17/12/2023
If you are one of Amman’s 4 million residents, you already know how tricky it can be to move around the city without a car or public transport. But for the nearly 365,000 people with disabilities in the Jordanian capital, even the shortest trips can be a considerable — even dangerous — challenge.
People with physical and sensory disabilities make up
Abdal Rahman Salameh, 37, has used a wheelchair to get around Amman
for 20 years. Visiting the University of Jordan, in the north of the
city, to meet friends, he is unable to safely cross the street in
front of the main campus gate, home to cafes, restaurants, bus stops
and taxi stands.
“I have to either get a taxi, which is usually very difficult to
find, make [an approximately 1km] U-turn with my wheelchair [to
reach a crossing], or use the underpass [which only has stairs
access] to cross the street,” Salameh says, noting that the last
option is usually the only feasible one.
Later, after our interview, Salameh rolls to the bottom of the
flight of stairs in the underpass, having been wheeled joltingly
down on the other side. Two young men quickly step out from behind
their stalls in the underground mini-mall — standing either side of
Salameh’s chair, they prepare to haul him up and out of the
underpass.
“I need another person at the front,” Salameh tells them.
“Yalla, Ahmed!” someone shouts.
On the count of two, the young men lift the wheelchair and carry
Salameh — who leans forward and grips onto one of their forearms —
up the 20 or so stairs.
When they reach the top, one of them wheels Salameh around and stays
with him as he hails a taxi to go home. The others return below,
where men are selling handbags and sunglasses.
“Amman is zero percent accessible for people with disabilities,”
Salameh told us, adding that it is difficult to enter most banks,
grocery stores and supermarkets, or to enjoy any touristic sites.
“Is it not my right to visit these places?” He asked.
The city’s daunting topography compounds the struggles of people with
disabilities. The capital, which was founded 2,000 years ago on seven
hills, has now expanded to cover more than 20 hills. Like a giant
Snakes and Ladders board, Amman’s roads coil up and around the city’s
contours, while flights of narrow, uneven, stairs cut jutting paths
between the blocks of beige houses.
Our months-long investigation found that the city’s buildings, streets
and pavements are inaccessible and restrict independent mobility for
people with physical and sensory disabilities. We interviewed Salameh
and ten other people with disabilities, studied the related
legislation and tested the accessibility of the seven areas which the
government and the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) erroneously told
us were barrier-free.
In mid-2019, we accompanied Asia Yaghi, a disability rights activist
who uses a wheelchair, on a visit to eight random government
institutions to test the accessibility of public facilities. The tour
covered the Ministries of Culture, Social Development, Education,
Labour and Health, the Supreme Judge Department and two GAM buildings
in the Ras Al-Ain area downtown.
We found that five of the eight buildings had ramps, two had lifts
meeting visual and audio accessibility requirements, and three had
accessible toilets — one of which was fully accessible and easy to
use. Four of the eight facilities had at least one parking space for
people with disabilities. But none of the eight public institutions we
visited can fully accommodate people with all types of physical and
sensory disabilities.
The findings of this investigation contradict repeated governmental
assurances. In 2009, an ARIJ-supported
investigative report
documented how inhospitable Amman was for people with disabilities.
Journalist Zaina Hamdan revealed insufficient governmental supervision
on the enforcement of the Accessible Building Code.
Since 2009, the government has issued a new law for the rights of
persons with disabilities, amended the National Buildings Law and
released a new version of the Building Requirements for People with
Disabilities Code. It also launched a strategic ten-year plan in 2019
to make public facilities accessible.
We found that poor enforcement of these new laws and regulations has
meant the city remains inaccessible to people with disabilities. We
also noticed interference from the authorities in the entities
responsible for enforcing the new laws.
Muhanad al-Azzeh, the Secretary-General of the Higher Council for the
Affairs of Persons with Disabilities (HCD), a government body, said in
a 2019 interview with the Jordan News Agency Petra that "accessible
buildings represent around 2 per cent of the total number of premises
in Jordan."
He added that "the accessible establishments are not fully accessible;
but partially accessible" and called for comprehensive accessibility
for physical, hearing and visual disabilities.
The UN defines accessibility as an environment that gives everyone the
chance “to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of
life."
Accessibility requirements differ according to the type of disability.
It might mean lower wash basins in toilets and wide spaces in parking
lots, for example, or braille and a voice announcing the floor in
lifts.
