On March 22, at a meeting of the United Russia faction of the Legislative Assembly of the Leningrad Region, a presentation of the party project “United Country - Accessible Environment” took place.

Its implementation in the Leningrad region begins this year. Regional coordinator of the party project Lyudmila Neshchadim spoke about its goals and objectives. The work will be carried out in three areas: an accessible environment for people with disabilities, adaptive physical education for people with disabilities and their professional retraining and employment. The project, according to the speaker, is not designed for one year; its implementation is designed for a fairly long period and will be aimed at solving issues related to the support and socialization of people with disabilities. These include:

Creation of a network community of people whose goal is to overcome the social challenges facing people with disabilities;

Involving people with disabilities in active public life, increasing the information culture of society and attracting new users to the online community;

Protecting the rights of people with disabilities and increasing the level of their legal culture;

Assistance in finding employment for people with disabilities;

Informing society about the characteristics of people with disabilities and their acceptance as part of human diversity and part of humanity through promoting the potential and contribution of people with disabilities to the public life of the country;

Support for sports organizations working with people with disabilities and public organizations for people with disabilities;

Development of comprehensive cooperation of both organizations of people with disabilities and individuals, with non-profit and commercial organizations, government bodies at the federal and regional levels.

Many issues, Lyudmila Neshchadim emphasized, are already being resolved in the Leningrad region within the framework of the regional state program “Social support for certain categories of citizens in the Leningrad region for 2013-2020.” This year, more than 90 million rubles are allocated in budgets of all levels for the implementation of measures aimed at creating an accessible living environment for people with disabilities: 65 million rubles in the regional budget, 22 million in the federal budget and 9 million in local budgets.

The work carried out showed that the difficulties that arise in creating an accessible living environment for people with disabilities are associated, first of all, with the re-equipment of existing social infrastructure facilities located in buildings built according to standard designs, which are initially poorly suited for visiting by people with disabilities. Narrow stairs and doorways in load-bearing walls do not allow the building to be accessible through repair work.

At the same time, it should be noted that the activities carried out over three years do not allow us to say that the problem of ensuring unimpeded access for people with disabilities to social infrastructure, information and communications has been solved. The main difficulties in resolving these issues are related to the high cost and labor intensity of work to create an accessible living environment for people with disabilities. A big obstacle to the implementation of these measures is the lack of a regulatory legal framework that regulates at the regional level the issues of creating an accessible living environment for people with disabilities and creates an effective mechanism for complying with the requirements to ensure appropriate conditions for people with disabilities. In addition, the owners of objects are not sufficiently aware of the need to ensure their accessibility for people with disabilities and about responsibility for failure to comply with the requirements for accessibility of engineering, transport and social infrastructure facilities for people with disabilities in accordance with the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

When implementing the project of the United Russia party in the Leningrad region, all these problems will be taken into account. The interaction between legislative and executive authorities, local self-government bodies and public organizations of people with disabilities, built by the regional branch of the United Russia party, will help to take a comprehensive approach to solving the issues of creating an accessible living environment for people with disabilities.

The United Russia faction expressed support for the party project “United Country - Accessible Environment” and expressed their readiness to participate in its implementation. Faction leader Nikolai Pustotin noted in his comment that deputies of the regional parliament are doing a lot of work to improve regional legislation regarding social support for people with disabilities. In 2013, amendments were made to the law “On quotas for employing people with disabilities in the Leningrad Region”, according to which an administrative fine will be imposed on officials for failure to fulfill the employer’s obligation to create or allocate jobs for people with disabilities according to the established quota. In 2015, the following laws were adopted: “On additional measures of social support for people with disabilities in the Leningrad Region,” which provides for the provision of people with disabilities with additional means of technical rehabilitation that are not provided for in the federal list; Amendments have been made to the regional law “On measures of social support for certain categories of citizens living in the Leningrad Region”, which relate to compensation for travel on railway transport for rehabilitated persons and persons recognized as victims of political repression, with disabilities or who are pensioners.

This year, on March 23, a draft law was adopted in the first reading, establishing monthly cash payments to people with visual impairments of the first and second groups since childhood.

