Entrepreneurs were able to experience for themselves what barriers people with disabilities face on a daily basis.
Today, August 9, about two dozen business representatives visited the Superhumans Center. Among them are hoteliers, representatives of shopping centers, pharmacies, gas stations. A special tour in wheelchairs was organized for them. All in order for entrepreneurs to be able to experience for themselves what barriers people with disabilities face, and to discuss with specialists how to make business accessible to all customers.
“We want to draw the attention of business representatives, hotel, restaurant or any other, to the issue of accessibility. After the war, we will have a country of people with disabilities, so we must now prepare our society to become accessible to all. Our institutions, for the most part, are not even equipped with ramps. Therefore, it is important that business representatives understand what it is like to sit in a wheelchair. Our task is to make restaurants, cinemas, pharmacies as accessible as possible for people with disabilities. This is the first such event held by Superhumans, but definitely not the last,” said Superhumans Center CEO Olga Rudneva.
First, the participants were given a short instruction on using the wheelchair, and then they tried to use the ramp, the elevator, and open/close the door on their own. It was forbidden to help oneself with one’s legs or get up from a chair.
Maksym Kozytskyi, head of Lviv OVA, also tried to sit in a wheelchair for the first time.
“In less than a year, the Superhumans Center was able to do something incredible: a whole system of rehabilitation and prosthetics for our military and civilians was developed here. Patients are already driving vehicles with a prosthetic arm or jumping rope with one bionic leg. People who come here get a chance to feel like superhumans. Our task is to do everything to make them feel like superhumans not only at the Superhumans Center, but in every corner of Ukraine. When I got into a wheelchair, I realized how many challenges people with disabilities have, which, at first glance, are imperceptible: from the lack of ramps, to too high bars, behind which a person cannot be seen. Our goal is that in every city and village of our region, everyone can easily get where they want to go: to educational institutions, transport, state structures, medical facilities, cultural and recreational facilities. So that people are hired based solely on their skills and knowledge.
We are working to make Lviv Oblast a region of equal opportunities for all people, in accordance with the National Strategy for Creating a Barrier-Free Space in Ukraine by 2030. I call on communities to join the realization of barrier-freeness with concrete steps and decisions. You can count on the support of the Lviv OVA in this,” emphasized the head of the Lviv Oblast.
Important: French and Ukrainian doctors at the Superhumans Center operate free of charge on people with facial injuries.
Superhumans Center is equipped specifically for the needs of people with disabilities. You can enter the clinic in two ways – by directly using the ramp or lift (if the patient has a triple amputation of limbs. During the tour, the business owners inspected the training rooms for patients and talked with them.
“Our brigade was hit by mortar shelling. After my injury, my wife and I started looking for a clinic for prosthetics. We came across the Superhumans Center, filled out the questionnaire and received an answer very quickly. At the end of May, I came for reamputation, they performed surgery. Now I am on the third day of standing on a prosthesis, but before that I moved around in a wheelchair. I can say that it is difficult. When I left the store, I had to get up, open the door, sit back down, and the door was unlocked and closed. From the third time, it was only possible to drive in. It is very important that there are ramps and minimal thresholds, because it is very difficult for a wheelchair user to jump over thresholds, and you can even fall over if you have little experience. Our roads and sidewalks are in holes, this makes it very difficult for people to move,” shared Oleg Spodin, a 31-year-old serviceman of the 14th OMBr.
At the end of the excursion, a lecture was organized for entrepreneurs, during which the main stereotypes about people with disabilities and the basic rules of communication with them were highlighted.
“We have a lot of stereotypes about people with disabilities. We mistakenly generalize them all under the category of “burden for the family” or “object of charity”, or “they are different”. Ukraine is changing, so we must also change our thinking about people. Personally, I have been in a chair since I was 21 years old and I don’t like being pitied because it degrades my human dignity. You can, of course, help by opening the door for the person in the chair, help get somewhere in the absence of a ramp, but without pity. We must encourage our society, our business to become barrier-free. People should pay attention to this during the construction of new facilities, residential buildings, and shops,” Ulyana Pcholkina, the leader of the NGO “Group of Active Rehabilitation” and the accessibility consultant of the Superhumans Center, emphasized.