Mr. Taras Khomitskyy presented the results of the research of Ternopil on accessibility for people with disabilities at Ternopil Youth Center. Mr. Khomitskyy and a group of like-minded people inspected Ternopil’s state and municipal institutions during July.
“Of course, it is difficult to check thoroughly all the institutions. So my team of volunteers and I decided to select 10 crucial buildings and use them to show the main problems we could face with. We conducted two focus group studies to identify the buildings. The first group consists of people who move on wheelchairs and mothers with strollers. The second one is people with visual and hearing impairments” – Taras Khomitskyy said during the presentation.
Activists decided to inspect two cultural institutions, three medical institutions, three service institutions and two educational institutions.
Unfortunately, the activists did not see any completely favorable facilities for people with disabilities. Poor pavement condition, high curbs, not-equipped public transport, not-fully designed ramps – this is a part of what the activists listed.
However, according to Mr. Taras Khomitskyy, there are changes. He has been conducting similar inspections for several years and he says he noticed some improvements. For example, there is a social taxi in Ternopil and for people with visual impairment there is a service that accompanies those people around the city. But, indeed, that is a drop in the ocean.
“Our inspection is not a way to criticize the institutions, but rather to help them and us, people with disabilities, to be full participants in city life, to move around the city independently, to visit state and municipal institutions on a par with other people. And another pleasant surprise was that during the inspection we met many friendly people who tried to help us, asked did we need anything. I would say that good people are the best thing we could see during the inspection”, Mr. Taras Khomitsky kept on his mind.