E55: Build for Everyone: CPABE Expert Andres Balcazar on Inclusive Design

In this United in Accessibility podcast episode Architect and global accessibility consultant Andres Balcazar joins IAAP to explore how built environments can, and must, adapt to diverse needs across sectors such as transportation or education. Drawing on decades of international experience, Andres highlights the importance of local context, inclusive policy, and capacity-building in advancing physical accessibility worldwide.

Transcript

Speaker 00:02

Welcome to the IAAP United in Accessibility podcast. In this episode, we're joined by Andres Balcazar, a Mexico City based architect, consultant and recognized accessibility expert who has spent more than two decades advancing disability inclusion across sectors and borders. Andres served as Director of Disability Affairs at the Mexican Human Rights Commission, where he worked to embed accessibility into public policy, infrastructure and national human rights strategies. A CPABE level 3 expert and IAAP member Andres has consulted for international bodies, including the World Bank, where he contributed to global guidelines supporting universal design in building codes. Today, we sit down with Andres to explore the intersection of architecture, policy and lived experience and how thoughtful design can create inclusive spaces for all on the United in Accessibility podcast.

Christopher Michael Lee 01:06

Andres, welcome to IAAP, United in Accessibility podcast, it is great to have you here. How are you doing today?

Andres Balcazar 01:14

Thank you very much, Christopher, thank you very much. I'm fine. Thank you. Excited to be here, sharing a little bit of what is going on in accessibility.

Christopher Michael Lee 01:22

 And you are located in Mexico City. Where Mexico City are you? 

Andres Balcazar 01:26

I am in the south of Mexico City. It's a nice area here, very quiet, but not accessible. It's an old neighborhood. 

Christopher Michael Lee 01:35

I was there a couple of months ago. It is a beautiful city. The food was amazing. The people were great. So, it's looking forward to going back sometime, and next time hanging out with you.

Andres Balcazar 01:45

Perfect, excellent. We are here in a historical neighborhood, a very nice place and district.

Christopher Michael Lee 01:51

So, tell me a little bit about the work that you do. Just kind of introduce yourself for our participants that are listening.

Andres Balcazar 01:57

Sure, I am an architect. I am based here in Mexico City. I graduated from the architectural school at the National Mexico University, but I am not actually practicing as an architect. All my entire professional life, I have been more dedicated to accessibility and disability, actually. So professionally, I am trained as an architect.

Christopher Michael Lee 02:22

And Andres, what'd you do before you kind of got into the accessibility realm? And what was your job?

Andres Balcazar 02:28

I worked very briefly here in the city's government, doing something completely different than accessibility. Nothing to do. It was more about the city services and all that stuff, that was very briefly, I got involved in accessibility because my late wife had a disability. She was a disabled woman, and she was very involved, actually in the disability movement here in Mexico and internationally. She was a member of Disabled People International, Rehabilitation International. So, since I met her and we got married very early, also in my professional life, I kind of levitated toward accessibility, actually. So not many things were done before that.

Christopher Michael Lee 03:18

I'm sorry to hear about your late wife, my condolences to you. It sounds like she was an amazing woman with a passion for accessibility. What was her area of accessibility? Do you mind me asking?

