bina
Bcbas Halangan dan Prins ip Dimensi
Yaacob, Na zialy [2000J Access Sur vey as a
Tool for Empowermen t

39