How can cities be made more accessible for disabled people?
Europe is an urban continent. The vast majority of the EU population – four out of every five
people – live in a town or city. For the roughly 80 million EU citizens who have some form of
disability, navigating the bustling maze of a city can pose all sorts of challenges. People with
disabilities would often like to be more mobile and independent, so are there better ways to
design cities so they are more accessible for everybody?
There might be no wheelchair lifts on local buses, or no Braille on signposts, or perhaps there
are annoying steps that block people in wheelchairs (or people with prams, or mobility
strollers) from entering a building. Should city planners and architects consider these issues
more carefully? And, where there are accessibility challenges, can technology help us
overcome them?
How can cities be made more accessible? Can new technology help us to achieve that goal?
Let us know your thoughts and comments in the form below and we’ll take them to
policymakers and experts for their reactions!
How can cities be made more accessible for disabled people? I see it the other way around.
How can disabled people adapt better and faster to evolving cities? No offence, but I see it
as a more rational solution.
More rational? We already pay out for expensive wheelchairs and mobility aids as it, without
being expected to pay more. Especially in this era when disabilities benefits are being
stripped away from us. Forward planning is what needed to ensure that all European towns
and cities are accessible to all.
In many European cities the biggest access problem is finding an accessible toilet. Either
because they don’t exist or because they are hard to find.
A good starting point is to start PLANNING! It is as simple as that, PLAN for the accessibility
of disabled and limited mobility people. The European population is aging, in case planners
have not noticed, and they also need and will continue needing more accessibility. There has
been no planning. Only bandaids applied here and there.
It would take a lot more than a few dropped curbs and disabled spaces to make any impact
and to be brutally honest, how can you make things any easier for the disabled when even
the able bodied struggle to negotiate many cities at certain times of the day?
Necessary ramps on beaches! In Greece, they have a University that manufactures specific
ramps beaches and is funded by donors.
Please add to the list accessible toilet facilities.
Maybe Tokio is a good example, but Japan is not. Most train/metro stations do not have a lift.
Hey, we’re living in the 21st century! Isn’t it better to make robotized aids for the people with
disabilities in such a way that they can go anywhere a healthy person can, instead of making
the environment accessible?
Sometimes the issue is having adequate, reliable and affordable transportation accessible to
all in one’s community. I hardly go anywhere because I don’t drive.
(Adapted from http://www.debatingeurope.eu/2016/04/05/how-can-cities-be-made-more-accessible-for-disabled people/#.V_vRCOUrLIU, accessed in September/2016)
(source: https://br.pinterest.com/pin/444167581971867250/, accessed in Septmber/2016.)
Qual das frases a seguir melhor resume a mensagem do texto acima?
Which of the following probably best expresses the “puzzle” mentioned at the
end of paragraph 2?