The Russian government plans to create a system to rate the accessibility of public buildings to help people with disabilities navigate the city easier.
There is also a plan to develop a mobile app where this rating can be tracked.
Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed his government to improve the accessibility of facilities and services for people with disabilities.
Mikhail Terentyev, President of the All-Russian Society of Disabled People, noted that currently there is no streamlined system that contains such accessibility information available to people with various disabilities.
Lidiya Mikheeva, the secretary of the Russian Federation Criminal Code, said that a rating system and tracking app will help a person with a disability find out about the accessibility of certain places in the city.
“In practice, it is quite difficult to build a route of movement, for example, from point A (house) to point C (shopping center) throughly point B (transfer by transport). To solve these problems, we have proposed a new methodology for evaluating objects, where the system can be applied by analogy withheld hotel services system. This presupposes the “stardom” of places according to the state of accessibility,” said Diana Gurtskaya, chairman of the RF OP commission on an accessible environment and the development of inclusive practices.
Terentev believes it is important to determine which body will collect the relevant information for rating. “It is necessary, for example, that the accessibility of facilities for the disabled should become a criterion for determining the“ star rating ”of hotels. The family must understand all the comforts before leaving the house,” he said.
