home 쐽 THE STRAITS TIMES FRIDAY, APRIL 24 2009 PAGE C5

Getting around
S’pore not easy
for the disabled
He noted that 42 million disabled travellers in
Improving infrastructure to the United States made 31.7 million trips and spent
$13.6 billion every year.
make city wheelchair-friendly Another major group of travellers is senior citi-
can be a boon to tourism zens, the current lot of which have a wanderlust –
and cash to spend.
In Singapore, one in five persons will be 65 or
BY ANG YIYING & RACHEL AU-YONG older by 2030.
Mr Leo said “inclusive tourism” meant catering
A GROUP of Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) students to everybody – persons with disabilities, those who
has experienced first-hand the potholes along Singa- are injured and hence temporarily disabled, seniors, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand met Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Istana yesterday. She is here on a
pore’s road to becoming a city friendly to the elder- families with young children and expectant moth- five-day visit at the invitation of President S R Nathan, who hosted a lunch for her yesterday. PHOTO: MICA
ly and the physically disabled. ers. Asked about its stance on access for the disa-
The students, who were doing a study for the Dis- bled and elderly at attractions here, the Singapore
abled People’s Association, found the infrastruc-
ture here generally wheelchair-friendly, but encoun-
tered unwillingness by people to go to the aid of
Tourism Board did not respond by press-time.
The Building Construction Authority (BCA)
here, which has a masterplan for an accessible city,
Thai princess meets President, PM
those who need help getting around. said a key challenge in creating a friendlier built en-
Wheeling around a member of their team in a vironment lies in retrofitting buildings built before THAI Princess Maha Chakri Sir- She raised the possibility of fur- Balakrishnan, Thai Ambassador
wheelchair, the students made their way from the 1990, which was when the Code of Barrier-Free Ac- indhorn yesterday called on Presi- ther collaboration in research be- Nopadol Gunavibool and other of-
Fajar LRT station to West Coast Road. cessibility in Buildings was set up. dent S R Nathan and met Prime tween the EAI and Thailand, ac- ficials.
Along City Hall MRT station to the Esplanade, To get around this, BCA has set aside $40 mil- Minister Lee Hsien Loong. cording to Professor Zheng Yong- Today, Princess Sirindhorn will
they took notes on the difficulties faced by the per- lion to subsidise building owners’ upgrading works nian, the institute’s director.
She is in Singapore on a meet Minister Mentor Lee Kuan
son in the wheelchair and the one pushing it. to make their premises more disabled-friendly. five-day visit at the invitation of In the afternoon, Princess Sir- Yew.
At CityLink Mall, the wheelchair lift meant to Conference participant Hideto Kijima, 36, who Mr Nathan, who hosted a lunch indhorn was the guest of honour She will witness the signing of
get them to the shops was out of order and they broke his back in a sporting accident, has seen 99
were unable to get through to anyone using the in- for her at the Istana. at the third International Conven- a memorandum of understanding
countries in 16 years in his wheelchair. Her morning began with a visit tion for Rehabilitation Engineer- between the Sirindhorn National
tercom. The management at the mall said the lift
Ranking Singapore “medium” in terms of accessi- to the East Asian Institute (EAI), ing and Assistive Technology Medical Rehabilitation Centre and
has since been fixed.
bility, he said he had been afraid to take the MRT where she was briefed on political (i-Create), held at Singapore Man- the Tan Tock Seng Rehabilitation
The team presented these findings at the Interna-
when he first visited the country in 1995, but now changes in China and the coun- agement University. Centre. The collaboration will cov-
tional Conference for Accessible Tourism 2009,
finds the public transport here accessible. try’s response to the financial cri- She was accompanied by Minis- er rehabilitation manpower devel-
which opened at the Singapore Management Univer-
sity yesterday. About 100 participants from more ayiying@sph.com.sg sis. The princess speaks Mandarin ter for Community Development, opment.
than 10 countries – including academics, travel in- rachelay@sph.com.sg and has visited China many times. Youth and Sports Vivian SHEFALI REKHI
dustry insiders and representatives from organisa-
tions that work with the disabled or elderly – are
taking part in the biennial conference, organised
this year by the Disabled People’s Association here.
The thrust of the three-day conference is that im-
proving accessibility is as important to the growth
of tourism as it is for the residents of a country.
Ms Joanne Huang, 20, who graduated with a di-
ploma in tourism and resort management from NP,
said the exercise was a reminder that Singapore still
had a way to go to becoming truly accessible to all,
including those with disabilities.
Speaking from her own experience of taking her
wheelchair-bound aunt on outings, she said she has
to plan her route to avoid staircases.
“And when I go to a foodcourt, I have to check
that the tables are at the right height for her to eat
at,” she added. Turning to how the public here re-
gards the disabled, she said they are resigned to be-
ing stared at when they go out, and have come to ac-
cept that they cannot visit particular places as they
cannot get their wheelchairs around easily.
“This needs to change,” she said.
Disabled People’s Association president Leo
Chen Ian, addressing conference participants, said
it made economic sense for any country to improve
accessibility.

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