Ms Bernadette Egan:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to present today. My name is Bernadette Egan. I am a registered architect, a member of the universal design task force and an elected council member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland. I hold a master of laws degree in international and comparative disability law and policy. I am here today on a personal basis as I am a disabled person with lived experience of the accessibility of the built environment. My submission includes a brief outline of my own experiences, the challenges of the built environment, and my recommendations for implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, regarding Article 9 on accessibility.

Some time ago, I, like many architects, designed for compliance with the building regulations Part M, access and use, from 2010, believing it would ensure "Adequate provision ... for people to access and use a building, its facilities and its environs." It all seemed to make sense and as a busy architect, I did not question it. Then one day, my circumstances changed and I gained a new perspective. I joined the 1 billion disabled people worldwide, including 640,000 in Ireland, which is currently the worse country in western Europe to be disabled. What had made sense suddenly became nonsense. I discovered the hard way that the built environment is not adequately accessible at all. Life became a daily obstacle course, and instead of going about my business like everyone else, I face difficulties with the activities of living that most people take for granted. I need to confront a whole range of issues to shop for food, visit a bank, attend a meeting, have lunch in a restaurant, use a toilet or socialise in a bar. I lost my human rights and became a second-class citizen. Will the entrance door be too heavy and awkward to open, or is the platform lift out of order? Will I need to search for a key for the "accessible" toilet? Will it be too small for my motorised wheelchair? Will I need to jostle the bins or will I get hit over the head by a loose drop-down rail? If there is a fire, will I wait for someone to try to find me and slide me on a deckchair down a steep staircase? These are just a small sample of the questions I need to answer before leaving home as I mentally map out my day. As an architect, I feel let down and betrayed by the built environment that surrounds me.

Disability is part of humanity. Despite the first accessibility standards being created in the USA in 1961, they were not introduced in Ireland until 1992. Today, despite extensive legislation and policy, the lack of accessibility of the built environment is widespread. The biggest challenge disabled people encounter arises from attitudinal barriers, not from their impairments, as there is a common misunderstanding that buildings are accessible. There is also an unspoken assumption that accessible buildings are difficult and expensive to build, but this is not necessarily the case. As far back as 1993, the Council of Europe said that "A complete change in attitude must be achieved in order that disabilities are property recognized and integrated into the discipline of building". In 1996, it was recommended that the Government appoint a national committee to monitor progress of access to the physical environment, ensuring enforcement of Part M and that universal design, UD, becomes the overarching principle to guide all relevant legislation, policy and practice. In a 2007 report, the Government committed to developing and enforcing higher accessibility standards. It emphasised that any revision to Part M would need to be comprehensive and address poor compliance, "current loopholes, minimum design criteria and inconsistencies" with houses being "habitable" rather than merely "visitable". However, none of these proposals happened. In 2014, the UNCRPD committee clarified that denial of access to the physical environment is a clearly defined prohibited act of discrimination. In 2018, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission reported discrimination against disabled people accessing housing. Disabled people in Ireland are prevented from enjoying some of their fundamental human rights, such as the right to live independently, seek employment, or enjoy culture and leisure, as they continue to be left out of society by exclusive building design that does not consider users' age, size and ability. An accessible built environment is simply better for everyone, whether disabled or not.

The UNCRPD sets out legal duties from a human rights perspective, with disabled people treated on an equal basis with others. I have completed a 16,000-word research paper that identified relevant legislation and policy, examined the four main challenges to accessibility and explored Norway as a case study and possible template for Ireland. I made several recommendations. First, human rights need to become part of the design process from the beginning. Universal design must form part of the project quality assurance, with essential reviews and inspections, ensuring that accessibility is fully addressed throughout buildings' life cycles. Second, the world's only statutory centre of excellence in universal design, CEUD, at the National Disability Authority should fulfil its full statutory role and be developed and expanded with disabled people to become a global leader promoting a positive international image of a progressive, inclusive country and ensuring an accessible built environment for all. Third, the NDA needs to fulfil its full statutory role and become an independent monitoring body of the accessibility of the built environment, together with the establishment of a new enforcement mechanism with dedicated funding, time-specific deadlines and appropriate sanctions. Fourth, Part M should be thoroughly revised and updated with the participation of disabled people. There needs to be just one clear set of legally enforceable accessibility standards with legislation, education and training to implement this effectively. Fifth, a specific national built environment accessibility advisory committee must be established to successfully progress accessibility with a high level of engagement with the disabled community. "Nothing about us without us" is the disabled community's slogan and its effective and meaningful participation and involvement is mandatory as there is no substitution for lived experience. Sixth, the centre of excellence in universal design must fulfil its statutory remit and universal design must be put on the curricula of vocational and third level institutions as a mandatory subject in the schools of built architecture, as well as being at the centre of courses and activities provided for the continuing professional development of all built environment practitioners. Seventh, the CEUD should fulfil its statutory remit with a national awareness campaign to promote and highlight universal design and the right of disabled people to access the built environment, and disabled people could effectively deliver disability awareness training. Eighth, the optional protocol must be ratified as soon as possible so that disabled people have an essential international redress mechanism.

Fulfilling the legitimate human right of disabled people to access and use the built environment will lead to essential improvements in the well-being of the entire population. Designing for diversity is simply designing for equality.