An exciting accessible guided museum tour, the annual report, brainstorming about the future, the awarding of certificates of appreciation to our two most active members this year, a travel report: what life is like on a cruise ship while using a wheelchair, and lots of laughter… all of this was part of this year’s General Assembly.
We felt that we had had enough of sitting through dry annual reports, so we decided that this  event should also be cheerful, interesting and innovative.

A bit more formal version: the 2025 General Assembly approved the Executive Board’s professional report for the second half of 2025 and the first half of 2026, as well as the financial report for 2025.
The membership received detailed information both in writing and verbally regarding the activities carried out during this period, which were further enriched by questions, comments, and excellent ideas from the members.

In 2023, the Executive Board decided that the work of active members should from then on be acknowledged not only verbally, but also in a tangible form. Therefore, in connection with the European Independent Living Day on 5 May, we present certificates of appreciation to our active members of the respective year, as well as to our cooperating partners. Since 2024, we have been awarding two certificates each year.
This year, we would like to express our gratitude to our members Katalin Stier and Krisztina Koltai for their committed, heartfelt work for the community and for the disability sector.
Among our partners, this year certificates were awarded to Biokom Nonprofit Ltd. and the Janus Pannonius Museum. Both organisations do a great deal for the development of the human rights of the local disability community, and we are also very grateful for their support in building partnerships.

Before and after this, however, we devoted ourselves to enjoyment, laughter, and gaining knowledge. At the Janus Pannonius Museum Visitor Centre, Ildikó Hoffmanné Toldi gave our members a fantastically engaging and accessible guided tour.

We then held our Annual General Assembly in a wonderful hall of the museum, together with wonderful people. This was followed by an exciting travel experience presentation by Zoli Borsodi, sharing surprising experiences from life on a cruise ship.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the staff of the Janus Pannonius Museum Visitor Centre for the opportunity, their kindness, and the fantastic guided tour.
(Here comes a bit of promotion: the Janus Pannonius Museum offers special guided tours throughout the year, so don’t miss it! Admission is free for people with disabilities, and one accompanying person is also admitted free of charge.)

A key milestone of our FairCare project was the midterm conference held in Cyprus, which brought together project partners, formal and informal carers, people in need of care, professionals, and community representatives from across Europe, both in person and online.

The event created a real opportunity for connection, dialogue, and exchange of experiences, while also drawing attention to the growing importance of fair and inclusive care practices in Europe.

At the same time, we are making great progress in this international project aimed at improving long-term care:

• the peer training programme has been completed, which supports the empowerment of informal and formal carers as well as people in need of care, and prepares participants to become trainers within the FairCare framework.

• at the same time, a special and engaging new way of connecting carers, care recipients, and professionals has been launched: through the Discord channels, our goal is not only for you to learn what FairCare is about, but also to become part of it. After all, the essence and innovation of FairCare lies in connecting everyone involved in long-term care!
  It is definitely worth reading more about everything in detail in our latest newsletter: ENG_Faircare_Newsletter_4

A rarely mentioned topic, perhaps not by chance, as it is almost completely missing from long-term care. Both from the care of people with disabilities and of older people.
THIS IS WHAT WE NEED TO CHANGE!
One of the tools for this is our FairCare project, implemented through international cooperation, whose mid-term conference we held on April 23 in Pelendri, Cyprus.

The conference, held with the participation of around 50 people, was rather a series of very successful conversations and debates, in which Cypriot participants took part in person, and Hungarian, German, Italian and Spanish interested participants, stakeholders, family carers and professionals joined online.
The Hungarian Advisory Group was also well represented in good numbers and actively, whose members are the stakeholders themselves – carers and care recipients from all over Hungary. Many thanks from here as well!

Among the topics, besides the results and plans of the project so far, the following exciting discussion topics were included:

• Self-determination, inclusion and equity in care. Rethinking care as a collaborative and inclusive process. With active participation in care decisions, fair support, mutual respect and communication.
• Strengthening communication and collaboration in care, building bridges between informal and formal carers. The importance of mutual understanding, clear role definition and shared decision-making.
• Self-determination, communication and collaboration in care from two directions:
  – strengthening the autonomy and participation of people in need of care,
  – improving cooperation between informal and formal carers.

It was difficult to stop the exchanges of ideas, which clearly indicates the importance of the topic.
So we keep going!

Follow us, get to know our website and through it this important project:
https://faircarecoop.com/

Join the Hungarian Advisory Group as a care recipient, family member or professional carer, we warmly welcome you. You can write to us here: info@peoplefirst.hu

The University of Pécs is committed to social inclusion and diversity, therefore a comprehensive accessibility project has recently been launched, which explores the accessibility needs of university locations and, in a later phase, will also implement concrete interventions.

