Radio România Internațional

Tag: people with disabilities

  • December 3, 2022

    December 3, 2022

    Meeting — The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, continues on Saturday his two-day working visit to Greece. He participates in the meeting of the leaders of the European Peoples Party. On Friday, Klaus Iohannis had discussions with his Greek counterpart, Mrs. Katerina Sakellaropoulou, who reiterated her countrys full support for Romanias accession to the Schengen Area. President Iohannis also discussed with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis about the diversification of energy, road and railway interconnection projects in the Balkan area. At the same time, Klaus Iohannis spoke about Romanias actions in support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian refugees. Bilateral and European measures and actions were discussed, through the Solidarity Corridors, meant to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian grains, in order to prevent food crises in vulnerable third countries.



    Special needs — ‘People with disabilities have the same rights as anyone else and they should not be affected because of their special needs’ – the Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, said Saturday in a message on the International Day of People with Disabilities. He mentions that the Government has a special project through which people in this category benefit from support worth 5,000 Euros to purchase assistive devices and technologies, other than those financed by the Social Health Insurance Fund. At the same time, in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) almost 197 million Euros are provided for projects related, among other things, to the creation and modernization of the social infrastructure for people with disabilities and to the integration of inactive people and disadvantaged workers into the labor market.



    Schengen – The Netherlands is getting closer to a vote in favor of admitting Romania and Croatia to the free movement Schengen Area​​, but not Bulgaria, which it believes does not meet the necessary conditions for the time being. A final decision will be made by the Government, after the debates in the Parliament next week – the Dutch press announces. On the other hand, Sweden no longer opposes Romanias entry into the area of ​​free movement of people and goods. A vote on this topic was given in the Commission for European Affairs of the Swedish Parliament, based on a proposal made by the Executive. In Bucharest, the decision was welcomed by the Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă and the Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu. The only country that seems, at present, to have objections is Austria. The decision regarding the admittance of Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria into Schengen would be made at the meeting of the European Ministers of Interior and Justice on December 8, a unanimous vote being needed.



    Gaudeamus — Next week, the 29th edition of the Gaudeamus Book Fair, organized by Radio Romania, will take place in Bucharest. From Wednesday to Sunday, 200 participants will offer the public an extremely varied range of editorial products, on different supports, suitable for all ages and fields of interest, music and educational games. More than 600 editorial events and related projects have been announced. All stands will also be found in virtual format on the gaudeamus.ro website. Radio Romanias Gaudeamus book fair is financed by the Ministry of Culture.



    G7 – The G7 countries, together with Australia, agreed on Friday to cap the price of Russian oil at 60 dollars per barrel, after an agreement in this sense was previously reached by the 27 EU countries. The measure, whose objective is to reduce Russias income in the context of the war against Ukraine, is complementary to the European embargo on Russian oil imported by sea that comes into force on Monday. More specifically, through this capping measure, the EU forbids European companies involved in the delivery of Russian oil by sea (transportation, insurance, etc.) to offer their services, if the delivered oil exceeds the threshold of 60 dollars per barrel. The price of Russian oil is currently around 65 dollars per barrel, so this measure will have, at least for now, a limited impact on Russian oil exports. Moscow has already warned that it will not deliver oil to the countries that impose price caps. (LS)

  • Parking lots for the disabled

    Parking lots for the disabled

    We all know how
    stressful the rush for a free parking space can be, especially downtown or at
    the mall. That is why, we get so happy when we manage to find a space, even
    though sometimes that place is reserved for people with disabilities. Many say:
    I’ll only be five minutes, or these places are never taken anyway, because
    there are not so many disabled people who drive. Seriously? would say those
    who should normally benefit from these spaces. And that rhetorical question
    was the beginning of an awareness raising campaign, run by the Motivation
    Foundation, who works with and for people with locomotor disabilities. The
    foundation wishes to draw regular drivers’ attention to the importance of
    leaving this assigned spots free, for the disabled to be able to actually use
    them. This campaign, titled Seriously?, would like to eliminate at least part
    of the preconceived ideas about the lack of mobility of the disabled. Many of
    them are actually independent and active, and they drive or travel as
    passengers in vehicles adapted to their condition. And their number is much
    higher than the other people think, as Erika Garnier, a PR officer with the Motivation
    Foundation, told us. She gave us some statistical data, made available by the
    Romanian Automobile Register:


