News

This year the Accessibility Week took place for the second time and lasted from June 1 to June 15 2014. The peculiarity of this year’s event was that activities took place not only in Minsk but also in other cities of Belarus: Grodno, Kobrin, Zhitkovichi, Lida, Smorgon, Baran, Bobruisk.

Not so long ago in Belarus information campaign “Inclusion of persons with disabilities to local community” has started; it promotes the concept of independent living outside institutions. Because we have just started we should consider the possibility to get acquainted with the experience of foreign countries and to choose the best practices for our country. Today we will talk with a social worker of the Danish organization “European House” Line Petersen.

Such topics as how to accept a person with disability without trying to change him, how to make laws work and make people play the main role and not to be just a topic of a discussion were discussed at the round table devoted to a new state program for 2016-2020.

- Even in Latvia it is difficult to say about 100% accessible environment, people call us all the time, even from other countries and ask where they can get without barriers, – says the head of the council of the organization of people with disabilities and their friends “Apeirons” Ivars Balodis. – That is why such an app for android and iphone is very useful – it helps to have all the necessary information about accessibility of environment on your mobile.

As a rule before every training participants fill in forms where they mention their gender, age, contacts and describe their interests. At this stage we can already find out if the participants of your training have special needs. In order to find out you just need to include to the form such questions as “Do you have special nutrition needs?” or “Do you have special needs or wishes?”. By paying attention to such moments you will avoid accidents and will be respected by people for whom it is really important to have an opportunity to order a vegetarian pizza or to have wide aisles in the conference hall.

Children’s holiday “Light your star” took place in Gorky Park in Minsk. Funny games and quizzes, fair of handmade souvenirs, communication with interesting people were just a part of surprises prepared by the organizers for their guests. The holiday became a reason to meet and to communicate with children many of whom have a disability to meet with their peers from different parts of Belarus.

Specialists of the Office for the rights of persons with disabilities offered guests of the holiday to “sign with their heart” the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.

Accessibility Forum is an event which gathers people interested in expansion of accessibility and in involving people with disabilities into life of local community. The event is the place where you can get acquainted with colleagues’ work, find new partners and share experience. The last Forum that took place in the frames of Accessibility Week is the proof that you don’t have to work in a specialized organization to make the world more comfortable and the society more tolerant.

In the frames of accessibility week we managed to gather unique specialists who in different spheres deal with accessibility issues. This time they talked about a new to Belarus trend – universal design.

Universal design (often inclusive design) refers to broad-spectrum ideas meant to produce buildings, products and environments that are inherently accessible to older people, people without disabilities, and people with disabilities.

The term "universal design" was coined by the architect Ronald L. Mace to describe the concept of designing all products and the built environment to be aesthetic and usable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of their age, ability, or status in life. According to statistical data about 90 percent of the planet’s population need universal design: elderly people, young parents with strollers, manual workers who often have to carry heavy things, temporarily incapacitated and simply tired people. It is a significant fact that disability “dissolves” in “universal” environment: a person doesn’t have to think to which store to go or where to have a lunch. Other barriers are also erased, for example all the information is understandable because it is clearly shown and with the help of recognizable pictograms.

Речь идет в первую очередь о тех людях, которые имеют нарушения слуха, зрения или ограниченную мобильность. Несмотря на значительные финансовые вложения в подготовку к Чемпионату мира по хоккею, ключевые объекты и услуги, которые могут интересовать болельщиков, имеют лишь отдельные элементы доступности, а в целом доступность не носит системный характер. Таковы ключевые выводы мониторинга, который провел Офис по правам людей с инвалидностью перед началом крупного международного спортивного события в Минске.

Специалисты подчеркивают тот факт, что оценка доступности сделана не для всего города, а только для тех объектов и услуг, которые могут понадобиться потенциальным участникам чемпионата.