As estimated, even 25- 30% of the world population can have special needs regarding accessibility to public space, following from permanent or temporary limitations in mobility or perception (e.g. elderly people, moving with help of crutches, walking sticks, prostheses, wheelchairs), people with impaired hearing or eyesight, with manual and cognitive difficulties. In this group we can also include persons travelling with a pram or heavy luggage and persons weaker physically, having difficulties with moving. The Polish society, similarly as the majority of EuropeÕs societies, is changing Ð growing older and older. At present, there are almost 9 million people aged 60 and over living in Poland. In 2030 there will be 10.7 M of them, close to 30% of the Polish society. This is why there is such a great need for actions like those we want to present. We invite you to get acquainted with the Accessibility Plus Programme, which is an example of an action (project) aimed at horizontal improvement in the accessibility of public space.
Why is the Programme necessary?
Having in mind the above data, which follow from demographic processes, development of civilization and changing social needs, the Polish Government has decided to take actions aimed at improving accessibility, including in particular accessibility to the public space in a broad meaning of the term. The Government adopted the assumption that accessibility is a feature thanks to which product, services and public space can be used equally by as many people as possible, regardless of the characteristics or limitations they possess. The Programme represents a response to demographic challenges and challenges connected with modern infrastructure. Its aim is to ensure free and equal access to goods, services and possibilities of participation in social and public life for all persons with special needs. We focus on adjusting the areas of public space which are important from the citizens viewpoint, including architecture, means of transport and everyday products or services.
An inspiration for taking up those actions was also the ãEuropean Disability Strategy 2010-2020″, which calls for common actions towards creating Europe without barriers for all its citizens, specifying the actions and mechanisms needed for implementing the UN Convention in the European Union. However, the Accessibility Plus Programme adopted in Poland significantly exceeds the actions provided for in those documents, forming a single, coherent system that operates on many planes. The key concepts that the Programme has been built around are independence and self-sufficiency. The aim is to ensure that citizens need not fight barriers in public space and ask for help even in simple situations, e.g. when visiting an office or getting on a bus.
The Programme was developed on the initiative of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who announced it in his expose delivered in December 2017. This gave a strong political foundation and legitimization for introducing changes on so many planes provided for in the Programme.
The Programme reflects to the maximum degree possible the position of its main beneficiaries, namely senior citizens and persons with disabilities. It was them who authored many of the actions w included in the Programme, participated in developing its assumptions and provisions, and are also involved in its ongoing implementation. There are about 50 diverse organizations representing persons with special needs that are cooperating with us on implementation of the Programme. It were just those persons who were our inspiration and constituted the group of key experts, indicating not only what should be improved, but also in exactly what way, to make a railway station, school or university barrier-free. And the issue are not only the architectonical barriers Ð though those are the most visible ones.