Perception of Disabled Student on Barrier-Free Facilities Towards Sustainable Campus Design for Community Colleges

Abstract

A sustainable campus is an educational place that contributes to building a viable community through education, research, and broad participation from society. In recent years, many criticisms surfaced on the rights of the disabled to have equal access to higher education due to decreasing barrier-free design facilities in the higher learning institutions in which the provisions of these facilities are not well distributed and insufficient in the campus area. Hence, this study aims to identify and assess the barrier-free design facilities' current provision on four community colleges campus in Malaysia, followed by analyzing the person with disabilities (PwD's) perceptions on these barrier-free facilities, adopting the mixed methodology approach of qualitative (direct -observation) and quantitative (survey) through the pragmatism research paradigm. The three indicators in analyzing the barrier-free facilities are the space making, spatial organization and accessibility for the provided amenities. Recommending measures in terms of short and long term actions through collaborative participation from policymakers, related authorities, and designers may improve the target group's demand. This is essential to increase the accessibility for the PwD's in their respective higher learning institutions for sustainable learning built environment.