The President of the Senate, Anca Dragu, participated on Friday in the first accessibility workshop dedicated to people with disabilities, organized in Bistrița as part of the cultural event “The Story of Wine on the Passages of Bistrița” by the social enterprise Inclusive Access and the Alfabetul Scripor association. On this occasion, she spoke about her intention to create a working group to develop an accessibility code.
“I want to establish an integrated working group that includes associations from this area so that we can develop an accessibility code. Yes, we have a legal framework, Law 448, but it is incomplete, outdated, and, most importantly, not applied. Not all types of disabilities are included in the legislation, and it does not provide services that would enable people with disabilities to be integrated, to have access to a normal real life, a life as close as possible to that of people without disabilities. We are talking here about restoring dignity to the lives of people who were born less fortunate than me, for example,” stated Anca Dragu.
The President of the Senate extended an invitation to all associations and social enterprises present at this accessibility workshop to join the working group aimed at creating legislation adapted to the current and real needs of people with disabilities.
“We know that we are not friendly when it comes to access, not only physical access but also access to other types of services. I invite you to be part of this working group so that we can, within a few months, develop this codex, transform it into law, and then, very importantly, ensure its implementation. It is a challenging task, but we won’t give up,” added Dragu.
The individuals invited to the event in Bistrița spoke about accessibility as the first step towards the social inclusion of people with disabilities, sharing their own or indirect experiences that led them to get involved in this field.
Similar accessibility workshops will also be organized on Saturday and Sunday, and among the challenges posed to able-bodied individuals is to put themselves in the shoes of someone confined to a wheelchair and try to navigate the streets and sidewalks in this manner.
According to the manager of Inclusive Access social enterprise, Andrei Nicu, there are currently over 18,300 registered people with disabilities in Bistrița-Năsăud county, with the majority having physical, mental, and visual disabilities. AGERPRES (Author: Tina Dumitrescu, Editor: Antonia Niță, Online Editor: Andreea Preda)