New state construction rules will ensure accessible infrastructure for people with disabilities, says Hennadii Zubko
Up to the present day, all state building norms on the creation of barrier-free environment for persons with disabilities were not binding. Even these petty recommendations did not take into account the needs of people with visual and hearing impairments. Our task is to return the lost opportunities and create a really comfortable infrastructure for every Ukrainian. This was emphasized during the meeting of the Committee on ensuring accessibility of persons with disabilities and persons with limited mobility to the objects of social and engineering transport infrastructure under the chairmanship of First Lady of Ukraine Maryna Poroshenko and Vice Prime Minister/ Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine Hennadii Zubko.
The representative of the President of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Lutsenko, the Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for the Rights of Disabled Persons Valeriy Sushkevych and representatives of non-governmental organizations took part in the work of the Committee.
In Ukraine, more than 95% of housing and public utilities are inaccessible to people with disabilities. In most schools, availability to the first floor is 77.2%, to the second - 0.4%, to the third - in general, 0.13%! It's time to change it! We must resolve these issues as soon as possible and ensure the safe and comfortable environment for all Ukrainians. And for this we have a powerful tool - the new state construction standards "Accessibility of buildings and facilities for people with limited mobility" based on European standards and approaches encapsulate all necessary algorithms for ensuring accessibility in designing and construction, and also takes into account the needs of people with visual and hearing impairments", Hennadii Zubko stressed.
The Vice Prime Minister emphasized that new state construction standards will become mandatory. Compliance with these requirements will turn every Ukrainian city into comfortable and convenient environment for all citizens without exception.
According to Maryna Poroshenko, the main difference between the updated state construction norms lies in the fact that they are based on the principles of universal design and reasonable accommodation. "This document applies to all groups of people with limited mobility – people with disorders of the musculoskeletal system, with visual and hearing impairment and other nosologies. For example, for the blind or visually impaired, the draft document stipulates the mandatory design of tactile and visual elements of accessibility and audio pointers. For people with hearing impairment, additional sound amplification systems and light scanners as well as sign language interpretation and subtitles will be introduced, " First Lady of Ukraine Maryna Poroshenko underscored.