Accessibility: The construction of buildings, roads, facilities, and other public and private sector venues in a way that is accessible to all members of the public, with adjustments in accordance with the Code of Building Requirements for Persons with Disabilities as issued in the Jordan National Building Code and any other special standards issued or approved by the Council.
Greater Amman Municipality GAM, does not have a map of Amman’s
accessible places, but its Executive Director of Engineering, Nima
Qatanani, told us that seven areas in the capital were free of
obstacles to persons with disabilities. These were King Faisal Square,
Rainbow Street, Al-Wakalat Street, King Ghazi Street, Jebel Al-Hussein
(from Sukaina School Street to Firas Intersection), the Citadel and
Hashemite Square.
Ayman Saud, the head of GAM’s department for people with disabilities,
reaffirmed that these seven areas were “100 percent accessible”.
However, on a field visit to the seven places with Asia Yaghi,
President of the NGO “I Am A Human”, we found steep or non-existent
ramps, few accessible parking spaces and trees or lampposts in the
middle of pavements.
Qatanani of GAM told us that 80 percent of municipal buildings were
accessible, "at least for people with a physical disability — they
have ramps.”
Her claim surprised Yaghi. “They think if there's a ramp it's
accessible," she said, pointing out that true accessibility caters to
all disabilities, including unseen, visual and hearing impairments.
GAM classifies one of the sites, Jabal Hussein, as an ideal area for persons with disabilities. According to interviews with experts and activists, the idea for the project was developed after a Jordanian delegation visited Barcelona in 2013. The Municipality of Barcelona financed a small-scale model of the accessible European city in a residential and commercial area of Amman.
Delegation members who visited Barcelona — including people with
visual impairments and wheelchair users — told us that GAM did not
consult them when implementing the Jabal Hussein project. Saud told us
that people with disabilities tested out the area’s new facilities.
We visited the first phase of the project twice: once when it was
under construction and once when it had been completed.
A month before the completion of the first phase, in October 2019,
Asia Yaghi’s wheelchair slipped on the smooth basalt pavements. The
steep ramps were hard to use unassisted and often blocked by cars,
some of which were parked in spaces for people with disabilities. Most
shops had steps up to their entrance, and while the traffic lights did
use aural cues, the sound was faint compared to the noise of the
street.
In a recent visit to the project, in August 2020, 10 months after the
launch date, we found that none of the shops had ramps allowing
wheelchair users to enter. The engineer in charge of the project,
Osama Jbour declared in an interview in October 2019 that GAM had
contacted shop owners to install ramps in front of their shops, but
that they had refused.
We asked eight jewelry and clothes shop owners in the area if GAM had
reached out to them regarding ramps. Six of them said that they had
not been contacted but would be willing to collaborate. Two said that
they had been contacted, but had refused because the entrance to their
shop was too narrow.
During the visit, we found that the end of one of the pavements had no
ramp and that the sound system of two out of the three traffic lights
were broken.
GAM designed accessible lanes for people with visual impairments, but
they were poorly installed. Tactile tiles were fixed with glue, but
came loose after being exposed to the elements. The municipality is
currently bolting the tiles to the ground with screws.
All attempts to get an explanation from GAM about the issues
documented in these visits were met with silence.
The Mayor of Amman, Yousef Al Shawarbeh, told us in a June 2019
interview that the new building code was “definitely” used in Jabal
Hussein to make it accessible to the “highest international
standards.” He added, “The code has been reflected on all pavements
and all sidewalks.”
Jordan signed the
Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007 — the same year it
signed the international
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
— and passed a progressive disability rights law in 2017, to great
fanfare. NGOs
praised
the law for requiring the government to implement accessibility
measures in schools, healthcare centers, hospitals and public spaces
within five years of it coming into effect.
The 2017 law requires GAM to install audio-assisted traffic lights and
make all roads and buildings under their jurisdiction obstacle-free by
August 2022. With less than two years until the deadline, people with
disabilities in Amman have not seen any fundamental improvements to
local accessibility.
It is impermissible to exclude a person or restrict a person’s
access to any facility providing services to the public, or to
restrict a person’s access to information, communication
services, and electronic and other services on the basis of,
or because of, disability.
