Analysis of accessibility in the town of Herdecke

Under the direction of Prof. Dr. Michael Boecker, students from the Faculty of Applied Social Studies have examined the city of Herdecke for accessibility. Prof. Boecker was asked by Alina Boldt, a former graduate of the faculty and current inclusion officer for the city of Herdecke.

According to surveys by the district health authority, almost 6,000 of Herdecke's 24,000 inhabitants have a disability. A cooperation project with the Fachhochschule Dortmund is now set to promote accessibility in the town.

In everyday life, barriers and obstacles are not only experienced or felt by many people, but also by parents with baby carriages, the very young, injured, sick or elderly people. According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a disability arises from the interaction between the person with the impairment and the attitudinal and environmental barriers.

As part of the project with the Fachhochschule Dortmund, an analysis of the physical and social barriers for people with disabilities at publicly accessible buildings in the city was carried out over a total of three days. The main focus of interest was on access to municipal and other publicly accessible buildings.

In a second phase, the students conducted qualitative interviews with a total of 60 Herdecke residents and then evaluated them. The highlight of the semester-long project was the presentation of the results to the social committee of the city of Herdecke by the students of our faculty.

The summary of the stakeholders involved was more than positive. A "win-win situation" for all involved: the students were able to test and apply the current scientific discourse to the concrete challenges of practice and the city of Herdecke received a free "barrier check". In this way, applied science can "make a contribution to changing people's everyday lives", commented Prof. Dr. Michael Boecker.