Accessibility becomes increasingly more important as we age

We all have one thing in common — we are all ageing from the day we are born! As a child I remember yearning to be older and used to envy those who were even a few months older than myself! How things change!

These days I focus more on the things I want to do rather than yearn for what might be called ‘the impossible’.

One dimension of the ageing process that probably needs more attention is accessibility. As I have said before, when engaging in conversations with people in my age group, it is never long before accessibility in one form or another comes into the conversation.

On one occasion I began thinking about how I’d get from my parked car into premises I planned to visit. As an example, one person described how hard it was to get out of their car when they couldn’t use a mobility parking spot. If she couldn’t open her car door fully it was difficult for her to get out of her vehicle!

Mobility parking spaces have the extra width needed, and holders of mobility parking permits have the right to use these spaces.!

Remembering that I often refer to the World Health Organisation’s ‘Checklist of Essential Features of Age-friendly Cities and Communities’ and remembering also that as we age we are more likely to find getting out and about more difficult it makes good sense to look at the United Nations stance on the issue.

On December 13, 2006 the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of persons with Disabilities and this is now one of the most widely ratified international human rights instruments with 169 parties! New Zealand ratified this convention on September 25, 2008. And we have a New Zealand Disability Strategy. The vision of the strategy is “New Zealand is a non-disabling society — a place where disabled people have an equal opportunity to achieve their goals and aspirations, and all New Zealand works together to make this happen.” It has listed eight outcomes — education, employment and economic security, health and wellbeing, rights protection and justice, accessibility, attitudes, choice and control, and leadership.

For further information around these issues, check out the Office for Disabilities or odi.govt.nz websites.