The Ministry of Public Works and Housing in coordination with
the Greater Amman Municipality, the municipalities, and
entities considered within their jurisdiction, the Jordanian
National Building Commission, the Council, government and
non-government organizations of relevance, will execute the
following:
Draw up a national plan for the implementation of alterations
to buildings, facilities, places of worship, and tourist sites
that extend services to the public and that were established
before this Law went into effect, for the sake of providing
accessibility, provided that implementation of this plan takes
place within one year from the date on which this Law goes
into effect and will be completed in no later than ten years.
Involve persons with disabilities and their organizations in
the drafting of the plans aforementioned in paragraph (1) of
this Clause, and in their implementation, and assessment
according to the mechanism to be determined for this purpose
by the Council.
Issue an annual follow-up report to be submitted to the
Council of Ministers indicating the buildings, facilities,
places of worship, and tourist sites that were made accessible
along with the permanent and temporary alternatives adopted.
In implementing the plan stipulated in Clause (b. 1) of this
Article, it is necessary to take following points into
consideration:
Topographical, engineering, and natural factors and
archaeological value of the building or location in question.
Security and safety considerations.
Balancing between the possible advantages and disadvantages
that will result from making a building or site accessible.
Any constraints drawn up by the Minister of Public Works and
Housing insofar as they are not incommensurate with the
provisions of this Law.
It is impermissible to endorse or license plans, designs or to
grant licences and work permits for public or private
buildings or places of worship or tourist locations and other
establishments and facilities extending services to the public
unless they are fully accessibility.
The Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Greater Amman
Municipality, the municipalities, and entities considered
within their jurisdiction, the Jordanian National Building
Commission, and the relevant entities, and after this Law goes
into effect, will compel all agencies that provide services to
the public to make the necessary alterations to their
buildings in order to provide accessibility.
If agencies that provide services to the public do not abide
by this clause and provide the required accessibility, the
Ministry of Public Works and Housing, the Greater Amman
Municipality, and relevant authorities will take all necessary
measures that will include temporary or permanent closure of
those agencies.
The Greater Amman Municipality, the Ministry of
Municipalities, entities considered within their jurisdiction,
the Central Traffic Department and related authorities will,
in coordination with the Council, execute the following in (5)
years from the date on which this Law has gone into effect:
Provide traffic lights with an audio forewarning system that
allows persons who are blind and persons with low vision to
identify the state of traffic and to cross the road safely.
Employ guidance signs that allow persons with disabilities to
identify the beginning and end of the pavement, pedestrian
bridges, and other road marks.
Provide training to working personnel including traffic police
on the methods of effective communication with persons with
disabilities.
Employ barriers and concrete audio-visual guidance signs on
dangerous sites such as holes, slopes, building and
construction sites, and other sites.
Avoid placing protruding items on pavements in a manner that
hampers utilization thereof by persons with disabilities and
that exposes these persons to danger.
Apply accessibility (standards) on all roads and buildings
under their jurisdiction.
The Ministry of Transport, Land Transport Regulatory
Commission, Greater Amman Municipality, Civil Aviation
Regulatory Commission, Licensed Airports Operation Companies,
Jordan Ports Corporation, and the Aqaba Special Economic Zone
will, each according to its area of competence, in
coordination with the Council execute the following in (5)
years from the date on which this Law goes into effect:
Include into the land, marine, and air transport regulation
policies, strategies, plans, and instructions measures that
will guarantee providing reasonable accommodations, and
accessibility for persons with disabilities within the
transport facilities and services.
Oblige all public transport companies to make all buses
accessible for persons with disabilities, and to allocate two
seats for persons with disabilities on public transport buses
as necessary.
Oblige the public and specialized tourist transport companies
to provide accessible vehicles for persons with physical
disabilities.
Oblige all taxi car companies to provide the driver’s ID Card
in accessible formats.
Provide reasonable accommodation and accessibility in all
airports, seaports, railway and public transport bus stations.
Conduct training courses for land, marine, and air transport
sector employees on methods of effective communication with
the persons with different disabilities.
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Jordan Tourism
Board will, each according to its area of expertise, and in
coordination with the Council execute the following within (5)
years from the date on which this Law goes into effect:
Include licensing regulations in the tourism profession
vis-à-vis standards for accessibility and to monitor the
extent to which tourist companies and establishments comply
with such standards.
