Critical Review Paper DAIP
Critical Review Paper DAIP
In the old days, people with disabilities have had major challenges in accessing some crucial amenities such as offices. The reason for the challenge is because the designs that were used in constructing the buildings and other social amenities did not cater for their needs such as walk paths for wheelchairs. There were agitations that the physically challenged people needed to have their rights ("Understanding disability: inclusion, access, diversity, and civil rights", 2006) respected and treated equally. In the modern world, organizations like government agencies and multinational corporations have mechanisms to follow and demonstrate social responsibility. The major factor in the social responsibility policy is the introduction of the disability access inclusion plans (DAIP) so that the disabled people can have access to the various business functions (Disability access and inclusion plan, 2009). Some of the people to be affected by the policy are members of the community, staffs, and customers who visit the premises. One of the major facilitators of the implementation of the DAIP is the introduction of technology that provides effective communication channels and digital resources.
In Australia, many companies have taken the initiative to ensure the disabled people have smooth operations while accessing public and private resources. Kimberley Training Institute (KTI) in Western Australia is an institution that is committed to ensuring all the people have access to their training no matter their physical state. KTI ensures the principle of equality for all the people is catered for in its activities and procedures. The institution has left the plan dynamic and free for any feed to ensure it caters for all the changing needs of disability.
The mission of KTI is a major reason for DAIP because it seeks to offer quality learning to individuals, communities, and industry by using customized vocational training. Kimberley being one of the most difficult areas to live in Western Australia, there are high cases of health outcomes such as disability, hence the need for the institution to cater for the problem. If the institution does not address the issue of disability, there is the likelihood of institution losing touch with the community and the various crimes found in the area may have negative effects such as theft of its property.
In Australia, there were at least 18.5% people with disability as in 2009 research done by the bureau of statistics. The disabled people had challenges in education and employment and the Disability Services Act of 1993 required all public institutions to have DAIP. The education department called for all the institutions to adjust their systems so that the disabled people could fit and have fair recognition and equity in the society.
How the Plan was promoted
In 2010, a disability access to buildings standard was endorsed and required all the existing premises that are open to the public to provide amenities to help disabled people have access. Kimberley had around 4.5% students and staffs that complained of a medical condition or disability. The complaints acted as the motivators for the institution to implement the disability policies to ensure its people enjoyed a comfortable life and met the regulations of the government.
The institution had an aim of offering a learning setup where all the functions, services, and facilities could be accessible to all the people including disabled. By offering, an equal chance of accessing services and functions was a way to deal with harassment, discrimination, privacy, and ensure there was free communication. The main motivation (Darcy, 2001) for putting DAIP in place was to promote equity among all the stakeholders involved in the institution. The institution needed to ensure all people can access the organized events, buildings, information readily, and all the individuals had quality services of the same level.
Implementation of the DAIP
Before starting the DAIP implementation, the institution needed to consult with the community members such as disabled people, families, and disability organizations to know the barriers they face. There was a need for the agents of the institute and contractors to work and gain the required outcomes for the DAIP of the institution. Develop and preserve a partnership with organizations, disability agencies, public authorities, and community groups for facilitation of the inclusion (Balandin & Duchan, 2007) of community members such as disabled people.
The people involved in the planning process were lecturers, corporate staff, management, and the disability liaison officer. The group had to review the current situation of the institution and do reviews to know the progress of implementation of the DAIP of 2007-2011. In addition, the committee gave guidance on how to implement the plan through the disability liaison officer who often did development and consultations of the updates for the plan. The reason for involving all the listed groups was for the institution to have all the necessary information to cater for all the improvement plans of the buildings and fully cater for disability needs (Greenstein, 2013).
Some of the consultations in the community were in 2011 when the community was notified on the newspaper and institutional website that there was a review of the institution DAIP to accommodate the disabled. The community was free to give their feedback on the existing initiatives and give inputs to the proposed plan through filling an online survey, written comments, and telephone surveys. The other groups that had to give their feedback were the disabled and their families on the issues they had identified prior. Disabled students had to share their views via surveys since they were the one directly affected. In addition, the staffs were involved since they had interacted with the students and noticed the disabled were not able to attend some functions and events due to the nature of buildings.
The findings of the surveys were analyzed and found that most of the 2007-2011 DAIP were achieved and different strategies were currently in progress. There were positive feedbacks from staffs and students on the gains by the disabled students. The major issue was for the people in the institution to have a culture that would accept disability and work towards their empowerment. Finally, there was the need for continuous improvements (Basas, 2013) to be done on amenities to help the disabled people remain comfortable because as technology and other life aspects change, new needs arise.
Success of the Plan
Some of the success achieved was that staffs and students were encouraged on disclosure of bothering issues. A Strong working understanding was developed between the institution and external organizations, which provided support for the disabled staffs and students. After the plan was implemented, the involved people such as the disabled had ease moving around the institution and could access all social amenities (Hughes, 2009) and felt included in the system. Learning was simplified for the disabled people because attending events was simplified. During the implementation process, all the stakeholders developed a working relation that has helped the institution remain successful even in matters away from disability. The plan helped in discovering there was a need for disability awareness in KTI so that interactions could be simplified. A room was opened for future research and implementation of new DAIP to ensure as technology changes, the disabled are not at a disadvantage.
Failures of the DAIP
The DAIP was mainly a successful venture in the institution but had minimal failures. Some disabled people felt humiliated (Goodlad & Riddell, 2005) with letting their situation be known to their colleagues because they feared they could be discriminated against.
Ongoing Plans to make the DAIP more Successful
Once a system has been developed and implemented, there is the need for continuous developments so that it remains up-to-date with the changing technology and needs. Implementing the DAIP for Kimberley Teaching Institution is a major development towards ensuring the staffs and students enjoy all the amenities and services. With time, things will change around the institution and there will be the need for further improvements.
The institution ensures there is a continued link with the disability organizations to ensure all the arising disability needs are well addressed (Carling-Jenkins, 2014). A review will be done after every five years to see the issues that are fully addressed to and what need more attention for a comfortable life of the disabled people. Implementation plan needs annual updates to know the progress and emerging issues for inclusion plan. Once any annual updates are done, the amended DAIP copy will be presented to the disability service commission for verification. There will be monthly meetings of the access and inclusion planning committee to know the progress and inform the institution board of the progress. When planning for the next DAIP, the current one will be included to know the necessary changes. Students and staffs with disability challenges will give feedback to the Disability liaison officer to determine the success or failure of the system. Finally, it is the duty of the Disability Liaison Officer to keep in contact with community organizations and agencies while giving assistance to the disabled by ensuring there is full implementation of the DAIP.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, it is necessary for the community to show care for the disabled people and ensure they have an enjoyable life and can access all the amenities and services. In the past, organizations did not provide any care for the disabled people, but as the world has changed, a new order of living has emerged. Changes in technology have enabled the disabled people to have access to education and other services. The challenge that has existed is the lack of acceptance of the disabled people and letting them live comfortably in the society. Multinational organizations and governmental agencies have put in place DAIP strategy plan to ensure the disabled people can have normal operations while in the premise. In addition, there is equity since the disabled cannot be discriminated against in education and job (Price, 2007). DAIP should be implemented continuously since the world is ever changing, which results in emergence of new needs to be addressed. A company or institution like Kimberley Training Institution that has put in place an effective DAIP is expected to gain more trust from the community and attract more students and staffs.
References
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