In five years of the adoption of the Law on the Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, only 10% of the regulations needed to implement this law have been agreed. In public hearings on the implementation of the law, representatives of civil society said there are situations when the legislation makes reference to inexistent normative documents and there are no clear mechanisms for penalizing those who bar the access of persons with disabilities, IPN reports.
According to the representatives of civil society, the lack of wheelchair access to buildings is the most pressing problem. As there is no plan of action for gradually adjusting these, most of the old buildings and the new ones do not have ramps. Though the law provides that the buildings should be checked for accessibility before they are put in commission, this is not done. For the law to be functional, another 22 regulations should be adopted.
Igor Meriacre, executive director of the public association “Motivatie”, said ramps are needed not only by persons with disabilities, but also by parents with children, elderly people and others.
He added that the lack of adjusted workplaces places the persons with reduced mobility and their families in the poverty zone and the state should take steps to prevent this. Mechanisms are needed to transform these persons into taxpayers so that they are not only recipients of social welfare.
In Moldova there are about 137,000 persons with disabilities.
