Despite national legislation aimed at protecting and promoting the rights of persons with disabilities (PWDs), some PWDs in UP Diliman say they continue to face barriers from a lack of dedicated infrastructure.

These barriers persist in the campus’ physical facilities and social services amid the country’s first celebration of the National Disability Rights Week last July 17 to 23.

“We still see [UPD] as not PWD-friendly or not PWD-compliant. The campus is very inaccessible for PWD students, even members ng [PWD] community in general,” PWD student and University Student Council students with additional needs (SWANS) Committee co-head Kian Noguera told the Collegian.

Not all campus buildings have complete accessibility features. The College of Arts and Letters New Building, for one, has five floors but lacks ramps and elevators inside. (Sidney Fernando/Philippine Collegian)

Batas Pambansa 344, known as the Accessibility Law, mandates that public spaces be inclusive and accessible to PWDs through features such as railings, ramps, elevators, and signages.

Buildings constructed before the law’s approval in 1983, as many are in UPD, are covered as the law includes guidelines on renovating existing buildings.

However, an award-winning 2015 thesis from the College of Mass Communication found that multiple campus buildings lacked these features, failing to comply with the Accessibility Law.

Although ramps and elevators have since been constructed around the campus, certain buildings still lack them nine years later, said Noguera.

The Office of the Campus Architect has plans to construct features for students with visual impairment, with the Student Union Building being one of the first buildings on campus to have tactile paving. (Sidney Fernando/Philippine Collegian)

The Office of the Campus Architect has ongoing projects to improve campus accessibility, including repair and renovation of sidewalks by adding ramps and tactile paving, Ringer Manalang, director of the office, told the Collegian.

But while the office aims to improve mobility for pedestrians and wheelchair users alike, an uncertain budget remains its biggest hurdle in implementing projects, according to Manalang.

The presence of ramps on campus sidewalks, such as along Roces Street, is a step towards inclusivity. But further repairs and the addition of tactile paving remain elusive due to yearly budget cuts. (Sidney Fernando/Philippine Collegian)

Notably, the trend of budget cuts for the UP system has continued with the latest proposed 2025 budget having very little funding for infrastructure: P178 million over UP’s proposed P10.7 billion.

Lack of infrastructure for SWANS manifests beyond physical facilities. For instance, while the UP administration has created PsycServ to provide free psychosocial services to students, it has similarly faced a small budget, leading to limited slots and long queues.

Services like these that benefit SWANS lack institutionalization, as in the first place, there is no dedicated UP office for providing services to SWANS and PWDs.

The SWANS Committee has sought to fill these gaps through its projects, including the SWANS helpdesk and psychosocial first aid training. It also formed the SWANS Alliance, currently composed of six organizations and 72 students, to forward calls directly from the sector. 

Likewise, the UPD College of Education Student Council is drafting a resolution to form a systemwide university office for SWANS, to be proposed at the 57th convention of the General Assembly of Student Councils this August.

But as this office is yet to be formed, the SWANS Committee continues its calls for inclusive spaces and adequate services, while also campaigning against budget cuts that lead to insufficient SWANS services.

“Yung talagang end goal is mawakasan or ma-end yung all forms of discrimination and violence towards the PWD and SWANS community. Di [ito] natatapos until makamtan yung type of services and type of society na gusto nating makamtan,” said Noguera. ●