Campus Physical Environment Accessibility for Person with Disabilities in the Ethiopian Public Universities

Abstract

The study has been conducted aiming to explore the perception of PWDs regarding the accessibility of universities Physical environment for their needs in five purposively selected public universities of Ethiopia. Students with physical disabilities and visual impairments were participants of the study. The study employed survey design to answer the basic questions of the research. Questionnaire has been used as exclusive data collection tool. In addition, quantitative analysis method has been used to analyze the collected data. The result of the study revealed that, in general, respondents believed that the
universities buildings and overall campuses physical environment were inaccessible for the needs of PWDs. The study also investigated the most common perceived campus physical environment barriers for PWDs such as inaccessible classrooms, libraries, bookstores, auditoriums, dining halls, dorms, circulation areas, corridors and bathrooms. In addition, campus shops, parks, museums, students’ clinic and banks were perceived as not been barrier free to be easily accessed by PWDs. Furthermore, poor ramp designs, lack of elevators and lack of accessible building entrances were also perceived as barriers for PWDs.