Provide reasonable accommodation and accessibility at
touristic and archaeological sites to the extent that will
enable persons with disabilities to access thereto without
undermining the topographical and archaeological nature of the
site.
Deliver training to personnel working in the field of tourism
including tourist guides on methods of effective communication
with the persons with different disabilities.
Provide illustrative models in accessible formats simulating
the archaeological features that are not accessible and
recognizable to persons with disabilities.
Provide bulletins, publications, and information in accessible
formats at all touristic and archaeological sites.
Nima Qatanani, Executive Director of Engineering at GAM, said that the
main challenge to accessibility in Jordan is that it is a “new
concept”. But Jordanian legislation first addressed the issue more
than 26 years ago.
In 1993, Jordan introduced a code requiring engineers to construct
buildings that were wheelchair-friendly — it didn't mention other
disabilities — with fines of between 100 and 3000JOD ($140-$4230) for
violating the law.
The construction-related rules, conditions and technical requirements issued by the Jordanian National Building Council and accredited by the government, hold the responsible parties to account about meeting the requirements of the codes.
But “there was no implementation for two or three decades… except for
some random initiatives here and there,” says Al-Azzeh of the HCD, who
is visually impaired.
Amendments to the 2018 National Building Law require the relevant
authorities not to ratify any construction schemes unless they comply
with the building codes, and not to issue any property licenses until
the necessary approvals are obtained.
The new amendments cancelled the imposition of fines and replaced it
with the power to withdraw licenses from those breaching the set
rules, be it the contractor or the engineer.
In March 2019, the Government updated the so-called Code of Building
Requirements for Persons with Disabilities. The former Secretary
General of the National Building Council, Jamal Qutaishat, confirmed
in an interview that this Code applies to all construction projects
and takes into account the accessibility requirements of physical,
hearing and visual disabilities. The technical standards of stairs,
elevators, floors, toilets, parking spots are all set out.
The Higher Council for the Affairs of Persons with Disabilities HCD,
in collaboration with the Public Works and Housing Ministry, launched
a ten-year national accessibility plan in March 2019 to rectify
existing buildings and public facilities, (implementing provisions in
the 2017 Act and the Code of Building Requirements for Persons with
Disabilities.)
The plan seeks to make at least 60% of facilities and public buildings
that serve the public accessible by 2029 and to develop four model
accessible areas in the center, north and south of Jordan by 2022.
In an interview, Azzeh raised concerns about the likelihood of the
project being completed, and said that the amounts allocated to the
project were “very modest.”
In 2019, GAM allocated 1 million JOD ($1.41 million) for the project,
while the Ministry of Public Works set aside 100,000JOD ($141,000).
At the accessibility planned launch in March 2019, Prime Minister Omar
Razzaz acknowledged that there was a "difference between the laws and
strategies and the action on the ground."
Qatanani, the Executive Director of Engineering at GAM, thinks that
replicating accessibility of old buildings is challenging because
“Amman is an old city”. Owners of private buildings make the sidewalks
in residential areas with no consideration for the needs of people
with disabilities, she said, before recognizing that Amman residents
with disabilities “must be feeling injustice”, adding that even
“non-disabled” have trouble with pavements in the city.
It seems, though, that GAM employees are not aware of the legislation
or basic accessibility requirements that come under their remit.
Qatanani told us: “I don’t think that GAM is the one in charge of
inspecting the persons with disabilities code enforcement.” While Saud
— the head of the Department for Disabilities — said he didn’t know of
any government institution in charge of enforcing the code. “It’s not
my job,” he added, “I don’t know about it.”
Under the new Code, property owners are required to make their spaces accessible for people with disabilities, and the Jordanian Engineers Association should verify that the design schemes meet the building requirements. The Greater Amman Municipality GAM, other municipalities and the authorities that are in charge of granting facilities utility permits should then verify the implementation of the requirements that have been approved by the architect before finally issuing building licenses.
The code explicitly assigned GAM to inspect implementation of the
code. This hasn’t happened, so the Minister of Public Works and
Housing has decided to give the task to the Civil Defense Department.
According to the First Annual Report on the Status of Persons with
Disabilities and their Rights in Jordan, the Ministry of Public Works
and Housing contacted the engineering offices, engineering companies
and the Contractors Association to ensure that the code was
implemented across construction projects. The Prime Minister issued a
circular urging the body not to grant licenses or ratifying
architectural schemes unless they followed the accessible building
requirements.