Andres Balcazar 03:31

Well, actually, what disability, she had nothing to do with accessibility. She was involved in advocating for disability rights. And at that time, she was a member of the United Nation Standard Rules Experts Committee representing disabled people International. And at that time, all the international disability NGOs were discussing this idea of UN Convention on disability. This was around 1997/1998. At that time, I was her assistant. Actually, it was not really working or anything. I was still finishing university, but I went with her on some trips of the Standard Rules Committee. So that's why I started this international involvement. And she knew that the NGOs wanted this convention. And there was a change here in the federal administration, a new government. They wanted to do something new, and my wife presented this idea of Mexico proposing, at that time, the Ad Hoc Committee for developing the UN Convention, because she started working the president's office, there was a special department there for promoting disability rights of persons with disability here in Mexico. So, then Mexico started this campaign, or lobbying, for the creation of. Ad Hoc Committee. I was in New York in 2001 two weeks there, knocking at the door of the delegates at the UN offices there in New York, asking them to support this effort of Mexico for creating the Ad Hoc Committee. Then we came back in November. I remember, I mean September 2001, there were all these problems there in New York, the attacks on the towers and all that stuff. And then we came back in November to continue lobbying for the adult committees. And the next year, we had a meeting here in Mexico. All the experts gather here in Mexico City from different NGOs and agencies to develop the draft text of the UN Convention, I remember that. Many people that I later met were here in Mexico at that time drafting the text. And then the other committee was created, and then all the process continued in New York. We attended some of those meetings. At that time, she was working at the federal government. Then, because of her disability, she got very ill and didn't continue working. We still went there as civil society, and that's also how I started on this global path of accessibility. Because, I mean, because of my professional training, I went to the accessibility part of all these disability issues. And before she died, we were there in 2007 when all the government starting the signing of a convention, the initial ratification of a convention. I remember it was a big time, because it was the fastest document at the UN Convention, ratified by, I don't remember how many countries. So, we were there. And then she got a contract from rehabilitation International to do some work here, but she passed away, and then they asked me if I could do that job, because they had nobody else, and they were the project already started. I was there. I knew what was all about, and that's how I started, also in this disability and accessibility path, working for ri at that time, it was a study on how to implement the UN convention here in Mexico City, and then I that's how I met a lot of people from different countries that later drove me to this accessibility consultancy path. 

Christopher Michael Lee 07:38

It's a beautiful story that you just shared, just continuing the work that your wife started and you started together. How beautiful is that? So, you've been in the field for quite a while, and you know, can you talk just a little bit about how you navigate the challenges of influencing national policy while addressing local accessibility issues. 

Andres Balcazar 08:01

That's an interesting question, because we usually tend to think that everything is about universal design. I mean, this is the aim. We all aim for something universally designed. But at the end of the day, what we see is that we need to do some local adjustments. During all this time, I've been able to do some national policy work here in Mexico, in the Middle East, and recently with the World Bank, also in some other countries. It is difficult in the built environment realm, let's say, I mean for digital accessibility, it's supposed to be easier. I mean, just a set of standards, even though we know there are some differences here and there, but I mean everything it's tend to be one single set of specifications. But that doesn't happen in the built environment world. It's different. Every region is different. I think the important thing, and how I have managed to do something, is to really study different standards. I mean, I have seen so many times that some countries just try to copy and paste from another country the standard. And passing the years, they see that it doesn't work. There are some problems. So, yeah, it's really important. And training and continuing, always studying about this. This is accessibility, is an evolving concept. I mean, it's not static. It's very dynamic. It's changing all the time. We cannot say that we just know everything. And that's it. It's study, also research on the projects I have been involved, they have a lot of heavy components of research benchmark that's the way to really to know what is going on in different places and try to provide some local adjustments to accessibility issues, because somehow, they are similar in every country. I mean, every country has the problems of not having enough ramps in the streets or in the buildings, but at the same time, every country has some particular element that differentiates the local context.

Christopher Michael Lee 10:16

But first of all, just I love the point of don't copy and cut and really spending the time, you know, for the region, the country, to actually engage in the standard and definitely integrated appropriately into the region. But in Mexico, you know, can you give some examples of some of the work that you've seen done, solution wise, that's been proactive based on, you know, the CRPD and the standards. 

