Accessible Features
Making Your Home/Office/Building Accessible: Who can Help?
There are now various Organisations and Companies that specialize in Universal Design and Access and can advise you on how to adapt your building and environment to make sure that persons with disabilities have equal rights and no loss of dignity.
These Organisations and Companies that specialize in Universal Design and Access will follow those standards set by “The National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act” to make sure that persons with disabilities are not excluded from any events, services, information, communication, products and venues.
They include: National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD), Bradshaw LeRoux Consulting, Universal Access Collective and DiSA.
1. Initiatives Introduced To Assist In Day To Day Activities
i. Money – Distinct Shapes & Raised Patterns
In South Africa and in many other countries around the world, both Coins and Bank Notes have been designed and made to include distinct features so that Persons who are Blind are able to tell the different coins and notes apart.
The South African National Council for the Blind was fully consulted by the South African Reserve Bank in the process for creating the new Mandela Series bank notes to ensure that the notes were made to be accessible to persons with Visual Impairments. A team from the Reserve Bank also held a workshop to ensure that all sectors of the visually impaired community received training and information regarding the new notes.
The new notes are the same size and colouring as the old notes (just brighter), so the Money Sticks which are used by some persons with Visual Impairments, will still work accurately:

ii. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
The internet and Websites can be very valuable, when websites and web tools are properly designed and coded, people with disabilities can use them, but currently many sites and tools are developed with accessibility barriers that make them difficult or impossible for some people to use, especially persons with disabilities. Making the web accessible benefits individuals, businesses, and society. International web standards define what is needed for accessibility.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, often abbreviated to WCAG, are a series of guidelines for improving web accessibility. Produced by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the WCAG are the best means of making your website useful to all of your users. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops international Web standards: HTML, CSS, and many more. W3C’s Web standards are called W3C Recommendations. All W3C standards are reviewed for accessibility support by the Accessible Platform Architectures (APA) Working Group. The W3C standards and Working Group Notes introduced below are particularly relevant to accessibility.
iii. Braille Atlas
The Department of Land Affairs has achieved yet another milestone in advancing the implementation of its disability strategy by producing the first ever Braille atlas of maps covering South Africa. The decision to produce the SA Braille Atlas was taken in terms of the departmental disability strategy and the constitutional right of access to information by disabled persons.
The Pioneer School for the Blind and the Pioneer Printing Works in Worcester played a key role in assisting the cartographers of CDSM during the preliminary stages of the atlas production. Many issues arose concerning the size and format of tactile maps and how the blind user is able to assimilate information. During the initial stages, interviews and workshops were held with pupils and teachers at the Pioneer School for the Blind and based on recommendations from them, it was decided to produce an atlas rather than a single map.
The blind user relies on variances in the texture of the tactile image. This atlas is primarily intended as an educational tool for blind persons who can read Braille. In terms of the Constitution and the right of access to information by people with disabilities, this publication will enable the blind in South Africa to be in touch with the world.
The National Building Regulations and Tactile Paving
Accessible Routes and Doorways

An important part of accessibility is not only accessible parking spaces, passenger loading zones, ramps, Accessible Toilets and Lifts, etc but also insuring that there are various accessible routes from the public streets onto the pavements and to the accessible building entrance and to the facilities inside the building and visa versa. Appropriate accessible routes should also be made available for emergency exits. Accessible Routes include:
The South African Government through The South African National Standard for Building Regulations passes laws that insure that new buildings and structures are designed and build with a certain regulations, which includes regulations on Accessible Routes.
There must be a means of access that is suitable for people with disabilities to use. In addition, access must be available from various approaches of the building via the main entrance and any secondary entrances, and should lead to the ground floor.
There must be a means of egress (a point of departure) that is suitable for people with disabilities to use in the event of any sort of emergency. This relates to any sort of emergency, but in addition, a further clause states that departure routes (or egress) must also be designed in accordance with Part T of the regulations, namely the section that relates to Fire Protection.
How can we help you?
At Disability Info South Africa (DiSA), we are committed to breaking down barriers and creating a more inclusive society.
One of the most life-changing forms of support for individuals with disabilities is an Assistance Dog —a highly trained companion that provides mobility support, medical alerts, and emotional assistance.
Guidance & Support
We provide information on eligibility, application processes, and legal rights regarding assistance dogs.
Accessibility Audits
Ensuring businesses and public spaces are ‘assistance-dog friendly’ and compliant with accessibility standards.
Disability Awareness Training
Educating organizations and individuals on the importance and rights of assistance dog users.

Advocacy & Resources
Connecting individuals with the right support networks, including AADSA, to help them on their journey.
Assistance Dogs Change Lives –
Let’s Make South Africa More Accessible
If you or someone you know could benefit from an assistance dog, or if you’re a business wanting to improve accessibility, get in touch with us today!
Together, we can create a world where independence has no limits!






