Accessibility in Salzburg “30 years after”
Together with people with disabilities, the state of Salzburg is developing the state plan “MIT-each other” UN Disability Rights Convention. The goal is an inclusive society in which everyone has the same opportunities, rights and opportunities to participate. Currently, however, the implementations for those affected are expandable, as SALZBURG24 learned from the deaf and wheelchair users’ associations.
Corona pandemic delayed implementation
The country action plan was launched in June 2018. Due to the corona pandemic, the continuation of the process was delayed, from April workshops on the various topics could be held again at any time, the country announced in a broadcast. However, the UN regulation was adopted ten years ago. Their implementation is therefore lagging far behind, notes the managing director of Salzburg Deaf Association, Reinhard Grobbauer, opposite SALZBURG24.
Deaf complaints about lack of information
The topic of the corona pandemic has also been a focus for the deaf for almost two years. Grobbauer, himself deaf, had his concerns conveyed by telephone via sign interpreter Andreas Schodterer. “We don’t get any quick information in sign language. Most of the time everything arrives to us slowly and incorrectly, ”says the managing director. There is also a need to better explain how to communicate with the deaf. “90 percent of people don’t take their mask off when they talk to deaf people,” says the Salzburg native. That makes lip reading impossible.
ORF defends itself against subtitles
Information is very important, especially in times of pandemic. The greater the annoyance that TV shows like “ORF Salzburg“Not be subtitled. “We have been committed to this for years. The association and the state of Salzburg would even bear the costs, ”denounces the 62-year-old. “But the ORF only says that this is technically not feasible,” says Grobbauer annoyed. “Austria is 30 years behind!” According to ORF customer service, the service should be possible or is being planned.
However, there would have been a lot of progress. However, Austria and Salzburg are still a long way from 100 percent. So, for example, the deaf would not have to find out about siren samples from the newspaper until the next day. They do not hear anything of the actual alarm. There are major cuts in the leisure sector: “It is impossible to get an interpreter for private situations or to go to the cinema or theater because there are no subtitles,” says Grobbauer.
Offices in the city of Salzburg are better equipped. There are many digital offers here that are translated into sign language. In the state of Salzburg they are still lagging behind, but things are getting better, also because the association is involved here.
Italy as a role model
The association “Rolling home“Wishes for improvements for wheelchair users in the city and state of Salzburg. “Italy is an absolute role model here. In cities like Grado or Lignano, every Beisl has a wheelchair toilet, some even with a lift, ”says chairwoman Martina Auberger in an S24 conversation. In Salzburg there was simply no access to understand what people with disabilities need.
Accessibility law required
Wheelchair-accessible ramps for shops or on the sidewalks and toilets would not be implemented because it is not mandatory. “A law should be made, otherwise nothing will happen. This is the only way to create awareness ”. According to Auberger, subsidies should serve as incentives for this. “The law only recommends, but does not punish”. Even the smallest hurdles can often be difficult to overcome for wheelchair users. “It depends on the type of disability. While a paraplegic person has more strength in the upper body, a person with spasticity is severely restricted, ”says the chairwoman.
The problem is there, for example, in front of many shops in Salzburg’s old town. Most of the shopping centers, but also most of the public transport in Salzburg or Auberger’s home town of Seekirchen, are more accessible. In general, the center of the Flachgau community is well developed in terms of accessibility.
People with disabilities in planning
Auberger would like that for all of Salzburg. It would therefore be desirable if, for example, wheelchair users were included in the planning. Because the understanding of the necessary conditions is completely different. There are still these “little hopscotch” everywhere that make everyday life difficult for wheelchair users. “For example, there are far too few public toilets for the disabled. That is weak for a tourist city like Salzburg ”, the Flachgauerin shows just one of many examples.
Affected people work for inclusion
In order to improve the situation, the State of Salzburg is now pushing the implementation of the UN Disability Rights Convention in cooperation with those affected. Eleven people with disabilities therefore support the entire process of the state action plan as experts on their own behalf. “For us, a very important next step is the support and observation of the implementation of the measures. Because we are of the opinion that,” says group member Sonja Stadler with certainty.
(Source: SALZBURG24)