    In
    2017, some 1700 vehicles were adapted to be able to be driven by or carry
    people with disabilities, and that was only till October. By the end of the
    year, the figure must have grown. As compared to 2012, it grew five times. And
    that is evidence that the number of people with disabilities who are active is
    actually higher, people who want to be an active part of the life of the
    community. The disabled are first of all regular citizens, who have certain
    needs, which needs they should be able to meet and take part in all the
    activities that we normally do: to go shopping, driving, hang out with friends,
    all the things that we do on a regular basis. And for this thing to be
    possible, they need these dedicated parking spaces.


    Erika herself
    is a disabled person, but she is a driver too, and is many times faced with the
    situation in which she cannot find a place to park her car. What actually
    prompted the Seriously? campaign was this very situation, encountered every
    day, which can be prevented by means of information campaigns. Erika Garnier
    has a message for those who abusively take on the parking spaces reserved
    for people with disabilities:


    First of all, me and my colleagues who are in wheelchairs, and people with
    disabilities in general, need that dedicated parking spaces. So, we want to
    make it clear that any justification like: ‘I was in a hurry’, ‘It’ll only take
    five minutes’, or ‘that space was not taken anyway’ is by no means valid. And
    the fact that someone parks their car in such a place for five minutes, or
    because they are in a hurry, prevents someone who is disabled to do something
    absolutely natural, such as entering a building to do their shopping, or
    entering an office building, because they have an appointment.


    Also, it is very
    important to understand why these dedicated spaces are close to entrances and
    why they are wider than the other parking spaces. Speaking about that, here is
    Erika Garnier once again:


    When you’re in a wheelchair, you are less visible for somebody
    who is driving in reverse. Also, it is very important that the space be close
    to the building entrance. Moreover, you need more driving and maneuvering space
    so that you may get off the car while seated in a wheelchair. You cannot do
    that in a parking lot crammed with cars.


    Tudor Darvareanu
    is an instructor with the Motivation Foundation.Tudor has introduced
    himself as a very dynamic person, who loves sports, a person who carried on
    with his active life even after he got into a wheelchair. Tudor Darvareanu is a
    driver himself, and oftentimes he has been faced with the situation in which
    somebody with no disabilities took his dedicated parking space.

    Speaking about
    that, here is Tudor Darvareanu himself.


    I was lucky because I had a companion
    with me, who helped me find another parking space, somewhere at the far end of
    the parking lot, where there is more space. And there, I could park my car
    safely. First of all, it’s about lack of information and feeble awareness of
    the importance of parking spaces. You don’t see that many disabled persons
    driving a car, precisely because there are not very many properly arranged and
    accessible parking spaces.


    And that is not
    the only problem the disabled are faced with, whenever they want to move around
    town. Here is Tudor Darvareanu once again:


    First of all, it’s about parking, then there is how you can get access to a
    public institution. If we speak about moving around town, we speak about
    dedicated areas on the sidewalk and again about parking, since many park their
    cars right on the sidewalk, which means that by default, there’s not room left
    for somebody to move in a wheelchair. It’s about accessibility, in general.
    Then there’s also the problem of adapting the means of public transport.


    In Romania, the
    legislative act stipulating terms of accessibility to public buildings
    stipulates that 4% of the existing parking spaces are for people with
    disabilities. Also, Law 48 of 2000, promoting and protecting the rights of the
    disabled, stipulates fines for those who break the law and abusively park their
    cars in the areas dedicated to people with disabilities.