Every year all over the world more and more attention is paid to the problems of people with disabilities. Developed countries strive to do everything for the convenience and comfort of people with disabilities. In 2009, a similar program was developed in Russia. You can read more about the state program "Accessible Environment", the main provisions and its tasks in this article.
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
All over the world, people try to take care of people with limited abilities due to age or health. This applies to the elderly, children and the disabled. That is why in 2006 the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which laid down the main provisions that would ensure an acceptable standard of living for people. There are several basic principles in this regulation:
- It is forbidden to discriminate against people with disabilities: they have the right to receive services, work and other benefits of civilization on a par with healthy people.
- Full integration into society, which includes the adoption of the individual in the group and the establishment of interpersonal relationships within the group.
- Respect for human dignity, the ability to realize oneself as a person and ensure maximum independence.
- Accessibility of social facilities that would allow all people with disabilities to use the same benefits that are available to other members of society.
- Prevention of gender or age discrimination.
- Equality of opportunity.
- Respect for human diversity and individual characteristics.
In 2008, the Russian Federation signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Thus, the state assumed responsibility to ensure all the principles of the Convention. The state takes the most active part in providing an accessible environment, which is designed to allow people with disabilities the right to goods and services that are accessible to the general public. The approval of the state program "Accessible Environment" can be found in more detail on the "Live Together" Internet portal.
Accessible environment
At present, Russia has about 12 million disabled people, which is 8.6 percent of the total population of the country. At the same time, a large part of people have disabilities since childhood, which makes socialization very difficult. Therefore, Russia has developed measures to support people with disabilities. For children with developmental disabilities, there are rehabilitation centers in which preventive and rehabilitation procedures are carried out. According to the Law of the Russian Federation, children with disabilities have the same right to study in schools and kindergartens as ordinary children. In addition, all disabled people in Russia are paid cash benefits, the amount of which depends on the degree of disability. To enable a full life, the state provides people with disabilities with all the necessary technical equipment for medical reasons.
The state program “Accessible Environment” is a multi-purpose program that aims at improving the quality of life of people with disabilities and their rehabilitation. For this, a multi-stage program was developed, in which all the necessary steps to achieve this goal were spelled out. The state program “Accessible Environment” in the Russian Federation occupies a special place.Enormous human and material resources were attracted for its implementation. At the moment, the program is at the final stage; its completion is planned for 2020.
Goals and objectives of the program
The main goal of the state program for disabled people “Accessible environment” is considered to be integration of disabled people into society. This, in turn, allows improving the quality of life of people, psychological comfort and physical condition. It is no secret that at present in Russia people with disabilities remain an alienated layer of society that they are not happy to see in public places. People with disabilities and their loved ones often cite as an example the experience of Western countries that have long successfully implemented such programs. I must say that Russia is slowly but surely moving in this direction, but many difficulties are getting in the way of the Accessible Environment program. What tasks arise from the main goal of the program?
- Creation of a legislative base that would improve the level and quality of life of people with disabilities
- An increase in the number of rehabilitation centers.
- Employment of people with disabilities.
- Identify and solve the problems of people with disabilities that they face in everyday life.
- Providing rehabilitation, medical and educational institutions with all necessary means of rehabilitation.
The legislative framework
What laws determine the location of the Accessible Environment? A government decree of 2008 made it possible to set a time frame for the program. It was originally planned to be executed in 4 years - from 2011 to 2015. But it has recently been extended until 2020. By decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, the state program “Accessible Environment” should be implemented by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation. The program has a lot of participants. These include the following organizations and institutions:
- Ministry of Communications and Mass Communications.
- Pension Fund.
- Ministry of Finance.
- Ministry of Culture.
- Ministry of Education and others.
About 411 million rubles were allocated to carry out the tasks of the program, which were spent on improving transport infrastructure, purchasing the necessary rehabilitation equipment in medical institutions, increasing the number of rehabilitation centers and other activities. In addition to the main goal, the state program of the Russian Federation “Accessible Environment” was strengthened by additional programs that have similar tasks.
For example, for disabled people, it was simplified to receive public services. To do this, all government agencies are obliged to make ramps, and improve the quality of service. In order for the disability of people with disabilities to be more successful, the legislative base alone is not enough. We need an extensive technical base, which would include all the necessary means of rehabilitation. And their people with multiple disabilities need a lot. Therefore, it was decided to increase the production of TCP in the country. What other routines are covered in the Accessible Environment program?
Routines
The state program of the Russian Federation “Accessible Environment” involves the implementation of some other subprograms. Indeed, only an integrated approach to the problem of integration and habitation of persons with disabilities is able to improve the quality of life of people and improve their health.
- Any TV channel is obliged to broadcast hidden subtitles of all television programs that go to them. Otherwise, the company will be fined.
- A certain part of the program budget should be aimed at financing institutions in which physical rehabilitation is carried out. Support is also provided to organizations training physical therapists and physical therapy instructors.
