3.6.3 Social Environment
The social and economic barriers faced by people with disabilities were
discussed at some length in the previous section. In this part we extend our discussion to
social environment, and we examine the accessibility of housing, culture,
restaurant, cinemas, sports, clubs and other social activities.
The UN Standard rules on equalization of opportunities for disabled people of
the United Nations emphasize the need to mobilize human resources in order to
build a more accessible society to people with disabilities.
The European Commission Communication on Towards a Barrier Free Europe
for People with Disabilities underlines that:
"Environmental barriers are a greater impediment to participation
in society than functional limitations. Barrier removal through
legislation, provisions of accommodations, universal design and other
means has been identified – by the European Union - as key to equal
opportunities for people with disabilities".
In diagram 38 we present the results of our survey with reference to the
Social Environment. We asked organisations participating in the survey to
evaluate on a scale from 1 to 10, the accessibility of housing, cinema,
theatres, concert halls, restaurants, and bars, shopping malls, and
shops, sports clubs and sport facilities, churches and places of worship,
and insurance.
From a first analysis, it appears that the social environment is considerably
less accessible than health and social services. The highest score for
accessibility, reported for shopping centres, does not attain 5,8 points
out of 10, followed closely by restaurants, bars and churches. While
cultural, leisure and sport activities report the lowest scores, next to
insurance.
Diagram 38
In the following diagrams, the barriers identified before by our participants
to each of aspects of the social environment have been analysed.
In all of the cases, it is interesting to note that communication/attitudinal
barriers are greater than physical barriers. Many disabled people and
their families experience negative attitudes and prejudice from
shopkeepers, restaurant owners.
Moreover in many public places, accessibility is not possible mainly because
of the lack of awareness or prejudice towards disabled people. Security
reasons are often invoked as a reason not to provide access.
A specific comment is to be made in the case of housing. Our research
highlights the high level of inaccessibility of housing for many disabled
people, which is close to 66%. The lack of accessibility is not only due
to architectonical barriers; financial barriers in housing are quite
important, in particular because of the extra costs of adapting
inaccessible dwellings. This problem has also to be considered in
the framework of the low-income situation of a significant number of
disabled people, as shown in the previous section of our report on
minimum income and disability
benefits.
The barriers derived from communication and negative attitudes or prejudice
are also important, highlighting the difficulties faced by disabled
people in integrating in their immediate surrounding.
Insurance is inversely one of the fields where legal and financial barriers
are most important. However prejudice, and lack of awareness are often at
the origin of denial of insuring disabled people, or imposing high
premium on disabled clients. An
interesting field research was carried out by one of the project partners in
this area, which submitted test cases to a wide number of insurance
companies in Sweden .
This has also a direct consequence on access to housing, as in many countries
a life insurance contract is a requirement for obtaining mortgages.
Diagram 39
Diagram 40
Diagram 41
Diagram 42
Diagram 43
Social Environment- main findings
Overall the social environment is considerably less accessible to disabled
people than health and social services.
Disabled people find themselves excluded from most of the leisure and
cultural activities. Access to theatres, concert halls, and sport facilities is
often very difficult, or impossible. Significant barriers also exist, even though slightly
less significant to other areas of social life, such as participating in religious services, or be
able to do his/her own shopping whether in commercial centres or shops.
Barriers in communication, attitudes and prejudice are considered very
important.
Furthermore physical and architectonical barriers are equally important in
preventing disabled people from participating to the social environment.
Finally although less important, financial barriers acquire certain relevance
in this section. |
3.6.4 Transport
People with disabilities find themselves very often excluded from a large
spectrum of transport facilities. This is confirmed by our survey, as the
level of accessibility of different means of transportation is overall
quite low. Trains and private cars considered as the most
accessible means do not reach 5,9 out of a 10 scale-value.
There are significant differences among the member states in the
infrastructure and modernisation of transport services. The Northern
European Countries have made the appropriate investments to ensure a
friendlier environment for people with disabilities. In the Southern
European countries more problems exist especially in local transport.
Diagram 44
In the following diagrams further information on accessibility of local
transport (diagram 45) and trains (diagram 46) in the countries
considered in our survey can be found.
Trains and local transport are the means for which higher barriers were
reported. At the same time they belong to those that are considered as
services of general interest to the population.
Diagram 45
Access to local transport
Diagram 46
Access to trains
Transport – main findings
|
Accessible transportation is very important in today's society as a means to
access employment and to participate in the social environment. Disabled people
are very often denied access to a large spectrum of transportation means. There are
significant differences among the member states in the infrastructure and modernisation
of transport services in terms of accessibility, as a result of the introduction
of legislative measures. |
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