Yet a 2017 shadow report for the UN said that the 1993 building code
was still flouted because of the unclear roles of the "plethora" of
relevant government bodies.
GAM has contradictory numbers regarding accessible facilities and areas around Amman. As well as the seven "accessible" streets, Saud of GAM showed us a 2018 report — compiled, he said, before he took the job — listing 44 accessible hotels, 29 streets, 19 parks and 9 traffic lights.
Saud didn't provide us with the names of the places, so how they
arrived at the numbers is a mystery.
Azzeh of the HCD, who hadn't heard of this report, was unconvinced.
"29 parks? I really doubt it."
Hadeel Abu Soufeh, 29, struggled to get through education before
finally earning her BA in Nutrition. As a wheelchair user, her journey
through elementary, secondary and higher education was full of
obstacles.
Abu Soufeh was involved in a car accident at the age of 11 that left
her partially paralyzed. All of a sudden, the countless stairs and few
ramps at her elementary school left her reliant on help from others.
Numerous secondary schools, both public and private, rejected her
applications. When she was at last accepted by a public school in the
Shmeisani area, her father had to pay to install the ramps.
"The university stage was not easy as well,” she recalls, saying there
were few ramps or lifts.
There were no accessible toilets at university either, she added. "We
used to fast the day before we went to University, we used not to eat
or drink because there was not even a single accessible toilet. We had
to give up our simplest right; to eat and drink, which sometimes
caused serious health issues because of dehydration."
Thanks to a campaign by a group Abu Soufeh co-founded, the university
— the University of Jordan — has since built ramps, adapted toilets
and hired sign language interpreters. In 2018 it made special tactile
lanes to help people with visual impairments get around campus.
Abu Soufeh says that across Amman random steps in front of buildings
block her path. "There are always three decorative steps."
Khaled al-Barabawari, 50, who has had muscular dystrophy since the age
of one, says his children have to push his wheelchair up the two steps
in front of the door to his house. "If they are not there... I won't
be shy, I will say it: I use my hands and knees." Al-Barabawari lives
in Dahyet Al Rasheed, a suburb of western Amman, and owns a
minimarket.
Amman's residents with disabilities who do not own their cars get
around using inaccessible taxis, (which weren’t mentioned at all in
the 2017 law). Disability rights activist Asia Yaghi told us they are
"very difficult" to flag down. "Most of them refuse." She has waited
more than an hour for a taxi to stop.
Those who do not have enough money to take taxis usually depend on
buses. According to the 2017 law, all buses have to be accessible by
2022.
GAM launched the "Bus Rapid Transit" project in June 2019, saying 135
new accessible buses would start serving the capital, and that this
year that number would rise to 286. They are due to finish work on the
bus lanes and bus stops by the end of 2020.
People with disabilities who are able to drive face their own separate
problem: finding a parking spot. Theoretically, license plates
starting with "81" allow access to spaces set aside for those with
disabilities. But other drivers routinely grab these free places. This
is illegal. The Traffic Department told us that in 2018 it gave out
4584 parking tickets to people "parking in a spot for specific
vehicles." That number was 1857 in the first half of 2019. Officials
didn't tell us, however, which vehicles were included in this tally
besides cars for people with disabilities. A ticket carries a fine of
10JD. But outstanding tickets were waived by a royal pardon in late
2018.
People with disabilities we spoke to were most irritated by the fact
that accessibility adaptations are inexpensive and simple.
Aya Aghabi, the late founder of social enterprise Accessible Jordan, a
directory of barrier-free places across the country, told us in 2019
that people with disabilities are never invited to help with the
design or construction of new projects and often feel "excluded". We
interviewed Aghabi, who had used a wheelchair since a car accident at
the age of 18, last February. In late August of that year, she passed
away aged 28.
"I want to highlight the places that are currently accessible so that
people don't have to wait 10 years to actually live their lives,"
Aghabi told us in our final interview. "Why do we have to wait for the
government to come and force us to make our businesses, schools, or
clinics accessible?" she asks. "We need to take responsibility
ourselves."
But many of the changes can only be made by a government willing to
invest the resources in this long-unresolved problem. The authorities
must keep to its commitments on the 2017 law, and make sure that by
2022, Amman is just as welcoming to people with disabilities as to
anyone else.