Accessibility is a multidimensional concept. It refers not only to the accessibility of buildings and public spaces but also services. Therefore, it includes a discussion of accessing education, health care, employment and state services, as well as architectural design. Furthermore, it relates to the right to be present and visible without having to face excluding gaze. All these dimensions are interrelated and reinforce one another. For instance, inaccessible environments lead to the seclusion of a disabled person to the private space of her home. With time, the person’s invisibility in the public space, at work, in the concert hall and school becomes the new “normal” and the use of these spaces, or even to ask for the right to use these spaces becomes “abnormal”. As such, the necessity to render space and services accessible remains easily outside of agenda. Yet, participation in social life, the right to shape it and be visible in it are basic citizenship rights. Therefore discussing accessibility is synonymous with discussing the meaning of citizenship, not only from the perspective of disabled people, but everyone.

Dikmen Bezmez, PhD
Department of Sociology, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Koç University