Sochi will become the first Russian city with access for disabled people, Vladimir Putin promised at a meeting with the employees of the Moscow Business Centre for Disabled last Saturday. But it will not be the only one.
"The better the society treats people with disabilities, the more civilised and tolerant it is. Unfortunately, we are just making the first steps in this direction. I mean here the environment, the legal system and the general attitude of society towards this problem," the prime minister stated in his talk with the centre's employees.
The Moscow Business Centre for Disabled is an example of this approach. It is an ordinary call centre, in which employees take orders for the delivery of goods, but 825 out of its 906 work stations have special equipment for partially-sighted people. The Moscow government will help set up eight more centres this year, capable of taking on 10,000 partially-sighted and blind people, including students, said Alexei Denezhkin, the centre's head .
However, the students who want to work in such centres first have to undergo training.
"Each federal district must have an institution of higher education with special equipment for disabled people," Putin said. "I am sure that pre-schools, schools, colleges and universities should all be able to train disabled people."
Another question is what can be done with the areas that have no access for people with mobility disabilities?
"This year we will draft and adopt the Accessible Environment state programme. Relevant standards will be applied in construction, architecture, etc," the prime minister said.
In addition, the prime minister said, it is necessary to train people working in the social sphere, such as doctors, teachers, and so on, to work with disabled people. Sochi will become the first city built to international standards.
Alexandra Ponomaryova