On Sunday, a large-scale procession "Moscow. Access Is" was organized in the Russian capital, in which people with disabilities took part.
To get acquainted with the problems of people with disabilities and to fully experience the difficulties that they have to face daily, representatives of different professions decided to take part in the action - a journalist, actor, designer and economist.
People with disabilities and healthy participants in the rally who moved to wheelchairs set off to cover a distance of several kilometers from the well-known Aquarium Garden on Mayakovskaya Street to the City Hall on Tverskaya.
Difficulties arose already at the beginning of the journey: despite the fact that the action took place in the very center of the Russian capital, many shopping facilities were inaccessible to wheelchairs, in particular, it was impossible for people with disabilities to get to the Megafon store, pharmacy because of the lack of ramps or their improper condition. "36.6", cafe "Coffeehouse" (shame!)
Objects such as Sberbank and Shokoladnitsa were adapted for wheelchair users, McDonalds can also be noted, however, there were difficulties with access to the ramp, which was in potholes and holes.
The ramp in the underpass on Tverskaya caused the most complaints, it was equipped in such a way that the wheelchair could not go down, this maneuver could well end in new injuries. So that the participants of the action "Moscow. Access Is" could be on the other side of the street, traffic police had to block traffic on the highway.
The results of the procession lead to disappointing conclusions: despite the fact that several years ago the state and government of Moscow drew attention to the problems of wheelchairs and began to allocate money for the creation of decent infrastructure, this process is carried out at a slow pace and even what has been done does not always meet the quality criteria and availability.