At the same time, Nikolai Pustotin emphasized that the recently introduced changes to federal legislation will require bringing the laws of the Leningrad region into conformity with it. Thus, on January 1, 2016, the Federal Law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities in Connection with the Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” came into force. The new Federal Law interconnects the system of powers, functions of government bodies and procedures for assisting people with disabilities in the implementation of established general civil rights.

In order to implement this law, in 2015, 36 regulatory legal acts of the Government and federal ministries were adopted to determine procedures for ensuring accessibility of facilities and services for people with disabilities in the most important areas of life. The law makes changes to several existing legislative acts at once.

“Specific requirements are established for the conditions of accessibility for disabled people of services in the field of social protection of the population, labor and employment, healthcare, education, culture, transport, communications and information, physical culture and sports, trade, consumer services, public catering, housing and communal services and urban planning,” - Nikolai Pustotin explained.

The deputy noted that failure to comply with the above requirements entails punishment: “The Code of Administrative Offenses provides for a fine for officials in the amount of 2 to 3 thousand rubles for evading the requirements for ensuring conditions for access for disabled people, for legal entities - from 20 to 30 thousand rubles."

The parliamentarian drew attention to the fact that the law that came into force also makes changes to the current law “On Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities” and introduces a completely new norm for Russian legislation on non-discrimination of persons with disabilities.

“People with disabilities constantly face violations of their rights. The non-discrimination norm is designed to protect the rights of people with disabilities and eradicate cases of their violation,” Pustotin noted.

He clarified that disability discrimination means any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability.

From January 1, 2016, federal and regional government bodies, as well as local government bodies and organizations, regardless of their organizational and legal forms, will be required to duplicate the information necessary for people with disabilities in Braille, and traffic light signals - with sound signals. Disabled people with persistent impairments in vision and independent movement will receive the right to free escort on the territory of engineering and transport infrastructure facilities. The law also provided that people with disabilities should have the opportunity to freely use city, suburban and intercity trains. We are talking about equipping them with ramps, duplicating information signs in Braille, and providing a free attendant.

It is important that all these requirements apply without fail only to those facilities that, from January 1, 2016, will be put into operation for the first time or after reconstruction or modernization. However, the owners of existing facilities are obliged to take measures to ensure access for people with disabilities to the place where services are provided, even if it is impossible to fully adapt the facility to the needs of people with disabilities. Moreover, these measures must be agreed upon with one of the public associations of disabled people operating in the territory of a settlement, municipal district or urban district.

According to the parliamentarian, the new law imposed on state and municipal authorities the responsibility to create conditions for people with disabilities to have unhindered access to the common property of an apartment building. However, this norm requires further development, since sometimes the owners of an apartment building do not allow the installation of accessibility elements in the entrance.

According to Nikolai Pustotin, it is very important that, as part of the implementation of the party project “United Country - Accessible Environment”, working groups monitor the implementation of the norms of the enacted law and respond to facts of their violation. “To do this, it is necessary to conduct party raids on residential buildings under construction, socially significant and sports facilities, and shopping complexes in order to assess the accessibility of their visits to people with disabilities. For a comprehensive understanding of the problem, it is necessary to include representatives of public organizations of people with disabilities in the working group. For their part, members of the faction are ready to take an active part in this work,” the faction leader emphasized.

Olga Kurganskaya

P.S. The Leningrad Region ranks 54th out of 85 in the National “Accessible Environment” Rating. Accessible environment facilities are present in the region, but do not create an integrated system. Somewhere there is an audible traffic light, but there are no tactile tiles, so in this case a visually impaired person will not be able to independently navigate the route. There are ramps near the Sberbank branch, but there are none near the nearby pharmacy, so a wheelchair user, having cashed his allowance at the bank, will not be able to buy medicine without outside help.

