Just how accessible and safe are public spaces in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia?

According to NakSeni, not much. NakSeni is an an art collective dedicated to assisting persons with disabilities (PWD) to make a living creatively.

“There’s a lot of work to be done to make public spaces accessible and safe,” Armani Shahrin, the founder of NakSeni tells Eksentrika. Together with fellow IncluCity co-founders, Nurul Syaqinah Abdul Rahim, Miza Marsya Roslan, and a handful of PWD volunteers, NakSeni is currently working on a solution through innovation and technology.

Building safer and accessible spaces for Kuala Lumpur’s PWDs through IncluCity.

According to NakSeni, IncluCity has the potential to assist an estimated 45,355 PWDs in Malaysia’s capital. According to the country’s Welfare Department (JKM), 16,730 of them have physically-associated disabilities. In total, the department estimates that there are 637,537 PWDs across Malaysia.

“IncluCity is an inclusive crowdsourced map of accessible and safe venues, especially for PWDs. Our goal is to encourage more venues and spaces to cater to diverse visitors and practice inclusivity or apply the concept of universal design towards the community,” Armani says.

“We’re kicking off the project in Kuala Lumpur first before expanding it gradually to the whole nation.”

IncluCity is a play on the words “inclusive” and “city”. Think of it as Google Maps which is PWD-friendly. Through the platform, PWD users can rate and rank locations based on their safety and accessibility. This is where the crowdsource bit comes in.

With enough traction, NakSeni believes that IncluCity will play a pivotal role in helping Malaysia’s city developers design cities with safety and accessibility for PWDs in mind.

The challenges faced by Malaysian PWDs. 

Currently, Malaysia lacks a clear understanding of the sensory and mobility challenges that PWDs face daily, says, Nurul Syaqinah Abdul Rahim, the co-founder of IncluCity.

“We’ve been hosting several excursions to popular spots throughout Kuala Lumpur together with our PWD friends and volunteers and we found that many spots lack the necessary infrastructures such as ramps. Many PWDs, specifically wheelchair users, have to resort to using bicycle lanes to move around. Unfortunately, we found that many of these lanes are also often blocked.”

The platform will eventually incorporate safety standards that will not only be beneficial to PWDs but also for senior citizens, children, and families with babies.

“We envision IncluCity to not only be limited to those with permanent disabilities but also temporary or situational circumstances,” Armani explains.

K. Aveena Devi, a PWD artist and published author, describes the effort as timely.

“I’ve finally felt included with a stronger sense of belonging to the community. This initiative definitely builds my confidence to speak my mind and to make a change in our community by my own accord.”

Why is IncluCity important?

With enough support, the platform will also eventually serve as a handy resource list to help people find and locate PWD-friendly businesses and organisations.

When asked how IncluCity would eventually sustain itself, Armani says the platform will eventually host paid listings for businesses, and allow persons with disabilities to list their shops or companies. They will also provide paid consultation services for businesses and venues that want to make their spaces more inclusive.

“NakSeni will also play an advocacy role where we’ll provide consultation services to establishments that want to become accessible or improve their ratings,” Armani adds.

Ultimately, the goal of IncluCity is to provide updated and accurate information on accessibility and provide resources for businesses to practise inclusivity. IncluCity is one of the projects towards NakSeni’s goal to elevate the status of PWD artists and build a community of individuals who can spread positive influence.

“We also hope that IncluCity will help build the confidence among PWDs to further explore spaces and venues they never thought possible before and at the same time, give them the opportunity to socialise and travel in a safe environment,” Armani says.

NakSeni’s IncluCity is currently among the eight finalists for ThinkCity’s Creative KL Urban Challenge.

If you believe that more Malaysian PWDs deserve safer and more accessible spaces, you can vote for IncluCity here. 

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Cover image sourced from NakSeni.