Andres Balcazar 10:43

Yes, actually, I think we have done a lot of things that. But Mexico, usually we don't show what we do. I mean, we try, we tend to be very introverted in that respect. There are a lot of things that have happened here in the past year, we have some particular situation here. We are a federal government kind of similar to the US. We have federal governments and state governments and different sectors. So, the things that happen here that are different and particular to Mexico is that each sector has its own accessibility standard. The healthcare they have their own standard, then we have schools that have another ministry in charge of that. They have their own standards. We don't have like one single standard, like in the US and in other countries. So here it's a little bit different, but at the same time, that's also led us to know that each particular sector, each particular type of building needs their own set of guidelines to cover their needs. A school is completely different than a hospital, and you cannot cover those two different worlds with one single standard that tends to be just the basic elements. I mean, implementation is the big issue, also that you need to have some specific bylaws regulations, I mean some mandatory requirements that need to be different for a hospital than a school or an office building. Those are completely different. And what they have seen in some other places, they do realize that on the long in the long run, I mean, after many times, many years, they find that what they have, it's not enough, and they need to create something else. Things don't happen as fast as they should, because there are some bottlenecks here and there. So, it's a blessing and a course to have all these complexities that we have here. We can see that we need specific solutions for different sector, but at the same time, that also creates more needs for training, for consultants, for people that is really aware of the local situation and with proper training on accessibility.

Christopher Michael Lee 13:01

Yeah, it's interesting. I wasn't really aware of the different sectors having their own standards in Mexico, although other countries are similar that you know?

Andres Balcazar 13:10

What I can tell you, I was now, recently, last year, involved in a global study reviewing different building codes. But you tend to think that the building code, the national building code, has everything about building and also accessibility, but then you go there and see that it doesn't happen. It depends on the government. Yeah, the political system. If we have a federal state, we can have something as complex as Mexico that is very different, or some others that are a little bit easier. Even though they are federal, they have some central documents. So, it depends, it varies in all the world. That's the big, the big the issue with accessibility, that in some places, in some countries, they have their building code. And everything related to accessibility is there. I have seen some Pacific Islands, for instance, that have their building codes. Remember now Vanuatu, for instance, or what is the other Samoa, or something like that, they have their building code. But then when you go to the specificities of the building code for different elements, fire protection or even accessibility. They refer to Australian or New Zealand standards. So, you need to have like, two different documents. You need to have the national building code of Vanuatu, for instance, and then you need to buy the Australian accessibility standard to incorporate the recommendations there. So, the situation is very complex. It doesn't just involve these differences between federal governments or central governments also. I mean, what I see is that small countries don't have the resources, the capacity to create their own standards, and they need to rely on something else. Yeah. Then we have Africa. They have UK standards, for instance, as a reference, you find UK standards there. So, it's a mixture of whatever you like. You will find it there in different regions of the world. It's important to understand that how it works, really, to try to overcome all the barriers, they need to create more capacity, local capacity in these regions.

Speaker 15:29

The International Association of Accessibility Professionals currently offers four certifications. IAAP certifications are indicators of your commitment to the accessibility profession, the industry and community. View the certification overview page on our website to learn more.

Christopher Michael Lee 15:49

You know, I want to circle back around to something that you said that kind of caught my attention, and that was that, you know, it's always a moving target in regard to accessibility. Obviously, that's a pretty straightforward statement, specifically around digital accessibility, because technology changes. But with the built environment, could you give me some examples? Is it smart buildings? Is it the codes and how you build an actual building, in a sense, plan a city, or whatever it may be, and the technologies on top of that, or integrated in that, does that make a movie target?

Andres Balcazar 16:25

Yes, yes, yes. Now, with artificial intelligence and all the new technologies, everything is in its infancy, this combination of or integration of built environment and accessibility. We may think that they have nothing to do, but in the end, yeah, they complement each other, especially in the transportation sector. I mean, when you use a mode of transport, you use a built environment, you use an accessible vehicle, and you use applications and other systems. I mean digital system just to book your trip. I mean it doesn't matter if it is an airplane, a train or your local boss. You use everything that needs to be covered by accessibility, streets, the sidewalks, the terminals or the bus station, and you use applications and all that stuff. So that's, I think, one example where it combines everything related to accessibility, and we still have a lot of things to do. I mean, we are just starting this whole path of incorporating this digital technology into accessibility, because we have already a built environment that is very hard to change, to retrofit. And we can use technology. We can use, I mean, artificial intelligence. We can use wearables, gadgets that people can wear with some LIDAR scanners and all that, or this new technology helps them to navigate different spaces so that it needs to be explored. Still more, this integration of cheap, accessible, affordable technology that we can wear and help people with way finding urban and built environments.