The role of public organizations in the implementation of the party project “One Country - Accessible Environment” at the regional level should be strengthened in terms of interaction with citizens, the implementation of control functions and interaction with the authorities. Such activities will make it possible to set priorities in the implementation of the project and monitor the plannedness of its implementation, and more quickly solve citizens’ problems. This was stated today, July 22, by the head of the party project “United Country - Accessible Environment”, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs Mikhail Terentyev, speaking at a conference call “Topical issues of implementing the state program “Accessible Environment” for 2011 -2020 in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and the role of public organizations" in the Central Executive Committee of the Party.

“At today’s meeting we will discuss the implementation of the Accessible Environment program. The state program “Accessible Environment” has been in effect since 2011. Significant resources from the federal budget were allocated for it. Initially it was planned to complete it in 2015, but then it was decided to extend the program until 2020,” noted the head of the party project.

“All funds allocated for the program reached all regions,” Terentyev emphasized.

“Each regional coordinator of the party project “One Country - Accessible Environment” must take control of the implementation of activities that will be carried out as part of the work to create a barrier-free environment. The regions must understand that the implementation of the “Accessible Environment” program is subject to public control,” the parliamentarian said, adding that it is necessary to think about the possibility of strengthening party control.

In addition, Terentyev emphasized that it is necessary to increase the role of public organizations in the implementation of the program. “Unfortunately, today in the regions, NGOs working with people with disabilities are not actively involved in implementing the program. Meanwhile, it is necessary to cooperate with them, since such work will allow us to determine priority areas for the implementation of the program,” said the head of the party project.

“Also, the regions should cooperate more actively with executive authorities to ensure that work on the implementation of the program proceeds as planned,” Terentyev added.

Head of the party project “United Country - Accessible Environment” for the Chelyabinsk Region Evgeniy Korobeinikov said that in his region, accessibility of the urban environment for people with disabilities has been monitored for 4 years. “We are helping to make municipal institutions more accessible for people with disabilities, and we are engaged in the certification of social infrastructure facilities,” he noted.

According to Korobeinikov, the immediate task today is to create a network of municipal coordinators of the party project. “Every municipality should have a person dedicated to developing an accessible environment,” he emphasized.

The regional head of the party project “One Country - Accessible Environment” for the Pskov region, Ivan Tsetsersky, noted that as part of the project, production workshops for people with disabilities operate in Pskov, and work is being done with disabled children at home. “We also inspect the city space in the region for environmental accessibility. We are interacting with builders, explaining what standards for creating an accessible environment should be used today,” he said.

“In addition, we are actively involved in involving people with disabilities in the public life of Pskov and we want the same work to be done in rural areas, so that an accessible environment is created there too,” Tsetsersky said.

Coordinator of the party project “United Country - Accessible Environment” for the city of Novouralsk Evgeniy Shpalov stated that during the implementation of the project he has to work in different areas: education, healthcare, sports. “We are developing adaptive physical education for people with disabilities, we control the distribution of technical care and rehabilitation equipment for people with disabilities, we train people with disabilities in computer literacy, and we supervise the installation of ramps. This work will continue,” he stated.

In conclusion, Terentyev said that at the end of the year it will be necessary to think about the further development of the party project. “We need to think about reformatting it. The project will have to promote the implementation of the decisions of the UNITED RUSSIA social forum, which was held this spring in St. Petersburg,” Terentyev noted.

On February 14, a meeting of the public council “One Country – Accessible Environment” was held in the Ivanovo Regional Duma. The event was held by Mikhail Kizeev, deputy of the Ivanovo Regional Duma, deputy chairman of the social policy committee, chairman of the sports commission. The members of the public council include the public organization “Solar Circle”.

At the meeting, the results of the 9th regional Parasprtakiad, in which 192 people took part in 2017, were summed up. At present, a decision has been made to hold the summer Paraspartakiad, which will be announced later. The problem of the lack of specialists in working with people with disabilities in the field of adaptive physical education and a developed volunteer movement was raised.

