When do you enforce the law? Public institutions and Fr

Article 62 of Law 448/2006 on the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities requires the adaptation of public facilities to allow access to persons with disabilities. This includes public buildings, access ways, means of transport, stations, parking spaces, streets, roads, public telephones and the information environment. The costs of adaptations are borne from the budgets of public authorities and private sources.

“Public utility buildings, access roads, residential buildings built with public funds, means of public transport and their stations, taxis, passenger railway carriages and main station platforms, parking spaces, public streets and roads, telephones public, the information and communication environment will be adapted according to the legal provisions in the field, so as to allow the unrestricted access of disabled people”, the law states.

Article 63 of the same law imposes on the authorities the obligation to issue the construction permit only under the conditions of compliance with the legal provisions in the field, so that the unrestricted access of disabled people is allowed.

Omar-Ali Mustafa is a 23-year-old young man, a final year master’s student, majoring in Public Relations and Intercultural Development at the “Ovidius” University in Constanța, and is dealing with glass bone disease (Osteogenesis Imperfecta), due to which has suffered more than 100 fractures to date. For him, but also for the rest of the disabled people, it is very important to be able to have access to any public and private institution. Some institutions follow the law, while others do not.

The first time Omar realized how important these ramps are for him was a few years ago, when he was still a teenager, at a hypermarket in Constanța. His paternal grandmother had to leave him outside the store to go shopping, as the steps were very narrow.

Not only do some public and private institutions not have appropriate ramps, but also the infrastructure in the city does not allow people with disabilities to carry out their activities normally.

“We notified several public and private institutions, and in most cases we received a generic message that they would check, but without results. Several times we also notified the town hall about certain ramps in the public space,” he said.

Constanța County Council, for example, does not have an access ramp, while the City Hall and Prefecture have ramps that allow access for people in wheelchairs.

Even at the entrance to the headquarters of the Consumer Protection in Constanța, we do not find an access ramp.

At the same time, some offices of the Romanian Post do not have these ramps or, if there are, they are too steep, such as the one at the post office in the Delfinariu area. At the headquarters of the Romanian Post Office in the Poarta 6 district, there is no ramp.

As for Constanța Station, it has access ramps, and in the underground passage there is an elevator for people with locomotor disabilities. In order to be put into operation, the people in charge of public relations must be notified.

Some medical offices in the city, including those of family medicine, cardiology, dentistry, etc., are not equipped with access ramps suitable for people in wheelchairs. In the area of ​​the House of Culture in Constanța, in front of several pharmacies and shops, the existing ramps are very steep.

The city of Constanța faces accessibility issues for people with disabilities and more awareness and involvement is needed from the authorities and society as a whole to ensure a better environment for all its residents.