38 chapter 2: Organizing for disability-friendly health care
Low-cost ideas to make health center and
hospital buildings easier to use
Buildings can be designed to welcome all people or to keep some people out. It is
amazing what a few good pathways, ramps, handrails, staircases with shorter steps,
lifts (elevators), larger toilets, or floors that are not slippery can do to make it easier
for people to get in and use any building.
Handrails (or ropes)
Handrails or ropes along pathways leading to a building and along the walls inside
will help people who are blind, or who have balance problems or difficulty walking,
to get in and find their way around.
Roped pathways and smooth road surfaces with textured edges make areas around health
centers easy to use. Textured edges can help women who are blind or do not see well.
A Health Handbook for Women with Disabilities 2007