Christopher Michael Lee 18:16

That's really interesting, and it makes a lot of sense. These resources being, you know, developed, you know, from inventions in a sense and in and kind of linking that to what's going on in the built environment. And then you have to have different types of roles, right, of understanding wearables and, you know, understand how AI impacts the built environment and so on. I want to kind of drill down a little bit on something that I know you get excited about. Not a lot of people probably do, that's around codes, you know. So, what are some of the key elements should accessible code include, when you're looking at, you know, people with disabilities among us, buildings, infrastructures, some of the digital platforms, etc., 

Andres Balcazar 18:59

The first thing that comes to my mind is to be really aware that there are different type of disabilities, not only physical disability. That's something that it's very frequent, that approach that we develop something just for a person in a wheelchair, or perhaps in the in the digital accessibility is something that that is only for a blind person, and that's it. And we tend to forget that there is a whole different array of categories there. I mean, even in the physical disability section, let's say there are different types, different degrees of impairment, and that should be addressed in the codes. This is not common. It's really, it's really typical to see that everything is just a reference to the wheelchair or a blind person, and that's it. So that's the first thing we need to open our mind and see that there are many things there. And now it's happening. There are some new codes here and there, different countries are developing a new approach, and they call it in a different way. They call it cognitive accessibility, or design for the mind. They call it in the UK a new guideline there for neurodiversity. And when you look at all these new provisions for accessibility, what you see is that it is the old, known universal design approach that is easy to understand, flexible. I mean, all those seven principles are there, and also, it's like a common sense and well-designed space, but that's also what should be there. We need to open our minds, our eyes, to see that there are different categories, and it's beneficial for all of us, not only for a small sector of the population. 

Christopher Michael Lee 20:57

Yeah, I was going to ask you when you were kind of, you know, just expanding, not just wheelchairs, mobility related issues and so on, moving to cognitive and other issues. Yeah, what I went to was aging, and because it's such a large aging population, and all of them have functional limitations, the vision, hearing and so on. So, you would think that that would be, you know, something to kind of grab onto. You want to address that as you get older. Have you seen any kind of research or working groups that are addressing that particularly?

Andres Balcazar 21:30

Yes, somehow it depends on the local context, again. Because in some places in the world, it's like almost taboo. I mean, in our side of the world we are, yeah, we have a shift in the demographics. I think the US, Mexico, some other countries, we are becoming an aging society, and we kind of start to be aware of that. But in some other countries, they are still a very young population, and they don't see it yet, so they don't put priority on that. They are still very young, and they haven’t seen it coming yet. So yeah, it's definitely part of the approach now to include an aging society. A good example of that is Japan. They are an aging society, and they have really embraced the universal design concept, and they use it everywhere. There are not many places in the world where national politics are really embracing universal design, and Japan is one of those places, perhaps, is because of this, because they are very aware of this aging process. 

Christopher Michael Lee 22:39

Great., thank you very much that it's definitely an area I'm interested in. So, you're a CPABE level three. Can you tell us what exactly?

Andres Balcazar 22:49

Well, it's the certification for build environment professionals? At that time when it was launched, it was divided in three categories because we saw that this is very complex. I mean, there are different level of knowledge for the built environment and the level three. What it implies is that some international work, and that's why it's there. We have a lot of very good accessibility professionals, but most of the time they only work on a national level. I mean, they are very good, but they are only working in their own country or their own region. And for those, there are the other two levels of the certification, but then we have this level three that is covering this international work. Hopefully there will be more, because this real is should be more of a global process and a global approach. Because when we tend to be very focused on our own little corner of the world, we don't see what is happening, and then people come, and they don't find the same things as in their homes. With all this tourism we want to promote accessible tourism. We need to have a more homogeneous approach to accessibility worldwide. It's not really economically feasible to have just clusters of accessibility here that we need. We need, like, a more global approach to accessibility. And I think that's where level three really fits in. We need to create more accessibility consultants that have this global knowledge, global experience, working from different cultures. Also, it's important there. If we want to promote tourism in any country, we need to be able to receive people from different cultures, economic and social backgrounds.

