SOCIETY

CIVIL SOCIETY: 276 PRACTICES


TOPIC:

Initiative

Accessible Routes in the Municipality of Athens for Persons with Visual or Motor Impairments

Accessible Routes in the Municipality of Athens for Persons with Visual or Motor Impairments
SUBMITTED FROM:

Non-Profit Civil Partnership "Me Alla Matia"

Non-Profit Civil Partnership “Me Alla Matia” was founded
in June 2018 by the blind lawyer Vaggelis Avgoulas and a group
of disabled young people, who were self-organized with the ultimate
goal of claiming inclusion and accessibility through social action.

It was implemented as an afterthought of the unique, fully accessible,
news portal meallamatia.gr, which started as a blog in 2011
and continues to be an excellent way of promoting the disabled,
so that they become more and more visible by society.

Vision

Elimination of the under-representation of disabled people
and the dimension of disability in public discourse and in Civil Society.

Main purpose

  • Providing social care and consulting services to persons from vulnerable social groups and their families
  • Implementing educational, corporate and cultural programs
  • Social and professional inclusion/rehabilitation of the socially excluded
  • Raising awareness of the daily life of the disabled


Contact

Objective Action

For the disabled:
• Creating framed and safe ways to navigate the city center for citizens with visual and motor impairments
• Improving the quality of life and autonomy of people with disability
• Active involvement of disabled people in the implementation of a project that concerns them
• Encourage people with disability to explore parts of the historic and modern center of the capital
• Feedback reception from route users for future correction of any changes

For the Municipality and the society in general:
• Dissemination of Athenian cultural heritage through the inclusion of cultural information on points of interest
• Promotion of inclusive practices in cultural landmarks
• Support of the Athenian market and entertainment by attracting English-speaking people with disability
• Emphasizing the accessibility of the Attica Metro
• Promotion of accessible tourism
• Enhancement of the ecological profile of the Municipality through the digital form of the guide
• Application of the modern principles of sustainable urban mobility

 

Target Audience

• People with visual impairments (Greek and English speakers)
• People with mobility impairments/wheelchair users (Greek and English speakers)
• People with visual and mobility impairments (e.g., seniors with canes)
• Escorts of disabled people
• Other people with reduced mobility (parents with baby strollers, people with temporary injuries, etc.)
• Interested Municipalities

 

Duration

The total duration of the implementation is approximately 18 months, with an official delivery time on December 3, 2021, when it was announced in the media.


Description

8 accessible itineraries (4 for people with visual impairments and 4 for people with mobility impairments) running through the center of Athens were traced by a focus group of disabled people, as well as by professionals who studied them in vivo, using their experience. These routes combine as many barrier-free points of interest as possible, keeping the obstacles of the built space limited. Particular emphasis was put on the interconnection of these points with the Metro of Athens while highlighting its accessibility. The points of interest were selected based on the cultural element and the modern urban character of the city. Accessible Routes include general accessibility information as provided by each point of interest. This is the first accessible, inclusive tourist guide that has been created for the capital to date, being available in Greek and English. We have to make clear that this is a pilot project; the goal is to enrich it in the future with additional routes in the Municipality of Athens, but also make it work as a motivating example for other Municipalities.


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Impact on Society

Employing their personal experience, members of the disabled community actively mapped the Athenian center; that way, they have encouraged other people with visual and mobility impairments to explore it themselves. The itineraries take into account the current limitations of the built space and infrastructure while highlighting opportunities for future improvement. Thus, people with limited mobility can now tour the city of Athens in a safe and accessible way using these routes independently, even without the mandatory presence of an escort. In addition, we have enabled feedback from the users of the guide, aiming to include the directly interested public and disseminate these routes to other areas in and out of the center.

As the itineraries include many points of cultural interest, the activity of disabled people towards culture is enhanced. People with limited mobility are often reluctant to visit such places due to the multiple constraints they usually face in their journey. Moreover, by cultivating connection with the landmarks of the capital, a disabled person can get to know the character of the city better and equally enjoy what it has to offer — either visiting it out of tourist interest or living in it. 

Our initiative already seems to have a real impact on improving the quality of life of disabled citizens. The online guide visits between December 3 (guide publication) - January 31 were more than 1500, indicating the project's dynamic. Since it is a non-fragmentary and sustainable initiative, it will remain at the disposal of the disabled indefinitely. Thus it is expected to be used even more after the drop of Covid-19 restrictions and the improvement of weather.

Regarding the Municipality, it is worth mentioning the obvious improvement in its social profile and the boosting of the local market promoted through the Accessible Routes. Permitting safer movement for a financially untapped group, this guide contributes to the growth of the local businesses. At the same time, both businesses and the Municipality are becoming more aware of accessibility issues, so that decisions can be made for action in this field beyond the private initiative.



Initiative Location

The routes cross the center of Athens, passing through important squares (Omonia, Syntagma, Monastiraki), cultural sites (Acropolis, Temple of Olympian Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium), neighborhoods (Psyrri, Agia Irini, Exarchia), and other important spots.


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Working with Organization

For the implementation of the initiative, we collaborated with the Municipality of Athens and This is Athens-Convention & Visitors Bureau.


Workers Participation

This project involved 9 disabled employees and 20 volunteers with and without disability. 


Benefits for Οrganization

Our organization has been able to maintain the jobs it has created for people with disability in recent years. At the same time, the project makes disability more visible in the public sphere, bringing us closer to our vision of eliminating the under-representation of the disabled.

The news about our initiative "Accessible Routes of the Municipality of Athens" was shared by a variety of domestic media, both in the form of articles and via interventions of the president of our NPO, Vaggelis Avgoulas, on radio shows. The promotion of this initiative boosted the traffic to our news portal meallamatia.gr, which reached 211,000 visitors for 2021, with a continuous upward trend.

Moreover, the "Accessible Routes" helped us expand our networking with organizations in Greece and abroad. Other Municipalities are already interested in implementing the initiative in their area; this led to the preparation of a new municipal program for our social enterprise, which will significantly contribute to our sustainability.




Connection with Global Goals







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