The Accessibility Chain: a Challenge and an Opportunity for Cities and People with Disabilities

Abstract

Barcelona has been working to become a completely accessible city where the rights of people with disabilities are fully guaranteed for over 40 years. Helping the city to achieve this is the Municipal Institute for People with Disabilities, an independent body that works with every area of the City Council to promote accessibility and inclusion in the city’s public policies. In 2008, following its initial Accessibility Plan (1997-2006) which focused on accessibility in the city’s streets and public spaces, the City Council reaffirmed its commitment to guaranteeing the rights set out in the United Nations’ Convention. More recently (in 2017) it approved a Government Measure for drafting the 2018-2026 Universal Accessibility Plan for Barcelona (PAUB in Catalan), which will deal with improving physical, communication and cognitive accessibility in a wide range of venues and facilities.The Government Measure, inspired by Sustainable Development Goal 11 “Sustainable cities and communities” and targets 11.2 and 11.3 of the 2030 Agenda, established a three-phase implementation of the new Accessibility Plan: a first phase diagnosing the degree of accessibility of the various public spaces and services; a second, participatory phase, aimed at reaching consensus on the best accessibility solutions to be implemented in the city, and third and final phase, where the Plan will be implemented with the requisite budget.   Read the full article in accessible html-format here.