Abstract:
Rapid ageing, rise of wad accidents, manmade and natural disasters debilitating medical
conditions and often invisible ailments cause more and more people with lowered ability to move
freely. This is equally applicable to Sri Lanka which is adversely impacted by 30 years civil war
and there are an estimated 900,000 disable people which mean around 5% disabilities from the
population.
In this context it is vital to provide them with basic facilities to live independent lives on an equal
basis with others and acquire their contribution to national economic development through
employing them in effective manner for sustainability. Sustainability in built environment involves
promoting efficient buildings and minimizing their burden on environment, involving them on
contribution of economic development, while protecting and restoring green systems, and
enhancing the well-being of all people in general. Therefore it should focus on barrier free
environment when designing buildings.
Whilst discussing for the creation of barrier free environment, it has been created some draw
backs focus on most people neglect the disability access when planning and designing. Within this
context this paper presents existing facilities available for disability access in public buildings in
Sri Lankan context including critical review on available policies for building design for disability
access. Comprehensive literature review, pilot survey and industrial survey was carried out to
assess the disability access in public buildings such as banks, educational, hospital, office and
administration, railway and bus stations and results revealed that the attention paid on disability
access in public buildings were not up to the satisfactory level.
