Universal Design and Accessibility for People With Disabilities in Masjid Negara, Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia to become seeks to become a fully developed country by 2020. Among nine central challenges demonstrated in the body of the "Vision 2020" is "the challenge of establishing a fully caring society" (WAWASAN 2020). Along with developed societies overcoming such dysfunctional built environments has become under consideration in Malaysia as well to remove barriers and provide equal access of people with disabilities (PWDS) to all public services. Notwithstanding practical steps taken, there are still dissatisfactions from the members of public toward public buildings which cause restriction in PWDS daily life. Previous studies has also raised claims against inaccessibility of mosque buildings as well. In order to realization of a barrier-free built environment for a huge portion of Malaysia population, this research aimed to investigate accessibility and usability of Malaysian mosques for PWDS. Masjid Negara was selected for the purpose of this study. The most recent revision of available Malaysian Standard of MS 1184:2014, "Universal Design and Accessibility in the Built EnvironmentCode of Practice", became the reference in this study. A comprehensive evaluation checklist was constructed for the purpose of a systematic observation including 162 checkpoints under 22 items of accessibility. .

Accessibility of Disabled Facilities at Fi-Sabilillah Mosque, Cyberjaya

“…However, a considerable amount of literature has been published on universal design in public masjid. Studies by Asiah Abdul Rahim 2014and Utaberta, et al (2017) revealed the same result as most of the person with the disability in Malaysia express their frustration in masjid design. Furthermore, having a universal design is important because the masjid is the most visited place at any time by people (Asiah Abdul Rahim, 2014).…”

“…Even so previous studies mostly reported on the general public buildings, there is still a lack of studies on awarded buildings such as Green Building Index (GBI). Therefore, this study evaluated the GBI building by limitation to the masjid as Muslims are the majority in Malaysia according to Utaberta, et al (2018).…”

Five Accessibility Challenges in Access Auditing Mosque Designs

“…For the Muslim community, mosque is a necessity in fulfilling the preservation of five essentials of maqasid al-shari'ah of faith, self, intellect, lineage, and property, in its respective ways (Asiah, Azila, et al, 2015). According to JAKIM, Malaysian mosques classifies into five general groups, and mosques usually are the principal, state, and some private funded mosques (Asiah, Azila, et al, 2015;MS2577:2014MS2577: , 2014Utaberta, Niya et al, 2017).…”

“…As elaborated by Asiah, Azila, et al (2015), mosque institution is also devised towards providing supports for the PwDs through its activities and number of programs are among the elements assessed in increasing mosques' ratings. The importance of providing accessibility is to give the PwDs an equal opportunity for them to perform congregational prayers in respect of helping them perform their obligation as other devoted Muslims (Asiah & Nur Amirah, 2014;Utaberta et al, 2017).…”

“…Universal Design is the basis of creating accessibility in the built environment and practically in mosque environment as many researchers (Fletcher, 2016;Heylighen, Linden et al, 2017;Kurniawan, 2010;Mahsa et al, 2015;Nur Amirah, Ismail et al, 2018a;Shah, Shar et al, 2018;Utaberta et al, 2017) has reinterpreted it within its definition of 'design of products and environments usable by all people to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.' Several researchers within the local context, such as (Kadir & Jamaludin, 2013;Mahsa et al, 2015), have also regarded Universal Design as a significant component for social sustainability in sustaining well-being, safety, and accessibility in encouraging participation and social interaction within a livable community.…”