Title of the project: “Let’s make Pécs barrier-free to all!”
Supporters: the businesses and residents of Pécs; in other words, us, Pécs people. The support was collected at the “Élő Adás” (Live Broadcast) community donation event of the Pécs Community Foundation.
Duration of the project: 01.2021 – 12.2021.
About the project:
This project is the third phase of our so-called sticker project, running since 2018. The team members, who, in the meantime, have become professional, survey the barrier-free locations of Pécs and its immediate surroundings and enter them into a free database. This work is done to benefit ALL OF US: people with disabilities, young mums pushing buggies, the elderly, or those with temporary disabilities.
In the long-term, our main goal is to create an inclusive society. We would like Pécs to become a city that is equally liveable for everyone, where people pay attention to all members of society, a place where every single person is important.
From this point of view, creating an accessible environment is beneficial to everyone not only those living with disabilities.
Disabled members and helpers of People First Association Pécs started exploring the city in 2018 in order to find locations that are really barrier-free. These locations have been categorised and added to a free, easy-to-use database, available both in English and Hungarian.
This job, however, is ongoing.
For one thing, there are plenty of locations to be explored. At the same time, we need to keep an eye on those that are already in the database as there have been numerous cases where a barrier-free place was simply restored to its original condition, unusable for people with disabilities. For example, recently, a barrier-free toilet has been demoted to the status of storage room. In other – more encouraging – cases, it might take some time before, say, the promised ramp arrives at a restaurant. In addition, since we provide professional advice to create accessible premises, we need to monitor their implementation.
It is of crucial importance to us that local residents realise accessibility is good for everyone. It makes life easier for mothers pushing buggies, people with temporary injuries, the elderly, and even those who just want to manage their way through a busy shopping centre or railway station pulling a suitcase. If given the choice, they – more precisely we – all opt for ramps and automatic doors. While clear and visible signage in lifts, at customer service desks or in theatres is very welcome by the elderly too.
Our partners in this work are local disability and tourist organisations, the local government, various organizations involved in barrier-free tourism, as well as the media.
However, the Barrier-Free Pécs Database is only useful as long as it is widely known and up-to-date. So, click on the link below to check it out, and let your friends know about it too: Barrier-free Pécs (EN)