This process is complemented and strengthened by the community-based program of the People First Public Benefit Association, within the framework of the Pécs Municipal Civil Fund 2025 supported by the City of Pécs with County Rights. Within this framework, everyday user experiences are collected—with the active involvement of university citizens, students and staff—about accessibility difficulties of the university faculties and their surroundings.

The aim of the cooperation is that accessibility should not appear exclusively as an institutional task, but become a shared social cause. The project draws attention to mutual consideration, as well as to the importance of social inclusion and accessibility.

What do we want to achieve?

• the involvement of university citizens in the process of accessibility
• the supplementation of the University of Pécs data collection with practical experiences
• the further development of the Barrier-free Pécs Database
• the strengthening of inclusive thinking and community responsibility in Pécs and at the University of Pécs
• setting an example for other universities

With us, not without us – why is participation important?

Accessibility goes beyond legal compliance. In order for truly usable solutions to be created, feedback is needed that can be perceived during everyday mobility, studying, and working. The program of the People First Public Benefit Association connects this lived experience with the institutional developments of the University of Pécs, making the needs of a wider target group visible.

How can you get involved?

1. Observe university spaces and the routes leading to them from an accessibility perspective. Is it high enough, low enough, wide enough, is there a ramp, are there appropriate signs… in short, is it usable for EVERYONE? Think about entrances, the accessibility of workplaces and classrooms, the usability of the cafeteria, library, conference rooms, don’t leave out the dormitories, sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, bus stops, and even the most popular nightlife spots.
2. Document it: photo + a short description of the location and the problem, supplemented with your proposed solution – because this is the most valuable for us!
3. Send it to the email address of the People First Public Benefit Association:
   accesspecs@peoplefirst.hu
4. Your valuable feedback will be processed and included in the appropriate professional process.

What happens to the incoming reports?

The reports are analyzed by a team of experts with disabilities.
Then, depending on the nature of the problem:

• they are added to the Barrier-free Pécs Database if the accessibility improvement can be solved immediately.
• they are forwarded to the competent institution (pedestrian crossings, sidewalks, bus stops).
• they reach the relevant units of the University of Pécs, where they provide an excellent basis for the accessibility strategy already being developed at the University of Pécs.

In this way, community experiences provide a real foundation for institutional decisions.

As a token of thanks:

Your participation is very valuable, so we would like to give special thanks for your activity.
The most active contributors can win cinema tickets, University of Pécs souvenirs, as well as participation in the special Hidden City Tor-Tour of the People First Association.

Join the community data collection now and support the accessibility efforts of the University of Pécs with real experiences. You can report accessibility problems at university locations and the routes leading to them with a photo and a short description of the location and the solution.

Please don’t forget to donate 1% of your personal income tax this year!
Offer it to a civil organization in Pécs — for example, to us, the People First Public Benefit Association!

We believe that by working together, we can achieve much more. That is why we are collaborating with local civil organizations and business partners in Pécs in the “Maradjon köztünk/Let It Stay Among Us!” campaign. The aim is to encourage as many people in Pécs as possible to donate 1% of their personal income tax to a local organization.
The people of Pécs are connected to civil organizations in countless ways, and for residents with taxable income, the 1% donation is the simplest form of support. For civil organizations, this is an extremely important opportunity!

DON’T FORGET!
With just a few clicks, you can redirect part of a tax amount that has already been deducted from you to a civil organization. It costs you nothing, but if you do not make the donation, the money is lost.

We look forward to and thank you for your donation to the People First Public Benefit Association.
Our tax number: 18027158-1-02

Read more about how you can donate 1% of your tax to local civil organizations in Pécs: https://maradjonkoztunk.hu/

Would you like to contribute to the development of a cooperative, fair, high-quality long-term care system? One where all stakeholders involved in care think together and communicate with each other to achieve better outcomes?

Join our FairCare conference on April 23, from 13:00 to 18:30 (online)!
Engage in discussions with care recipients, family caregivers, friends, assistants, institutional staff, and experts. Build networks and learn from one another.

REGISTER NOW at this link: https://forms.gle/EqPxhYHAQt7tXk8d9
The language of the conference is English.

You can find all further information, as well as the registration link, in English on the project website.

Our Barrier-free Pécs Database provides predictability and reliability for the residents of the city and for visitors to Pécs, and develops tourism and city marketing.

There is no other target group as broad as those for whom accessibility is necessary, important, or more convenient: people with disabilities, elderly people, families with small children, people with temporary injuries, people moving around with wheeled suitcases, in short, EVERYONE.
And even if not now… you too will grow old, you too may have a disability, you too will push a stroller.

