The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), the organisation responsible for delivering the infrastructure required for football’s 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar, has said that every venue will be accessible for people with disabilities.
Parking areas, stadium entrances, seats, facilities such as toilets, and emergency services are all designed to be fully accessible.
Najla Al Obaidan, a senior architect for SC, said that access for people of all abilities is one of the key factors the committee is considering while developing its stadia.
Speaking at the Accessible Qatar Conference, Al Obaidan said, according to Qatari newspaper The Peninsula: “The percentage of seats for persons with disabilities will be determined according to the size of the stadium. There will also be a percentage of parking spaces to be allotted for persons with disabilities.
“The seats are inclined based on Fifa standards in such a way that the disabled fans can have a good view. In addition, there are also places allocated for media with disabilities as well as for people with autism.”
The principle accessibility consult for Access All Areas UK, Mark Todd, added: “Everything should be accessible. No area of the stadium, no service, no sport should be off limits to anybody with accessibility need.
“Sometimes things that we do for accessible design can benefit everybody, so a stadium that is accessible for disabled people is usually accessible to everybody.”
