The people in wheelchairs in rural areas cannot at least move through villages as the infrastructure is completely unadjusted, not speaking about involvement in decision-making. A study of the Union of Invalid Organizations of Moldova, which during six months examined how the access of people with special needs to public institutions is being ensured, shows confidence in the authorities and hope that their situation can be improved are at a low level. These people have insufficient information about how they can become involved in decision-making and, owing to the unadjusted infrastructure, cannot at least exercise their right to vote, IPN reports.
Vitali Covaliov, head of the Union of Invalid Organizations of Moldova, said the study was conducted based on tens of interviews with persons with disabilities and representatives of local and central authorities taken all over the country. Most of the interviewed disabled persons said they are dissatisfied with the work done by the authorities, but didn’t criticize someone specifically. They also do not show interest in the decision-making process, but also do not have possibilities of informing themselves about bills.
According to Vitali Covaliov, the situation in rural areas is deplorable. The roads of a poor quality do not allow the people in wheelchair to move freely. The persons with disabilities are discouraged from taking part in decision-making and are deprived of the right to vote as most of the polling places are established in institutions with no wheelchair access. These persons are also deprived of information.
On a scale of 1 to 10, the involvement of the persons with disabilities in decision-making is graded 5.4. The accessibility to decision-making is graded only 2.3. Representatives of NGOs noted three impediments that prevent the disabled persons from taking part in decision-making: their passivity, their neglect by the public authorities and insufficiency of information.
The study authors recommend working out a complex program to increase the information level of persons with disabilities about their rights and their participation in decision-making, to think up a plan for staging information seminars to improve communication between the authorities and NGOs and to design strategy for discouraging stereotypes concerning disabled persons.
The study forms part of the international project “From inclusion to participation in decision making” that was implemented within the Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership with the financial support of the European Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.
