2024 Conference Paper
Evaluation of Regulations on Disaster and Humanitarian Emergencies and the Built Environment in Terms of the Safety of Individuals with Disabilities and Detection of Deficiencies
Hatice Tuğba Karayama
According to a statement made by a United Nations spokesperson, situations of disabled individuals being “lost and excluded” are frequently seen in disaster situations (Johnson, 2023). Even the equal rights and place that disabled individuals are planned to have in the social organization after the social model disappears and prejudices such as “needy,” “less than human” (Burcu, 2020), or “those whose lives are less valuable” (Le Breton, 2016) are reconstructed in times of disaster. One of the biggest reasons for this can be the deficiencies in the pre-disaster, disaster, and post-disaster plans, which are seen when the regulations of both Turkish and international platforms are examined, and the mistakes in the following implementations of those plans. For instance, the United Nations Convention on Persons with Disabilities (2006), one of the most comprehensive and binding sources on disability rights, states in Article 11 that state parties must take all precautions to ensure the safety of disabled individuals in emergencies. However, while the same convention makes detailed statements on other areas – such as on the political rights of disabled individuals – and provides necessary guidance to the ratified countries, the fact that it only uses a statement such as “requirements must be met” for emergencies proves that more information and planning are needed on this subject. For this purpose, this study reviewed national and international legal regulations and revealed articles relating to people with disabilities in disastrous situations. Legal documents were searched using the keywords “disability” and “earthquake” on the related platforms, and their articles were cross-examined. As a result, the regulations were found to be neglecting and inconsistent in considering the experience of people with disabilities in emergencies.
Keywords: Disaster Experience of People with Disabilities, Inclusive Regulation, Inclusive Earthquake Strategy and Action Plan
2023 Conference Paper (Abstract)
Inquiring the Relationship of Social Sustainability and Universal Design Paradigm: A Study on Atatürk Cultural Center and Presidential Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall Buildings
Hatice Tuğba Karayama & Göksenin İnalhan
Although mainstream sustainability debates are primarily shaped around economic and environmental aspects, one component of sustainability revolving around equality and environmental justice is critical for design disciplines and is named social sustainability. The focus of social sustainability is the health and well-being of people in a safe environment that provides accessible facilities, public participation, and social interaction. In other saying, social sustainability requires considering the physical realm and the social world together and meeting the needs of all for social development.
With the help of those definitions, it can be said that one way to reach social sustainability goals is by following the paradigm of universal design and thus making the facilities of social interaction and development accessible to all. Briefly, universal design, as defined by a group of academics led by Ron Mace, is trying to make all design products usable by all people regardless of age, sex, race, or abilities/disabilities. Therefore, it can be concluded that beyond providing accessibility, universal design and its seven principles aim to increase social justice. Article 30 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), signed by Türkiye on March 30, 2007, is reserved for the right of individuals with disabilities to participate in cultural activities and states that the signatory countries have a responsibility to ensure their participation in these activities equally with all other members of society. In the Law on the Disabled of the Republic of Türkiye (2005/2013), the Turkish Republic Ministry of Culture and Tourism has been appointed for this task, and it was stated that all kinds of social and cultural infrastructure areas serving the public must be made suitable for accessibility. Those articles tried to achieve social sustainability through a legislative approach.
However, it was observed in the on-site tours conducted for this study that two important cultural facilities managed by the Ministry of Culture are partially accessible to people with different abilities and do not serve all users equally. For this study, the principles of universal design will be examined in the Atatürk Cultural Center Presidential Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall (Uygur Architects, n.d.) in Ankara and the Atatürk Cultural Center (Tabanlioglu Architects, n.d.) in Istanbul. The results of these observations will be discussed within the scope of social sustainability.
2023 Book Chapter
Evaluation of Cultural Representation of Persons with Disabilities in Iranian Cinema through Space and Universal Design
Yasemin Hekimoğlu & Hatice Tuğba Karayama
While space is the cornerstone for both architecture and cinema, it also keeps these two areas concurrently. For this reason, the person’s experience of the place in social life and the actor’s experience of the cinema space may show parallels and even reference each other. As a result of that relation, the theory of that “the state of cinema as a sketch for architecture” (as quoted by Penz, 1997) arises. A deep discussion on the relationship between architecture and cinema and cinematic spaces generates the first part of this study.
On the other hand, it is known that according to the constructive and feminist approaches under the umbrella of the social model of disability, disability was discussed to be a social construct that is reinforced by cultural representations (Morris, 1991; Siebers, 2001). The scholars following those approaches claimed that the tendency to exaggerate and romanticize the disability experience (Shakespeare, 1994) intensifies the stigmas and prejudices in societies (Goffman, 1963/2009). To illustrate those stigmas, Burcu (2011) classified the cultural definitions of disability as “pitiful, excluded, useless-inadequate and combative”. The representation of people with disabilities in movies and television series also became a topic of discussion for disability scholars. For instance, Longmore (1985) focused on how having an impairment was shown as equal to being less human and thus used as a reason for having an evil soul in movies. Although there are similar other studies focusing on the personality of the characters with disabilities; there was not seen a study combining the representation of disability in movies and the relationship between cinema and architecture. However, parallel to what was discussed above the experience of the person with a disability in the social and built environments and the actor’s experience of the cinema may show similarities and may be used to define the way disability is represented.
