Architectural Barrier Elimination Plan (PEBA), 34 years late in Rome. Reportage
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«Rome is a miracle, the Eternal Father himself helped to create it. Yet I go to New York and I visit it all in wheelchairs, I come back here and I am incarcerated at home». Henry Ricci is a genuine Roman architect, born and raised in via Napoleone III. Struck by polio when he was still a baby, he was forced to live in a wheelchair.
The responsibility of public administrations
Enrico is part ofAccessibility Observatory - Universal Design of the Order of Architects of Rome, which studies and promotes accessibility and the overcoming of architectural barriers for all, here in Rome.
«Mine is not a battle, but a goal to be achieved. The Observatory was created for a common need: to monitor, train professionals and not, to comply with our regulations. We, people with disabilities, have some incredible laws, some of the best in Europe, but the problem is that they are not enforced. The biggest culprits? Public administrations. Everyone thinks they know a lot, most don't know anything»Says Enrico Ricci.
Which continues: "living Rome is difficult, many commercial activities, such as bars, restaurants, but also museums, hospitals, do not have ramps to access. The streets of the historic center are paved with cobblestones. Sidewalks don't have slides, yes they are forced to "walk" in the middle of the street between bus and taxi ».
The right to mobility, argues Ricci, is denied to the disabled: “If you take away this right from me, you force me to live in prison within the four walls of your home. Practically you deprived me of a fundamental right: the freedom to live my life».
Piano Peba, 34 years late
There would be a solution. It is called Peba, Plan for the elimination of architectural barriers, and was introduced in 1986 with law no. 41. All the municipalities of Italy must implement it, under penalty of commissioning by the Region. The problem? Thirty-four years have passed and in Rome it has not yet been realized.
«We are like sentinels - says Dario, a lawyer and human rights researcher -, we could also be used for pollution, because we are always sitting and therefore we have our noses closer to the exhaust pipes».
Dario Dongo lives in Rome, he has been disabled for five years following a serious diving accident in the seas of Greece. «Rome is for me the most beautiful city in the world but life for a disabled person is very difficult here. We are ghosts, we strive to attract the attention of institutions but also of able-bodied people ".
According to Dongo, the inattention of politics reflects a cultural issue: "Being disabled is a complex role in a society that is not used to accepting the imperfect. There seems to be a trend more towards exclusion than integration of the disabled". "We must fightHe concludes.
The struggle of the Disability Pride
There are those who try to do it with a public event like the Disability Pride that holds the top spot. "We always talk about work, immigration, and never about disability", he claims Carmelo Comisi, one of the promoters of the initiative. "We bring to the attention of civil society not only the problems of the disabled, but sexuality, daily life, education. How? With events».
The project is ambitious: to create a supranational body that unites all the activists of the Disability Pride, a bit like the older brothers of the Gay Pride. But the world of disability is different from the LGBT one, because the rights in this case are already established, but are not put into practice.
«My life was turned upside down by an accident, which took place 23 years ago on the roads of south-eastern Sicily. From that moment on I said: “Okay, I'm quadriplegic"".
Meanwhile, Carmelo took a degree in moral philosophy and bought a house in Rome to carry on his battle. "Many who dominated the world, including Italian politics, were people who are not physically able". But perhaps it is easier to dominate the world than to be able to move freely around Rome.
Trains prohibited for the disabled
It is a late afternoon in January, the train from Piazzale Flaminio makes its usual run to Viterbo. We are on the second busiest suburban section in Italy. According to the Pendolaria report, produced by Legambiente, about seventy-five thousand people flock to these tracks every year. Among the passengers there are disabled people, workers, students.
Fabrizio Bonanni, president of the "North Rome committee", tells of the inconveniences of the trip. "The Flaminio station is not suitable for the disabled, the climb on the train is half a meter high. We are on a cattle wagon. We, "Serie B" commuters. Because “Serie A” commuters, practically those who return to the urban route, fare a little better. The rides are more frequent, there are fewer line cancellations". A problem for everyone, but especially for the disabled.
Rome for everyone
«I am Roman and I believe that Rome is a fantastic city, but I am convinced that it must be for everyone. Giving people with reduced mobility the ability to "access" must be the law and that's my jobHe claims Andrea Venuto, disability manager of Roma Capitale.
After thirty-four years of waiting, the Peba could soon be implemented in Rome. Its realization will be a great challenge, because the surface of the city is equivalent to eleven times that of Paris. A single municipality in Rome is equivalent to a medium-large municipality in Italy. The seventh municipality alone, for example, has 400 inhabitants.
«These elimination plans for architectural barriers will be declined in the plural. Each municipality - supported by the central office of Roma Capitale - will be the author of its own Peba. Guidelines will be distributed on how the plan is put into practice and what it is».
The administration's goal is "gradually transform urban spaces with a new global vision of an inclusive community, within the reach of all citizens. Also for the temporarily disabled, pregnant women, the elderly, children»Concludes Venuto.
The first pilot project will start from the XII town hall and a permanent Peba Observatory will soon be established. The administration ensures that everything will change. But Enrico Ricci, the man who accompanied us to the discovery of Rome, doubts that his city will soon become like New York, where everyone is free. 'Rome for all is a Rome for all!'.
Vanessa Ciccarelli
The #SediaIntelligente project by Égalité
The #SediaIntelligente project carried on by Égalité, it aspires to the non-profit industrial production of super-light suspension wheelchairs equipped with a front wheel with an electric motor, easy to attach and detach with one hand. To allow all people with motor disabilities (soon also quadriplegics, to whom the development of a special version is dedicated) to at least partially address the ubiquitous architectural barriers and promote their personal mobility. ▶ To contribute at the start of industrial production of the #SediaIntelligente, you are all invited to make a donation, even a symbolic one, 100% deductible (or deductible, for institutions), by following the link https://www.produzionidalbasso.com/project/smart-wheelchair/. With a prayer to spread the word, to raise the funds necessary to transform the project into a personal mobility device accessible to all. Let's get infected with Good! Thank you! Dario Dongo |
26 years old from Naples. She is a journalist by passion and profession, author of the blog www.blulife.it, she has been collaborating with various newspapers for ten years. She graduated from "La Sapienza" University in Media, Digital Communication and Journalism, she is now a specialist at the Lelio e Lisli Basso School of Journalism in Rome.
