“The right of disabled people to independently access structures, areas or buildings open to the public is guaranteed by law no. 67 of 2006 which requires the demolition of existing architectural barriers. It follows that all works carried out in public and private buildings open to the public in breach of current provisions regarding accessibility and the elimination of architectural barriers are declared uninhabitable and unusable”. This is recalled in a note by the Cesena Siamo Noi civic list which, after the latest episodes that occurred in the city, also recalls the “direct responsibility” of anyone who contributed to the design of that building. An underlining which, as mentioned, is inspired by a couple of events – “extremely serious and unpleasant for those who suffered them” – which occurred recently, moreover, in two municipal public facilities.
“The first episode – underlines the candidate for the municipal council Paolo Cavallucci – took place at the Palazzo del Ridotto, where an electoral meeting was held on the first floor between the mayoral candidates of Cesena. In the same building there is an elevator, on paper, accessible to disabled people, but evidently with some impediments. Mr Beppe Rotelle, in fact, as local news also reported, had great difficulty accessing the upper floor: to do so he was forced to dismantle the front part of his wheelchair even though it was approved by law. Dismantling the wheelchair – Cavallucci recalls – is like telling a disabled person ‘undress’ because otherwise you can’t get in. At the end of the meeting, as if that wasn’t enough, three men from the fire brigade had to intervene to get this fellow citizen of ours down the stairs as, in the meantime, further problems had arisen with the lift. Imagine what this person must have felt just at the thought of being ‘bodily’ carried down the stairs even though there was an elevator that he was not allowed to use.”
“The second event – continues Cavallucci – took place under the porticoes of the town hall. A lady with mobility difficulties equipped with crutches, recently resident in the Municipality of Cesena, needed to go to the Social Services office. But she too, in the absence of specific reports, had many difficulties in going to that office. The only lift available is in fact on the ground floor: it serves the three floors of the municipal building, which is also not signposted but, to access it, you need to ring the intercom to the internal staff. Unfortunately the requested office is not located at the lift landing, but you have to climb other stairs. The situation – concludes the CSN representative – was resolved only thanks to the help of the internal staff who telephoned the requested office and reached her lady helping her to fulfill her requests”.
“These latest facts – analyzes Marco Giangrandi, mayoral candidate of ‘Cittadini al Centro’ – confirm once again that, beyond the superficial slogans, Cesena is not an inclusive city. It is facts, not chatter, that demonstrate how, in recent years, too little has been done to meet the needs of disabled people. But rather than raging about the omissions of the public body, it would be important for all these episodes to become a stimulus to act concretely, starting to think seriously about eliminating obstacles for disabled people. This would respond to the need for a general protection of the personality and rights of disabled people on a constitutional basis to guarantee the dignity of the person and the fundamental right to health of all”.
