Engelsiz Erişim Derneği

Association of Barrier Free Access

Association of Barrier Free Access was established in Istanbul in 2011. The main goal of the association is to remove all barriers before the differently abled people with the acceptance that disability is not a defect but a part of diverse human traits. The working areas of the association include eliminating the social and physical factors that render a person disabled, ensuring that people with disabilities enjoy equal rights as the rest of the society, ending discriminatory practices, advocating for people with disabilities to live together in a society of equal individuals, and fighting against all practices and policies that may lead to isolation. The association advocates that equal, accessible, and barrier-free life is a fundamental human right for everyone and carries out activities accordingly. It struggles to elevate the “rights-based” understanding of disability to the level of equal individuals in accordance with universal human rights. 

The charter and working principles of the association stress the aims of combating all forms of discrimination and promoting universal design, that is, accessibility, in all walks of life. In line with these objectives, the association works in the field of disability rights including the right to accessibility, the right to equal participation, the right to an accessible city, equality rights, and anti-discrimination. Association for Barrier Free Access produces viable solutions especially in areas of universal design and accessibility and creates draft plans and pilot applications of solution proposals while adopting the principle to share the solutions with all institutions, organizations, and individuals working in the field through usable materials, reports and events. It carries out various studies to make all kinds of products, services, information, and technology accessible, works to make every activity fully accessible, and ensures that the association’s audience is aware of similar needs by organizing trainings, seminars, and events to enhance the skills of blind people on various topics. 

Association for Barrier Free Access cooperates with and provides consultancy to produce awareness-raising workshops and activities on concepts such as “disability, ableism, universal design, accessibility, inclusivity”. Consultancy support for making websites and applications accessible to the blind people can be requested from the association. Moreover, the association engages in partnership and collaboration in right-based advocacy works as well as national or international networking in common areas of struggle. The association is open to communication and cooperation, especially with municipalities and public institutions, on the accessibility of information and of physical spaces.