Brief: A social event under the theme “Equal Access In Public Space” was developed for disabled people actively fighting for the right to a normal life.
Action: Three players from the team Motivation Romania and three people from media field played a friendly basketball game, each of them in a wheelchair. The match, organized by Active Watch, Motivation Romania and Light into Europe, took place in October, in AFI Palace Cotroceni. The well-known voice of Cristian Ţopescu made the game possible to be followed even for people with visual impairments.
The sports competition was part of “Borderless”, an accessibility awareness campaign. The campaign aims to gradually increase public space accessibility for people with disabilities in Romania.
Romania is facing a real problem in terms of the accessibility’s degree for the environment and information. Active Watch, together with More Than Pub, by previous actions, has already proved that Romania is not accessible for people with disabilities: sidewalks and public transportation stations surface are not adapted to allow climbing or lowering persons in wheelchairs, are not equipped with traffic lights buzzer in most intersections. In addition, the websites of public authorities have not been made accessible so far to allow access to information for people with visual impairments or psychosocial disabilities.
Brought together, in a basketball game, people in wheelchairs and public communicators speeded the news: people with disabilities may be more skilled than others, even in sport. Persons with disabilities have also the right to have access to school, to work or to vote! They not suppose to meet activity limitations and participation restrictions but rather put their potential, their talents and dedication in benefit of society. The event was a real successful one and, as a feedback, the petition started on the official website of association has reached an incredible number of supporters.