Insurmountable "barrier-free space"
The issue of the improvement of the
barrier-free environment in Babruisk is a daily one
for wheelchair disabled.
"It seems to me that it is
necessary not to speak, but to shout about this issue", said an
employee of the local social center Maria Tarasenko.
Nine
years ago, she got into a heavy car accident, after which she was
literary assembled from pieces. She spent a year in awheel chair, and
rehabilitation took one more year. Maryia says that hte time when she
had seen people "below", helped her to look at life in a
different way. She is very worried about her "girls" – a
small group of wheelchair disabled for whom she conducts
therapy.
"Now we are waiting for a real, warm spring to
get out of the house somewhere. I spent the winter in in the
apartment, as our 5th and 6th neighborhoods are not equipped with
ramps and convenient walkways. Social taxi doesn't ride in winter, as
it works on diesel," sighs wheelchair disabled Natallia
Pinkouskaya. "It is also impossible to walk much in the city
center, because of the same high curbs, with which our city is
lavishly decorated. Lenin Square is more or less comfortable, the
curbs are low even in the yards, but it is still hard to get inside
the buildings, such as shops, for instance.
The girls list the
places where they would like to, but can not get wheelchairs: the
exhibition hall, as there are high stairs at the entrance; the
theater, as far as one has to get up to the second floor there; the
Palace of Arts with awkward stairs on the way to the entrance and
inside the building; the new art gallery with uncomfortable porch,
and so on – all cultural institutions in turn.
"We can
go, to cinema, for example, because the door through which the
spectators go out after the movie canbe opened for wheelchair
disabled. As for cafes, it is almost impossible, except for the open
grounds opened in summer. Even the new shopping center, which has no
stairs, and where it is convenient to move, is situated in a
"roadless" area of the city, where
one has either to move by the wheelchair outside the road, where
there is no asphalt, or struggle with high curbs, set along the
carriage way. But an absolute mockery
at us are invitations to the Day of
Disabled. The matter is
that it is conducted in the Palace of Arts,
and, as we have already said, it is difficult
to get there. A volunteer will have to take
you to the building by the stairs, carrying you on his hands, and
then – to the second floor. Therefore, few
wheelchair disabled dare to go there,"
sums up Natallia.
Maryia
Tarasenka says
that in Babruisk
wheelchair disabled are literally
"tied" to a volunteer or a relative.
She is also indignant that they have to pay
for social taxi.
"For
example, Natallia
has to go to group classes once a week, and
needs to spend about 30,000 rubles for it", says Maryia. "It
is a considerable sum for people with disabilities, that's why they
try to take taxis as little as possible.
Meanwhile, such taxis aren't even equipped for
the transportation of people in wheelchairs,
as a result of which at least one volunteer
must be present in it to control the situation. A volunteer and
patience to wait until the arrival of the needed model of a bus or
trolleybus are necessary for traveling in the public transport. The
center staff applied to
potential sponsors in enterprises and companies, asking them to
donate money to pay for social taxi. And almost all of us refused
to do it. Sometimes it is quite surprising to read the answers about
the absence of money, printed on good expensive paper.
"The
sidewalks in Babruisk
are more or less normal, but the curbs are
unbearable. It is outrageous that there
are so many talks about barrier-free
environment, but nobody cares to install low
curbs or or ramps during the road and pavement repairs," says
wheelchair disabled Anastasiya
Fiodarava. "I walk
in the town with friends, but there are people who are always alone.
I have such friend, for whom every walk is an extreme action, she has
to ride her wheelchair on the carriage way. Another friend of mine
was once detained by the traffic police for
riding on the
carriage way. However, their colleagues at the station swore at them,
that's why they had to aplogize and take the disabled home. The
situation with the public transport is funny as well," says
Nastsia. "I must be the only wheelchair disabled who uses it.
The drivers are rarely stop near the curb. As a rule, one has to jump
thrugh the gap."
The
girls say that people often blame them,
directly or indirectly, by
the fact that they can not walk. The driver of
the social taxi said that it
was a hard work for him. This is despite the
fact that they are trying to be independent, but the
people who can walk do not give them this
chance. Natallia
Pinkouskaya works as
a dispatcher and and embroiders
beautiful pictures, Nasta Fiodarava
works in a cosmetics company and paints.
"Every girl in
my group could lead a coterie,
teach children to paint, sew or work with beads", says
Maryia Tarasenka.
"Unfortunately, it is more convenient for
the responsible officials to forget abou the issue of the disabled
rather then give them a chance do live a worthy life."
In
the photos:
1. Natallia Pinkouskaya
2. Natallia Pinkouskaya's
works
3. Nasta Fiodarava
4. Meeting of a group of wheelchair
disabled at the social center
