In Sochi, disabled people report lack of barrier-free access to sea

In Sochi, members of public organizations of disabled persons call on the authorities to pay attention to the unavailability of the sea for people with disabilities. Officials from the Mayor's Office argue that the city has developed and operates the "Barrier-free Sochi" map; however, disabled persons themselves argue that the barrier-free accesses to the sea marked on the map do not really exist.

On August 19, at the meeting with the City Mayor concerning to the issues to provide assistance to disabled people, Pavel Zhestovsky, the Chairman of the public organization "All-Russian Society of Disabled People", raised the issue of the accessibility of the sea for people with disabilities and, in particular, the issue of lack of ramps to the sea.

The map handed over to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by members of the society of disabled people, indicates all three barrier-free accesses to the beaches on the entire Sochi coast length of 145 km.

Wheelchair user Ivan Maslov from Moscow said that he and his family members travelled by car from Lazarevskoe to Adler and found no single access to the sea on public beaches.

Officials from the city administration have failed to mention the reasons explaining why during the holiday season, Sochi is not equipped along the coast with ramps leading from the seafront to the sea. The officials have only noted that they are "working for it" and that "the ramps should be arranged by tenants of the public beaches."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.