Semey, June 3, 2015 – 402 out of 433 monitored objects of social infrastructure of Semey, as wel as Beskaragaysky district’s and Shulbinsk village’s are not adopted to the needs of people with disabilities.
These unsatisfying results were found out by volunteers of PA “Istok.” The results of the monitoring were discussed at the press conference in Semey. Monitoring of the infrastructure of the cities and towns is a part of “Empowerment Now!” national information campaign in the region.
The campaign has been implemented in all Kazakhstani regions by the Association of Civil Society Development “ARGO” together with the partners (NGO “Namys,” NGO “Shyrak,” and NGO “ASRIV”), and with the collaboration of NGOs in 7 regions of the country.
During two months, 20 specially prepared volunteers monitored the accessibility for people with disabilities of more than 400 objects (administrative offices, healthcare institutions, education institutions, culture and leisure centers, the service sector and social services) of Semey, Beskaragaysky district and Shulbinsk village. They conducted the meetings on this issue with disabled people, with the specialists in architecture departments and urban development, health and social protection, with the representatives of akimat.
“Today, when we talk about equal rights and improvement of the living standards of people with disabilities, we face such a serious problem as inaccessibility of objects of social infrastructure for people with disabilities,” says Lyudmia Mikhailova, the chair of PA “Istok.”
“Due to the lack of ramps, conventions, special parking spaces in parking lots, handrails on stairways, call buttons for staff of the institutions, audio signals at traffic lights, people with disabilities experience difficulties when they want to go to a drugstore or a hospital, or to a bank. Because of these barriers they cannot go to a cafe, to the stadium or to a concert,” she says.
The specialists from akimat, departments of social protection, architecture, labor legislation of Semey will discuss the issues of ensuring the rights of disabled people and improvement of the quality of life of people with disabilities, including the creation of accessible living environment without barriers for PWDs at the conference.
The results will be communicated to all stakeholders. The issues of creating a barrier-free environment for people disabilities (there are now more than 12 PWDs in Semey), including the announcement of the results of the study will be discussed at the next meeting of the Public Council under the Governor’s office of the city, which is scheduled for June 3.
