Interprofessional assessment of accessibility to public buildings by individuals with visual impairment: A report from udupi taluk – a pilot study

Background: Built environment majorly influences the accessibility of a differently abled person. Under the preface of the initiative of Accessible India campaign from the Government of India to build an accessible environment, this study aimed to conduct systematic audits of various public places commonly accessed by people. Objective: To audit a few public sector offices with the aid of a standardized checklist and understand the extent of barrier-free, safe built-in environment for the visually impaired. Method: An interprofessional team comprised of members who had experience in fields such as accessibility, ergonomics & workstation research such as professionals from architecture, vision care, physiotherapy and occupational therapy carried out on-site audits, compiled data and finalized the reports. We used a comprehensive audit checklist for assessing accessibility to public buildings by individuals with visual impairment. Investigators purposively selected four buildings (District civil court, District Commissioner’s office, an insurance office and nationalized bank) for the audit in a time span of 6 months. Results: The audit reports were categorized as circulation spaces, building facilities and communication and information for each public building. The overall adherence to accessibility standards was 18%, 35%, 21% and 14% at District court, District Commissioner’s office, an insurance office and nationalized bank respectively.