In Timișoara, physical access and information for people with disabilities is a big issue and we’ve decided to talk openly about this situation.
Because we want to have access to the community in 09.07.2014 we had a meeting with representatives of the local Police and RATT.

Means of transport are hard to use because of the narrow space, the old hand-operated ramps and lack of fasteners for the wheelchairs. Even in trams situation is not easy. It is impossible to get up, because of the narrow doors, staircases and function bar need to be pushed to allow getting up.

Another problem is machines parked on the sidewalk and special places for persons with disabilities. Wheelchair users, often descends on the roadway because of improperly parked cars on the sidewalk which don’t leave sufficient space, or park on the specially space designed for persons with disabilities. A interesting thing to know and we found out from the local Police, is that in the first six months of this year, have been applied 284 in the parking fines bus station, 213 fines applied for the machines parked on the sidewalk and 2128 fines for special parking spaces for people with disabilities! Local police encouraged us when we see irregularities to call them.

Borders and holes make the road for wheelchair a true adventure. To overcome these obstacles support people are need it. For wheelchair users or blind persons, unaccompanied access is very difficult or even impossible.

Last but not least, the informations of general interest are difficult to obtain or to understand by people with sensory or intellectual disabilities.
We want to be part of the community, useful and active citizens, but for this we need an accessible environment.

Raluca Popescu
Co-president