The necessity and quality of the Barrier-free Pécs Database, created by the People First Association since 2018, could hardly be justified better than by the fact that it has been included among the nominees for the 2026 SozialMarie award as an innovative, exemplary social solution.

Let a good example be contagious, get in touch, we’ll train you and show you how: info@peoplefirst.hu
Would you support its maintenance and expansion? Do good for many and support it on our website with the “Adományozok” (Donate) button or contact us by email.

(In the attached illustration we flash five images showing the Barrier-free Pécs Database being handed over as a model in a German city in March 2026. We see images from the training, the People First logo, and the SozialMarie award. The caption: Barrier-free Pécs Database. Would you do it too? We hand it over! We prepare you, we train you. Predictability, social inclusion, accessible tourism. peoplefirst.hu)

The People First Public Benefit Association and the University of Pécs have launched a special collaboration in order to complement the university’s accessibility efforts with real user experiences. The cooperation was presented at a press conference on March 9. in the Senate Council Chamber of the University of Pécs by Veronika Pataki, president of the People First Public Benefit Association, Attila Lengvárszky, Director of Education at the University of Pécs, and Dániel Pál, the university ombudsman.

Our Pécs City Civil Fund 2025 project, supported by the Municipality of the City of Pécs, will this time raise the development of our Barrier-free Pécs Database to a new level. In the future, we intend to place increasing emphasis on community involvement, on highlighting the importance of accessibility, and we would like to encourage local citizens to engage in social activity and take responsibility. Strengthening community identity and local commitment is important to us, as we primarily work for Pécs as residents of Pécs, and our database also includes locations in Pécs and its surrounding area.

Within the framework of the project, we sought and found an active, engaged target group committed to social inclusion among the students and staff of the University of Pécs (PTE). This community represents a significant portion of Pécs’s population, as it involves one of the city’s largest employers and approximately 25,000 students. The PTE, with its numerous units and separate faculties, covers a large part of the city’s area.

At yesterday’s press conference, it was emphasized that the aim of the collaboration is for accessibility to become not just an institutional responsibility, but a truly shared concern, in which members of the university community—both students and staff—can actively participate. The initiative is significant not only for Hungary’s first university but also for the accessible development of the city of Pécs, as accessibility issues related to university spaces, surrounding routes, transport points, and public areas will also be brought into focus through the program.

The collaboration is an excellent example of how institutional intent and civil community experience can reinforce each other. Through this connection, we aim to provide a model, a best practice, for other university–civil society collaborations.

The University of Pécs’s accessibility concept was developed last year and applies a perspective far broader than the traditional, architectural approach. As part of this, the accessibility of the university’s faculty on Ifjúság Street is being assessed on a pilot basis with the help of experts.

The People First Association’s project underpins and complements the institutional accessibility pilot project by activating and involving prospective users and drawing attention to the social issue. Our Pécs City Civil Fund 2025 project supports the identification of everyday obstacles through community-based data collection. During the program, members of the university community can report obstacles they encounter on university premises and the routes leading to them by submitting a photo and a short description—ideally accompanied by a proposed solution. The submissions are processed by experts with disabilities and experience in accessibility, ensuring that they are integrated into the relevant institutional and professional processes so that professionals can address and remove the identified physical barriers as quickly and appropriately as possible.

In the next phase, the project’s news will be disseminated according to a joint communication plan, with intensive involvement of the university community.
Watch our posts on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and join the project!

We invite you to watch the short film below, highlighting the university’s accessibility and the accessibility challenges in Pécs, jointly produced by Univ TV and the People First Association. The film is available on the People First Association’s YouTube channel, accessible by clicking here: https://youtu.be/8xe994jLqwo?si=K2_VQYlbny-T0CwV

At the City Diamond Award in the Event/Program category, Barrier-free Tourism Day, of which our association is one of the main organizers, received professional recognition.
The award is presented by the Hungarian Marketing Association and the Institute of Marketing and Tourism at the University of Miskolc to the best domestic city marketing initiatives.

One of our organizing partners, the Orfű Tourism Association, successfully applied for the award; we hereby congratulate them!

Barrier-free Tourism Day, held in Orfű since 2017, is truly unique, a day that is much more than just an event. It is a shared experience where people with and without disabilities, children and adults alike can enjoy the joys of tourism together. Our goal is to ensure that people with disabilities can access experiences that would otherwise be difficult for them to enjoy – while discovering that paying attention to and helping each other is a rewarding experience for everyone.

This recognition is the result of the joint efforts of many people.
We would like to thank our organizing partners:
Gyeregyalog.hu Public Benefit Association
People First Public Benefit Association – Pécs
Orfű Municipality
and all the civil organizations, local businesses, volunteers, and helpers who contribute every year to making this special day possible.

Tourism is truly valuable only when it is accessible to everyone!