18 February 2021, Thursday, 11:20 149

UN Praises Social Cohesion Project To Provide Barrier-Free Environment For The Deaf

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

The United Nations has highly appreciated the Social Cohesion non-governmental movement project aimed at providing a barrier-free environment for people with disabilities.

That follows from a statement by the Social Cohesion movement, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted the public organization's successful experience and called on the Ukrainian authorities to implement it nationwide.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, following the UN Monitoring Mission's work, published a report that assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with disabilities.

The document notes that during the pandemic in Ukraine, the access of people with disabilities to healthcare, rehabilitation, education, social protection, etc., was significantly limited.

At the same time, the UN drew attention to non-governmental organizations' initiatives engaged in creating a barrier-free environment, thus helping people with disabilities fully integrate into society (Item 23 of the Report).

This concerns the project that was implemented by the Social Cohesion movement in Kharkiv in 2020.

Within the framework of the project entitled Country without Barriers for the Deaf, in cooperation with the Kharkiv City Council, an online sign language translation service was introduced in all medical institutions of the city.

Social Cohesion has provided hospitals with tablets running software that provides 24/7 access to real-time sign language interpreters.

In other words, the deaf and hard of hearing people can use a sign language interpreter's services at any time of the day and thus receive prompt medical assistance.

"As an example of a promising practice, it is necessary to mention the actions of the Kharkiv City Council, which in March 2020 started to introduce an online sign language translation service in all city-based medical institutions," the report says.

Svitlana Manukian, a member of the supervisory board of Social Cohesion, confirmed the importance of the principle of social responsibility in all spheres of public life.

"The pandemic and quarantine restrictions have become a challenge for everyone, especially for the deaf and hard of hearing people. In our organization, we decided to create a truly barrier-free environment for such people. We are successfully introducing projects allowing such people not to struggle in situations such as going to the store and talking to the cashier, calling an ambulance, or the police by phone. As a guideline, we rely on the UN Sustainable Development Goals: protecting all rights and freedoms of people with disabilities and ensuring their implementation," she said.

Manukian stressed that the development of modern society implies a high level of social responsibility.

In her opinion, this principle should become the basis of both state policy and business and social activities.

Based on the successful cooperation between Social Cohesion and the Kharkiv City Council, the Office of the High Commissioner recommended that the government, regional and local authorities implement this project.

The Office noted the need to develop a standard procedure for providing people with hearing impairments with online medical advice.

Besides, the UN called on the authorities to provide people with hearing impairments with the opportunity to receive the necessary information in a form convenient for them.