"Wittingly or unwittingly we are discriminating against this increasingly large sector of the community."

The tyre maker is supporting 'IDIRIYA', an organization of professionals that is campaigning to improve access of public buildings to the disabled.

“Very often what is needed is very simple. For example, access to each and every public and private building and its facilities," Braganza said at a ceremony to launch a book called ‘Access Ability For All - Why You?’ by the IDIRIYA organization.

"We know this to be a fact instinctively, but somehow our corporate plans and strategy do not factor in this basic human right.”

Activists say the true extent of the disabled in Sri Lanka is not known.

"Decision makers should not be misguided by the published figures on disability, which are often underestimated," IDIRIYA secretary general Ajith Perera said.

"For numerous reasons, disability in both visible and invisible forms is on the rise in Sri Lanka. Today, the risk of becoming disabled has become a grave social problem afflicting a wide range of people."

"By the way we continue to design our buildings, man is creating more physical barriers to man in attending to normal daily activities. This is wholly unacceptable in modern day Sri Lanka.

Activists are promoting ‘designing for inclusion’ in Sri Lanka’s construction industry to accommodate the increasing numbers of people who are physically or sensorily disadvantaged.