Urban infrastructure for disabled to be improved

Through the “National Program for implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2020”, the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Utility Services proposed to supplement Article 27 of the Law of Ukraine “On basis of social protection of the disabled in Ukraine” with the appropriate provision on mandatory adaptation of the existing facilities for the needs of people with disabilities, and establish a strict liability of the owners, asset holders, tenants of such facilities for violation of those rules, the Information-Analytical Bulletin of the cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine informs.

This legislative initiative will apply the best practices of the EU and create an appropriate and effective mechanism to adapt the infrastructure facilities (shops, malls, pharmacies, public transport) for the needs of people with disabilities, the government experts note. For many of our fellow citizens a usual way down from the seventh floor to the courtyard, a hospital visit or a trip by public transport is already a challenge, which is not always possible to meet, as the facilities are not adapted for handicapped people.

Government experts say one of the major issues of social policy today is integration of people with disabilities in the full life of the country, and without an adequate urban infrastructure, which would take into account the needs of handicapped people, this cannot be achieved.

Creation of an urban infrastructure system for people with disabilities will help integrate the disabled into the full life of the society. It will create conditions for the effective participation of the disabled in the market and economic relations. And it will increase the number of working people with disabilities (today in Ukraine, one of two disabled works — over 750,000 people). Indeed, 80% of the disabled are the persons of employable age who can work and benefit the Ukrainian economy and society, if we create humane conditions of work for them, analysts say. In addition, it should be taken into account that according to the International Labor Organization, exclusion of the disabled people from the labor market costs 7% of gross domestic product in the countries’ economies.