Rozhkova Tatyana Valerievna, head of the Department of Social Protection of the Population of the Ivanovo Region, spoke about the certification of objects in the field of social protection of the population in order to ensure unhindered access for people with disabilities and other groups of the population with limited mobility. This passport will contain a conclusion about the state of the object: fully, partially, conditionally accessible, or temporarily unavailable. In 2017, 7.3 million rubles were spent on equipping social welfare facilities with equipment and reconstructing premises. In 2018, it is planned to spend 15.3 million rubles for these purposes. Tatyana Valeryevna also spoke about the implementation of target indicators (indicators) of the subprogram “Formation of an accessible living environment for people with disabilities and other low-mobility groups in the Ivanovo region” of the state program of the Ivanovo region “Social support for citizens in the Ivanovo region”. On this issue, it was noted that there is an all-Russian map of accessibility of objects (social infrastructure), the website address of which will be communicated to the public in the near future. The Department is ready to provide relevant information about the planned scope of work within the program.

Shorygin Alexander Andreevich, a member of the presidium of the regional coordinating council of supporters of the United Russia Party in the Ivanovo region, coordinator of the project “United Country - Accessible Environment” in the city of Ivanovo, reported on the VOI voluntary certification system. The party program was launched in 2011. It has now been extended until 2020. This program promotes quality standards for the construction of facilities visited by people with disabilities: physical and mental. An Autonomous non-profit organization “Regional Expert Center” has been created in Ivanovo, the head of which is Alexander Andreevich. This Center will provide consulting services to organizations during the construction of facilities and the development of training programs in the field of environmental accessibility for people with disabilities. Work will also be carried out with specialists who will or are working with people with disabilities; job descriptions have already been developed. First, work is planned with social sector objects in two directions: accessibility of the object itself, accessibility of services. Next, attention will be paid to manufacturing enterprises and commercial structures.

Federal project

“One country - accessible environment”

The very concept of “Accessible Environment” is not only the creation of physical accessibility of urban infrastructure facilities for Russian citizens with limited mobility. The federal project “United Country - Accessible Environment” of the UNITED RUSSIA party is aimed at involving people with disabilities in the public life of the country.

It is necessary to form in society the most tolerant attitude towards people with disabilities (including those with autism) and their families, and to provide them with everything they need - from means of living in the form of pensions, subsidies and social support to the required amount of information they need on all questions that interest them. It is necessary to organize work to improve the level of parental competencies across the entire range of issues that interest them.

A separate branch of the “One Country – Accessible Environment” project is the issue of employment of people with disabilities. Today the question is about the effectiveness of job quota mechanisms for people with disabilities and about its revision in terms of strengthening the mandatory fulfillment of quotas. Most people with disabilities take low-skilled, and therefore low-paid, jobs. The reasons for this may be different and do not depend on employment service employees, for example, most people with disabilities have secondary education. The question arises about the reasons for the lack of a profession among disabled people.

The implementation of the project will not only make facilities accessible to people with disabilities, but also integrate them into the modern environment: pay attention to the employment of people with disabilities, inform society about their achievements and contributions to the development of our country. Issues of accessibility to spiritual, cultural and creative life require special consideration.

Created by the innovative project “Accessibility Map” by the United Country Foundation, the interactive map will tell people with disabilities about places where they can practice Paralympic sports, indicating access points without barriers and the presence of access points to lifts.

The goal of the project is to strive to increase the inclusion of people with disabilities in modern society and create comfortable living conditions.

Promoting the improvement of Russian legislation in accordance with the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Promotion of unlocking the potential and highlighting the contribution of people with disabilities to the socio-economic life of the country.
Increasing the efficiency of creating an accessible environment in the regions.
Organization of constant monitoring of the implementation of the State Program of the Russian Federation “Accessible Environment” at the federal and regional levels to achieve the target indicators of this program.
Promoting the expansion of opportunities for the participation of public associations of people with disabilities, sports organizations working with people with disabilities, the non-profit sector and individual entrepreneurs (including social entrepreneurship organizations) in the provision of social, medical and rehabilitation services to people with disabilities and health restrictions.
Promoting the development of Paralympic sports in Russia.
Promote the development of additional measures to provide career guidance and employment for disabled people and persons with limited health capabilities.
Monitoring the situation with educational and rehabilitation institutions for children with disabilities.