ABSTRACT
Most of us expect to be able to move around the built environment with ease of access and entry into buildings. For Blomley (1994:413), ‘rights and entitlement attached to mobility have long had a hallowed place within the liberal pantheon and, as such, mobility is part of the democratic revolution’. For instance, in the USA and Canada mobility rights are formally enshrined in legislation and, for Hobbes (1996), mobility is fundamental to the liberty of the human body. As Hobbes (1996:57) has argued, ‘liberty or freedom, signifieth, properly, the absence of opposition; by opposition, I mean external impediments of motion’. However, immobility, and restrictions on movement and access, are defining features of the lives of many people, particularly for those with physical and mental impairments. As Figure 1.1 illustrates, the built environment is characterised by obstacles and physical impediments which render ineffective the efforts of many disabled people seeking independence of movement and mobility.
