I agree with your e-mail completely...100%.
I was thinking of the "costs of not doing anything" as the benefits of "doing
something"
That is you have the cost of undertaking universal design instead of current
design. You compare that with the benefits of undertaking universal design. I
hadn't forgotten about that latter part. But I was looking for the first part.
Now I know that cost/benefit analysis is limited....I know there are things you
can't place a monetary value on. But I also know how decisions get made in many
arenas and I want to help better decisions get made. Budgetary decisions are
often incremental, so asking to do something that hasn't been done before, the
question you will be asked is...how much more will it cost and what will be the
benefit. You need to be able to lay both of those things out in order to get
decisionmakers attention.
Amanda Tink
<[log in to unmask] To: daniel mont <[log in to unmask]>
t.au> cc: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: data on costs
06/13/2004 12:58
AM
Hi Dan and all,
Dan wrote:
> I am working at the World Bank in an effort to promote an inclusive
> approach to our various projects in health, education, and employment.
If you really are interested in promoting an inclusive approach, why is it
that you are asking these questions in terms of what it costs to make these
things accessible? Wouldn't people be interested in inclusiveness if you
told them about the costs of not making these things accessible? When I say
that, I really do mean the costs of not making things accessible from an
economic perspective. I strongly believe that the loss to society is much
more important, but the way you phrased those questions convinces me that
I'd get nowhere with that approach.
There's that wonderful line "if you think education is expensive, how about
ignorance!" I haven't studied the topic, so I can't recommend any specific
research. But I know that, over and over, research supports the idea that
education improves economic options, so I'm sure the articles couldn't be
that hard to find. They don't need to be disability-specific, since I'm
sure you can find research of that kind which makes no reference to whether
it's subjects had disability or not.
The same goes for health care. The healthier people are, the more likely
they are to be able to make what could be called an economic contribution.
I think it would help you, when considering your questions, to keep in mind
that accessibility is one of the many features that is part of something as
a whole. It is not an optional extra. You wouldn't consider constructing
a school without chairs and tables for students; similarly, you should not
construct a school with narrow doorways. I know it could be said that many
schools throughout the world do exist without chairs and tables or an
equivalent, but the reality is that that only works for some of the people
some of the time, and will most certainly not work any of the time for each
person at some point throughout their schooling.
Including the necessities from the ground up is the most cost effective
thing to do, and it's certainly a hell of a lot more cost effective then
adding a necessity in later. If you're thinking accessibility is not
really a necessity, then you don't really believe in inclusiveness.
Take a long-term approach. This should not just be about the costs at the
point of construction, it should be about the costs overall over 10 or 20
years or longer. I think you'll find that, regardless of how much those
"additional costs" (as you called them) are, they will, in the long-term,
be less than the cost of not being inclusive.
Amanda.
--
Amanda Tink: [log in to unmask]
"But then with Powerpoint you can reduce War and Peace to dot points. And
which US President of all the US Presidents does his press conference with
dot points? You know the one, and there's only been one." (Don Watson)
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