In Verkhnedvinsk, deputies discussed work on creating an accessible environment for people with disabilities
The session was attended by Vladimir Terentyev, Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies, Boris Efremov, Chairman of the Committee for Labor, Employment and Social Protection of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, and Vasily Shilov, Chairman of the Verkhnedvinsk District Executive Committee.
The session was chaired by Irina Kozel, Chairperson of the Verkhnedvinsk District Council of Deputies.
The participants of the session familiarized themselves with the facilities of the Lunacharsky boarding house, the living conditions, treatment, and rehabilitation of people with disabilities. The director of the institution, Olga Lyudskaya, spoke about the creation of an accessible therapeutic environment for 420 residents in the boarding house. These include cozy rooms, offices with various modern rehabilitation methods, non-traditional forms of health improvement, specially equipped sports halls, recreation areas, and many other components for a comfortable stay. In essence, the boarding house is a whole complex for life, feasible work, health improvement, realization of creative potential, and useful recreation for people with social adaptation problems.
The Lunacharsky boarding school is one of the most important facilities in creating an accessible environment for people with disabilities and physically weak individuals. In general, comprehensive work is being carried out in this direction in the district. Commenting on the progress of the program implementation, the head of the labor, employment, and social protection department of the district executive committee, Ilya Bolshoy, noted that there are 1346 people with disabilities living in the Verkhnedvinsk region, including 59 wheelchair users, 73 visually impaired individuals, 5 hearing impaired individuals, and 63 children with disabilities under 18 years of age. The task of the state and society is to ensure them full access to transport, information and communication, medical services, education, and other facilities and services provided to the population. An Interdepartmental Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has been established in the district, which includes representatives of public associations of people with disabilities in the district. The Council identifies facilities for creating an accessible environment, as well as monitors and controls their implementation. Such facilities include voice informers with remote control, tactile paving and guides for premises, information signs for offices, duplicated in Braille, mnemoschemes for restrooms, call buttons for people with disabilities, ramps with handrails, pictograms, and many others.
The speaker spoke about the work being done to create an accessible environment in social institutions, enterprises, and organizations of the district. Examples include a parking space for people with disabilities at the bus station in Verkhnedvinsk, tactile paving and a playground with specialized equipment for children with disabilities in the city park, the creation of a barrier-free environment in homes where people with disabilities live, and the replenishment of library collections with publications for visually impaired and partially sighted users.
The director of the State Social Welfare Institution "Lunacharsky Psycho-neurological Boarding House for the Elderly and Disabled" Olga Lyudskaya, the head of the day care department for the elderly and disabled of the State Institution "Territorial Center for Social Services of the Population of Verkhnedvinsk District" Tatyana Nikiforova, and the director of the State Educational Institution "Center for Correctional and Developmental Education and Rehabilitation of Verkhnedvinsk District" Galina Pirog shared their experience in creating an accessible environment in their institutions.
The Chairman of the Committee for Labor, Employment, and Social Protection of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Boris Efremov, noted that the measures provided for by the program to create an accessible environment in the district are being implemented, but several more projects to create an accessible environment must be completed by the end of the year, including at the Territorial Center for Social Services, the District Executive Committee, and the Central District Hospital.
The Chairman of the District Executive Committee, Vasily Shilov, noted that more than a million rubles have been allocated for the repair of the polyclinic, which will allow for the implementation of the planned projects to create a barrier-free environment. He also emphasized that the issue of adapting people with disabilities to society has always received and will continue to receive special attention in the district.
The Chairman of the Regional Council of Deputies, Vladimir Terentyev, thanked the deputy corps, the district leadership, and representatives of social protection bodies and institutions for their work and noted its importance for people in need of such assistance.
Vladimir Terentyev spoke about how the program for creating an accessible environment is being implemented in the Vitebsk region, including the construction of playgrounds for children with disabilities in the districts, the provision of special bicycles and developmental houses for young children with developmental disabilities, the purchase of wheelchairs for people with disabilities, and the installation of ramps and parking spaces, among other things.
However, there is still much to be done. Vladimir Vladimirovich advised to walk with a person with a disability from their home to various necessary facilities. It will immediately become clear how difficult the path, familiar to a healthy person, is for a person with a disability. Helping to overcome these barriers, integrating a person into society, and creating conditions for a full life is a duty that demonstrates the maturity of our society and a genuine humane attitude towards people.
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