Discussing the disability experience in the social and built environment, it is beneficial to say that taking its background philosophy from the rights-based approach, the universal design paradigm was established by scholars to prevent the construction of disabilities by design products (Story, 1998; Story et al., 1998). So, the universal design understanding and its seven principles (Center of Universal Design, 1997) were used to analyze the spaces designed for the characters with disabilities in movies.
Based on this three-branched (cinema and architecture, cultural representation of disability, and universal design) view, the study discusses venues and analyzes selected films in Iranian cinema. With this sophisticated conceptual background, the way disability is used in cinema, the experience of the person with a disability in the cinematic universe, and the barriers constructed for this experience in cinematic space were aimed to be analyzed. This study, which is discussed, contributes to the literature in the field of the representation of disability and the evaluation of universal design in cinematic spaces.
2023 Conference Paper
Examination of the Use of Universal Design Principles in Museum Design By Examples
Yasemin Hekimoğlu & Hatice Tuğba Karayama
In recent years, the use of museums has been audience-centered, and this elevation requires considering the needs and preferences of the visitors during the planning times of events and exhibitions (Hooper-Greenhill, 2006). In addition, museums’ finding new ways to meet emerging needs related to learning and having a good time leads them to follow socio-cultural changes (Black, 2005). With the contribution of various disciplines and researchers, the “museum and visitor experience” field is becoming a growing literature on museum education (Goulding, 2000; Kirchberg & Tröndle, 2012). Considering that 16% of the world’s users experience a disability (WHO, 2023), it can be said that the above-mentioned visitor group includes people with disabilities, and related literature must develop by including the needs of people with disabilities.
Article 30 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), signed by our country on March 30, 2007, is reserved for the right of individuals with disabilities to participate in cultural activities and states that the signatory countries have a responsibility to ensure their p articipation in these activities equally with all other members of the society. In the Law on the Disabled of the Republic of Turkey (2005/2013), T.R. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has been appointed to meet all kinds of cultural needs of individuals with disabilities and to produce relevant materials. Although there is a decision in the same law that all kinds of social and cultural infrastructure areas serving the public belonging to the public or legal persons in our country must be made accessible within eight years of the date of enactment of the law, it can be observed that these areas are still not fully accessible to everyone.
A group of academics led by Ron Mace wo rked on a design idea that appealed to the abilities of all users as much as possible at the University of North California, and as a result, they defined Universal Design and its Seven Principles (Story, 1988). These principles can be listed as Equal Use, Flexibility in Use, Simple and Intuitive Use, Understandable Information, Tolerance for Misuse, Low Physical Effort, Approach, and Space for Use (Center of Universal Design, 1997). Within the scope of this study, the principles of universal design were examined through the existing museum structures, and both negative examples were encountered, and it was seen that design-oriented and technological solutions were used in some museums.
This study, which examines the museum and visitor experience literature and the concept of universal design, aims to examine the Istanbul Archeology Museum and Pera Museum to discuss the ignored points in museum design and the solutions reached as a result of the review.
Keywords: Universal Design, Museum Design, Visitor Experience, Accessibility, Disability Rights
2022 Master’s Thesis
An Inquiry Into the Necessity of Participation of People with Disabilities in Architecture
In the second half of the 20th century, disability rights advocates criticized society and authorities for considering disability as personal misfortune and inferiority and for not taking any responsibility for the struggle of people with disabilities. Those critiques developed a new perspective, the Social Model of Disability, affecting disability studies, rights, and policies. The Social Model defined disability as the outcome of the interaction between a person with impairment and the social and built environment. This definition supported that the inequalities in reaching opportunities, being prevented from participating in society, and the lack of representation constructed the negative image of the disabled identity. Moreover, the continuance of the existing organization reinforced the given identities and resulted in ignorance rooted in society toward disability rights. Therefore, the social model claims that disability is a socio-political concern and aims to change the role of people with impairments from dependent patients to active members of society who define the disability, the disabling barriers, and the wishes of disabled people. However, a limited number of participants represent people with disabilities in all fragments of society, including the architectural profession. With the ideas that (a) architectural knowledge is developed with experience-based progress and (b) the problems in achieving barrier-free design may be caused by the lack of diversity in the profession, this study aims to discuss the possibility that people with various bodily experiences may contribute to architecture in making a shift towards designing enabling environments for all. Therefore, a contextual inquiry was conducted to find the parallelisms and connections between different pieces of literature concerning disability, society, and architecture. Lastly, those relations were visualized with the mapping technique.
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