For some foreigners used to more disabled-friendly conditions in Western countries, Moscow - with its potholed pavement and roads - can seem restrictive for anyone with limited capacities. Oftentimes, it is necessary to push open heavy doors to enter buildings and the underground, while urban transport is equipped with impossibly high steps. Wheelchair ramps are a rare luxury. How do the disabled people survive in Moscow?
n May, First Deputy Mayor and head of social services Lyudmila Shvetsova declared that only 20 percent of the necessary measures to adapt the city for the disabled have been implemented. According to Shvetsova, a new three-year program is to be introduced this year to completely transform the landscape of the city and make it more accessible. Included in the project, which is planned to run between 2007 and 2009, is the introduction of more facilities for social rehabilitation, special underpasses, and specially equipped apartments.
“It is not the first time the government has claimed it will improve this situation,” said Anna Volzhina, who heads Rodnik, a center for children with learning difficulties. “Money is always supposedly being invested in these changes, but nothing gets done.”
When one compares this city to the UK, for instance, the difference in catering to the disabled remains considerable. London’s black taxis are currently the world’s most wheelchair-friendly; the latest models are even equipped with additional aids such as ramps, swivel seats and large grab handles. Similarly, London buses are now low-floored and equipped with ramps. They have special areas for wheelchairs, easily accessible not only to invalids but also the elderly and people with pushchairs. The buses, which have transformed the lives of many disabled people, are now part of the most accessible transport network in the world. This is hardly comparable with buses in Moscow, where the entrance step is so high that it also inconveniences elderly people.
Also in May, Igor Syrnikov, head of the Department for Social Security, stated that adapting the city to the needs of the disabled is a prevailing issue. He added that over 21,000 projects are included in the program for social integration for the disabled; 36.5 billion rubles will be set aside for the three-year project. “By 2009, all social security premises will be equipped to cater to disabled people,” he said, while adding that as many as 28 such buildings now feature the new equipment.
The three-year plan is also to offer employment assistance to the disabled. According to the Russian regional society for disabled people [Perspektiva], there are roughly 12 million disabled people in Russia, 1.2 million of whom live in Moscow. Regional statistics have shown that only 10 to 20 percent of disabled people of working age are employed across Russia.
In France, by comparison, in order to fight discrimination in the workplace, French companies ensure that 6 percent of their employees are handicapped.
According to Perspektiva, the government has introduced programs in the past but has had little success in helping disabled people maintain jobs. Many barriers to employment still remain, it says, such as limited accessibility in the workplace, as well as a lack of accessible transportation to get there. Employers still hold many stereotypes and are apprehensive about employing the disabled.
Employment aside, main streets and underpasses still remain dangerous obstacle courses for people of limited mobility. The extremely heavy swinging doors often encountered in metro stations, and other buildings around the city, are barely manageable even for a healthy person. Meanwhile, the underground, museums, theaters and cinemas need to be adapted to the disabled. By contrast, over 100 theaters and cinemas across the UK are accessible to disabled people. The London Underground is also in the process of improving accessibility, with many stations already equipped with lifts and wheelchair accessible platforms.
According to Shvetsova, it is vital to concentrate efforts on targets of primary importance, such as travel. “Disabled people themselves, as well as leaders of non-governmental organizations, will be actively participating in the preparation of the program, as well as its realization. They will determine which targets are of prime importance,” she said. In answer to how the authorities will make sure these transformations are made, she said that a constant monitoring system for the project’s realization has been introduced. “The UN Convention [which opened for signature] in March follows the guideline that an accessible physical environment benefits everyone, not just persons with disabilities. This goes for children, the elderly and injured people in particular. Our program is based on these same principles.”
Although 22.5 billion rubles of the city budget is to be spent on the program, Shvetsova admitted that lots of time and financial investment will be needed to create an entirely accessible city. “The problem is that 90 percent of the city’s infrastructure, including residential and public buildings, roads, transport facilities and communications was built before the 1990s. It would therefore have to undergo substantial reconstruction to cater to wheelchair users and people with limited sight and hearing.”
As well as extra pedestrian crossings to be built under and above ground, 324 special apartments will be built, said Shvetsova, and 1.5 thousand apartments are to be adapted for people of restricted mobility. She disagrees, however, with the point of view expressed by Anna Volzhina. “There have been results, and this is not only our opinion. We get positive feedback from citizens that we work for (…) and from core groups of non-governmental organizations. Services have been created for rehabilitation.”
One of the more frustrating rituals that the disabled have to endure is the socio-medical expertise they have to go through. “Every year the disabled have to go to their local clinic for a socio-medical expertise,” said Mikhail Lavrusin, director of the Center of Humanitarian Programs of the Regional Organization of Invalids. “They have to prove every year that they are worthy of the so-called status of ‘invalid’. We’re not lizards: an amputated leg cannot grow back.” Moreover, if so few establishments actually cater to their needs, it is unlikely to always have adequate equipment to help amputees make their way into and through the various medical establishments. Shvetsova maintains, however, that this is not always the case. “The institute of socio-medical expertise recognizes people as being ‘invalids’ in accordance with the federal law, ‘On the Social Security of Invalids in the Russian Federation’. ‘Invalids’ are assessed not only according to their disability or injury but also according to their rehabilitation potential. Specialists at this bureau work out individual rehabilitation programs for patients. The status of ‘invalid’ can be acquired for a period of a year, two years or for an unlimited period, depending on the seriousness of the disability. Therefore, many people with amputated limbs are not obliged to undertake the socio-medical exam more than once.”
This may be a small consolation for some and the work that remains ahead may appear insurmountable to many. If Shvetsova’s predictions are true, by 2009 all city buses and trolleybuses will be adapted to carry wheelchairs. One can only hope that, for Moscow’s disabled, this time actions will speak louder than words.