- The commissions on medical, social and psychological examination should be increased in order to cope with the whole stream of citizens who need this service.
- In all educational institutions, ramps and lifts must be installed that provide easy access to the building for students with disabilities in it. At the same time, the toilets in the premises should also be equipped taking into account their features and limitations.
- The building must also have an elevator or other lifting device if it consists of several floors.
Despite the fact that the state program of the Russian Federation “Accessible Environment” is almost coming to an end, far from all educational and medical institutions have created an environment for the comfortable movement of people with disabilities. And if rehabilitation centers were originally built to meet the needs of people with disabilities, then ordinary buildings (shopping centers and shops, kindergartens and other budgetary institutions) do not always fit into the norms of the program. Some points of the “Accessible Environment” are carried out only on paper, but in practice they are completely unsuitable for use. This applies, for example, to inconvenient ramps that have too sharp a lifting angle or an incorrect width. Unfortunately, this is still a pretty serious problem. What if you encounter similar limitations in your own experience?
What to do if you encounter negligence?
By a government decree, the state program “Accessible Environment” should be implemented throughout Russia. The corresponding rights of persons with disabilities are spelled out in Law No. 181 of the Federal Law “On Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities”. It says that people with disabilities have the right to exercise economic, political, civil and other rights on an equal basis with other members of the state. Article 15 of this law states that people with disabilities are required to obtain the right of free access to objects of social significance. The same applies to housing and transport infrastructure. To do this, all facilities must be equipped with ramps that meet the prescribed standards. If these conditions are not met, then you can apply with the requirement to install the necessary ramps to the local authorities. If this did not bear any fruit, then the next step should be to appeal to the court. Thus, if you have complaints about the accessible environment, you can immediately contact the prosecutor with a statement.
In older buildings, people with disabilities often have to face the lack of ramps. The reason is simple: as early as 10-15 years ago, no one thought about the needs of people with disabilities. Modern buildings are almost always equipped with special lifts, and in shopping centers, airports and other socially important buildings, latrines for people with disabilities are necessarily made.
Implementation nuances
The implementation of the state program “Accessible Environment” is calculated up to and including 2020. This means that most of the program has already been worked out. What did you manage to do in a few years of implementing the tasks? At the moment, among the activities of the state program "Accessible Environment" we can distinguish:
- Creation of architectural buildings taking into account the characteristics of the disabled. Currently, most of the structures comply with Law No. 181. If the developer fulfills an assignment that does not meet the standards, then he will face a substantial fine.
- Providing the street with banners and signs that clearly show which side an object is located in.
- The construction of new social and other housing, which would take into account the needs of people with disabilities.
- Conducting socio-cultural events that would stimulate the activity of people with disabilities and contribute to their integration in society.
- Creation of additional jobs that are designed for people with disabilities.
- Introducing traffic lights with sound signals.
- Sound notification of stops on public transport.
- All channels have closed captioning.
- The number of rehabilitation centers has increased.
Internet portal of the state program
The portal “Living together” of the state program “Accessible Environment” is a collection of useful information that describes the following aspects in detail:
- Medical and social expertise.
- The legislative framework.
- Employment promotion.
- Rehabilitation and habilitation.
- Providing TCP.
The portal "Living Together" contains complete and detailed information on all points of the program. Also on it you can ask a question that interests you and ask for expert advice. The portal has a hotline where you can also ask your clarifying questions.
Financing
The state program "Accessible Environment" in the region involves funding from the federal and local budgets. By 2018, the total amount spent on the program has reached 52 million rubles. Most regions of the Russian Federation receive 70% from the federal budget, and the rest from the local budget. However, in the Republic of Crimea and in Sevastopol, the share of the federal budget reaches 95%. This is explained by the fact that over the past three years this region of the country has received much less funding than other regions.
Features of execution in the regions
In each region, the performance features of the Accessible Environment program vary. The regions also have a point system, which measures the success of the implementation of measures. The highest score (8.4) was assigned to Moscow. In second and third place are the Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Tatarstan. The lowest scores (about 5) were awarded to the Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow and Khabarovsk regions - there the implementation of an accessible environment for the disabled leaves much to be desired.
In most regions, the availability of facilities is at least 50%. On the website "Live Together" you can find a map of the accessibility of social facilities. In the regions, everything is being done to implement the state program of the Russian Federation “Accessible Environment”. A large number of ramps are installed per year, support groups for parents of children with disabilities are created, and other assistance measures for people with disabilities are strengthened. This leads to the fact that key social objects become accessible for visiting, and people with disabilities get the opportunity to lead a more or less normal life: going to work, traveling by public transport, visiting objects of cultural significance, etc.
Summary
At the moment, thanks to various activities of the state program “Accessible Environment”, much has been done to ensure that people with disabilities feel full members of society and have access to all the benefits of civilization. However, despite efforts, most of the social infrastructure remains inaccessible to people with disabilities. It is hoped that by 2020 (which the program ends) the situation will change for the better.