Christopher Michael Lee 24:56

You talked earlier about implementation, which I think is so. So important, right? I mean, you can have a standard, you know, lay it on top of, you know, a country, but if you don't implement it, nothing really happens, right? Can you, can you just, you know, talk a little bit about some of your thoughts around implementation. You mentioned training, which is obviously very important. Just, you know, kind of drill down a little bit and for our audience,

Andres Balcazar 25:21

For implementation, also training is very important, because, again, we have different approaches to implementing different ways to really make something like mandatory regulations. Every country in the world is like the US, where you don't find accessibility in some places, and then you go to court and sue that person. I mean, that doesn't work in many places in the world. I mean, there was a discussion about that at the summit last year. I remember something about that, specifically the differences between Europe and the US. But it’s not only Europe and the US, but outside of Europe and the US, I mean these different approaches to how to implement and in some countries, legislation is not very strong, so they don't have really a way to enforce. Enforcement here is the is the key word. There are some regions, countries or cities that are very aware that they need to do something, and they try to move around that how to okay, I cannot enforce it. What do I do? Then the key concept here is raising awareness. It's very important. It helps a lot, and also training, training, training, training, professional training. Capacity building. We need to provide more information to professionals, architects, even civil engineers, in some places, they do also accessibility. I mean, all the designers are involved with the built environment. I think that's the key issue here, training, training, training, more training, different levels, different coops. I mean, not everybody needs to be a super expert on accessibility. Some people need just basic training to do, to contribute in their own way in the local, neighborhood or city. I think that's the answer. We need more training to foster implementation of best practices, and also best practices. We need more information about best practices. One big issue with implementation I also remember is that most of the latest standards, the best standards, the standards that were really develop with a lot of knowledge. They are not free. That's a big barrier to overcome. So, one way to do something about this to provide more training based on those best practices available to more people everywhere.

Christopher Michael Lee 27:53

And localization, right? 

Andres Balcazar 27:56

Exactly? That's correct.

Christopher Michael Lee 27:58

Well, Andres, we're at the end of our time. But I did want to end by just asking you, what do you have planned for the future? Do you have any projects that you're working on?

Andres Balcazar 28:07

Well, there are some projects with IAAP, actually, but I think they are still in the developing phase. Some surprises there for IAAP membership on the build environment. I am also working right now as a World Bank consultant on accessibility, and there are some documents. It's also very related to all these accessibilities and building ports, developing and updating for many countries. So yeah, it's also there and some local projects as well. But I think also for G3ict and IAAP, we are working on something, hopefully it will be beneficial for all the members and even people outside of IAAP and G3ict.

Christopher Michael Lee 29:06

Thank you so much. It's been great to have you all of this podcast, and we're looking forward to maybe having you back down the road a little bit more what's going on with the World Bank, and maybe you can be part of the package that we roll out with IAAP and to all members. 

Andres Balcazar 29:20

Yes, sure. Happy to help and to share whatever I can. Thank you very much.

Speaker 29:28

The International Association of Accessibility Professionals offers a variety of membership options for individuals and organizations. Whether you are an expert in accessibility or just starting your journey, join the only global accessibility professional association promoting and improving digital accessibility and physical environments. IAAP advocates for the inclusive design and creation of accessible products, content, services and spaces to ensure no one is left behind due to physical, sensory, cognitive health or psychological related impairment. United in Accessibility, join IAAP and become a part of the global accessibility movement.