Mariupol is actively introducing accessibility elements in infrastructure projects. In particular, conditions for people with disabilities have been created in the renovated school No.26.
We decided to test it in practice together with Iryna Yakymenko. A woman is in a wheelchair from birth, so she does not know how difficult it is for people with disabilities to move around the city on their own. Oleksiy Didash, a member of the “Believe in Yourself” public organization, also came to evaluate the elements of accessibility.
Thus, Iryna was able to enter the school due to a ramp equipped at the back of the building. Then the woman decided to go up to the second floor. The educational institution has a special lift. It has never been used by anyone, so we tested it for the first time. Iryna was helped to correctly position the cart and climb the stairs. Moving along the corridor, she drove to a separate bathroom for people with disabilities.
‘When I was school age, I had to study at home, because educational institutions did not have any conditions for people like me. If there were such conditions as in this school, I would gladly study here. You can drop in here and move around the establishment,’ she notes.
The woman visited a resource room designed to work with children with special educational needs. The head of the department of the Department of Education, Tatiana Prima, said that correctional classes and art therapy are held here. An individual program is formed for each child.
Nina Pavliuk, a deputy of the city council and chairman of the NGO “Good hearts with us”, presented the educational institution with a wheelchair so that in the event of a child's wheelchair breakdown or in the case when he can uncomfortably cling to the lift, it would be possible to transplant the student.
Olexiy Didash noted some shortcomings in the terms of accessibility. In particular, he focused on the absence of signs that would indicate where the ramps and the high location of the mirror in the toilet room are located. Representatives of the capital construction department noted that all tactile elements will be created over the summer period: tiles, stripes and signs. They will also take into account the opinion of people with disabilities on improving other elements of disability.
In turn, Iryna Yakymenko stressed that Mariupol is really becoming friendly to people with disabilities: ‘5-6 years ago, even in the city center, it was practically impossible to go anywhere. Today I have the opportunity to get into pharmacies, shops, drive off the road onto the sidewalk. I feel free’.
The course towards the accessibility of the city is supported by the Memorandum on the development of barrier-free architecture. The document was signed by Mayor Vadym Boichenko as part of the initiative of First Lady Olena Zelenska “Without Barriers”.
