Description
The project will be implemented between 1 April 2014 and 30 November 2014. Project beneficiaries include people with disabilities, their family members, assistants and volunteers, and neighbours from Gorlicki district. The project will help improve the safety of citizens with disabilities who move around the town in a wheelchair pushed by an assistant. During the project, assistants and families will be trained (at least 80 people will complete the training). Also, an instruction brochure and a video on how to safely overcome architectural barriers will be developed, moving project impact to a national level. A social campaign promoting volunteerism and helping the disabled will be organized (urban game and integration rally, a trip). The project will help people with disabilities leave the confinement of their homes and go out; it will contribute to building awareness in the families and improve their skills in terms of professional assistance to the disabled.
Summary of project results
"In Gorlice, main public offices are not adapted to the needs of disabled persons. Only a fraction (6%) of buses are low-floor buses. Moving around the town streets is also hampered by the fact that the town lies in mountainous area. To cross different barriers is difficult even with the help of an assistant pushing the wheelchair and frequently requires additional help. Such help from persons who have no idea how to use wheelchairs often leads to dangerous situations. The aim of the project was to counteract exclusion of persons with disabilities through securing greater safety while moving around the streets of the town and to persuade the persons and their families that they are not doomed to stay at home and can actively participate in social life, and even travel. As a result of implementation of the project, the sense of safety on the part of persons with disabilities moving around the streets in the Gorlice county increased and the awareness of inhabitants and authorities on the commonness of architectural barriers encountered in the area was enhanced. 8 trainings were organised on safely moving around on the streets, crossing architectural barriers and talking to persons with disabilities that gathered 91 volunteers. A booklet and an instruction film on safely crossing architectural barriers with persons moving on wheelchairs (2000 copies, over 580 film shows) were published. A city game was organised during which participants had to cross barriers together with a person on a wheelchair (42 persons, including town councillors and the mayor). Persons with disabilities accompanied by volunteers took part in a trip to Zakopane (46 persons), in tourist rally (45 persons) and in training on self-presentation and overcoming mental barriers (10 persons). The training on self-presentation was also organised for volunteers (10 participants). Beneficiaries of the project are 91 volunteers, 36 persons with disabilities and 42 inhabitants of Gorlice who took part in the city game."
Summary of bilateral results