Disability-friendly Dubai would be big win in 2020

DUBAI // Expo 2020 is an opportunity for Dubai to transform itself into a city that is fully accessible to disabled people.

That was the message delivered by speakers on day one of the My Community forum, a two-day event that sought to shape the future of the city for the disabled.

The Expo could be a convincing conclusion to five years of work to encourage more disabled visitors to Dubai, according to Venus Illagan, secretary general at Rehab International, New York.

“Now is the best time to start talking to disabled people about access, so a clear route can evolve between now and the Expo,” she said.

“The challenges that will be faced in Dubai will add value to the Expo story – let’s see if the city lives up to all our expectations.”

New York is one model for how it has adapted to become more inclusive since 1990, the year the Americans with Disabilities Act came into being.

Victor Calise, commissioner for people with disabilities at the New York mayor’s office, said advertising space in Dubai should showcase the improvements.

“Expo is the perfect opportunity for Dubai to advertise to the world the changes it is making,” he said.

“I have never seen billboards as big as those here. For every month leading up to Expo, an ‘accessible’ advert could be placed in the city.”

Low tables for disabled people to sit, larger print on printed materials for the visually impaired and elevators between stands at the Expo, would open the event up to everyone, the experts said.

Dr Ivor Ambrose, managing director of the European Network for Accessible Tourism in Athens, said: “Dubai would be the first of the Expo cities to put accessibility at the top of its brand.

“Others have tried, like in Milan, but they did not achieve all of the accessibility targets they were aiming for.”

nwebster@thenational.ae