< p _ngcontent-sc89="" class="news-annotation">Accessibility and barrier-free are not only about people with disabilities, because each of us at a certain stage of life can be in a group of people with limited mobility. Read more in the exclusive blog for Channel 24 website.
The friendliest cities
A comfortable city is not restaurants, not architecture, but convenient infrastructure for everyone.
The low-mobility population includes pregnant women, people with small children, people with injuries, people with disabilities, and the elderly. All of them have the right to a full life in the city.
Before the war, there were 2.7 million people with disabilities in Ukraine, but, unfortunately, this number is growing every day. Therefore, now we need to talk about how to make Ukrainian cities accessible.
The author of the accessibility rating of cities in Ukraine “Toaster” Dmitry Shchebetyuk notes Lviv, Mariupol and Vinnytsia as the cities that struck him in understanding the convenience for a person in a wheelchair. As Dmitry notes, not everything was perfect, but moving around the cities left positive impressions.
“The most important thing is the synergy of the authorities and local activists, because even if the authorities want it, but there are no people in place who really want to change the city and have certain experience and desire to do this, then nothing will happen,” he says.
How the culture of accessible cities takes root in Ukraine: video
Big changes start small
Examples of small towns like Bakhmut in the Donetsk region are also very important for the development of an inclusive Ukraine.
To date, there are approximately 400 children with disabilities in the Bakhmut city territorial community. There are five social services that they can receive, for example: social taxi, temporary day care for children with disabilities. This became possible thanks to the cooperation of local governments with the Spilno project, supported by UNDP and UNICEF.
One of the services is access to a barrier-free playground, allowing children with disabilities to enjoy the benefits of childhood. The Bakhmut city center for social services received a grant from the Partnership for Every Child project, and the city council took over the design and estimate documentation to implement the idea. The total cost is 600 thousand hryvnia. The community received an international award from UNICEF for this inclusive playground.
Limited mobility inevitably leads to social exclusion. This is known not only to people with disabilities, but also to those who have been on maternity leave at least once. Fortunately, there are more and more people who are not ready to put up with this – there are at least 12.5 thousand of them.
That's how many members of the community “Kyiv friendly to parents and kids.” The founder of the society, Olga Mirtsalo, felt isolated from her usual life after the birth of a child, because very few places in cities are suitable for visiting with babies in a stroller.
Together with her friends, who also recently children appeared, Olga organized a film screening for parents with kids at the Zhovten cinema in Kyiv. Despite all the stereotypes, there were enough brave parents who attended a session with kids from 0 to 3 years old. This event is now permanent.
“Abroad, we should borrow a strategic vision. Who are our cities for? Now they are for healthy single men. However, in representatives of other social, gender, age groups also live in the city. The city should be interesting and friendly for everyone,” Mirtsalo is convinced. in Ukrainian cities: watch the video
