World Disability Day, Enough! Open letter
Disability, aids and subsidies. Petition
20th November 2022
Violence against disabled women, the Oscad report
9 December 2022
Also this year the newspapers remember, December 3, the world day of disability. And the politicians of the moment, starting with the President of the Italian Republic, recite a short sermon in memory of the most 'fragile', 'weak', 'needy'. Thats enough!
Weakness is only in the eyes of those who observe it from afar, to keep their distance from those who suffer and/or have suffered. Those who are close to people with various disabilities and frailties know their extraordinary strength and dignity. We don't need compassion but we need to apply the laws that have been in force for decades.
We focus on the theme of accessibility, the first requirement of an inclusive society where everyone - regardless of their physical, sensory and neurological conditions - can live and move independently, without barriers. Open letter.
1) Disabled and elderly people in Italy, data and trends
The latest ISTAT report – with a large approximation by default, given the lack of data from the regional and local health systems (1) – refers to 3,150 million people with disabilities, equal to 5,2% of the resident population in Italy.
The beautiful country stands out – among the 27 EU Member States – both for the incidence and for the trends growing elderly population:
- young people (0-14 years) are at 13%, the minimum share in Europe (15,1% the EU average),
- the average age of adults, 47,2 years, is the highest (the average age in the EU is 43,9 years),
- The over-65 are 23,2%, at the peak of European statistics (20,6% the EU average figure),
- The over-80 represent 7,4% of the population in Italy (5,9% the EU average).
The EFSA and ECDC's One Health report among people of working age and the elderly it is less than 3 to 1, as retirees make up 36% of working and unemployed people. Another Italian record (Eurostat. See note 2).
2) Architectural barriers and accessibility
The serious problems to be addressed in order to guarantee the dignity and quality of life of disabled and elderly people are largely the responsibility of state and regional institutions. (3) In addition to the European ones, in turn on the high seas. (4)
The 7.904 Italian Municipalities moreover, they have the responsibility of applying a couple of laws hitherto disregarded by almost all of them, 30 years after their promulgation.
With particular regard to:
– architectural barriers. By 1.3.1987 all the Municipalities of Italy should have adopted the PEBA, Plans for the Elimination of Architectural Barriers. Hardly anyone has done so and, however, there is no news of their commissioning, which the Regions and autonomous Provinces should have done in case of omission (law 41/1986), (5)
- accessibility. Local authorities should also have had to remove any obstacle to the accessibility of public and private infrastructures and services, including under concession (law 104/92). Between these:
- public and private buildings open to the public,
- private buildings (through adaptation of building regulations),
- collective public and private transport,
- sports, tourist and recreational activities,
- bathing facilities. (5)
3) Accessibility in private buildings open to the public
The Presidential Decree 6.6.01 n. 380 (Consolidated building text), with regard to the elimination or overcoming of architectural barriers in public and private buildings open to the public, states that 'all the works done in public and private buildings open to the public contrary to the provisions in force regarding accessibility and the elimination of architectural barriers, in which the differences are such as to make it impossible for disabled people to use the building, are declared uninhabitable (Art. 82.6).
4) Private residential construction
The law 9.1.1989 no. 13 (and following regulations) regulates design without architectural barriers in residential construction (newly constructed private buildings, renovations, pertinent and access external spaces).
'Projects relating to the construction of new buildings, or the renovation of entire buildings, including those of public, subsidized and subsidized residential construction, presented after six months from the entry into force of this law, are drawn up in compliance with the technical prescriptions established by the paragraph 2.
2. Within three months of the entry into force of this law, the Minister of Public Works establishes with his own decree the technical prescriptions necessary to guarantee the accessibility, adaptability and visitability of private buildings and public, subsidized and facilitated [v. DM 14.6.89 n. 236].
3. The design must in any case include:
a) technical devices suitable for the installation of mechanisms for access to the upper floors, including stair lifts;
b) suitable accesses to the common parts of the buildings and to the individual real estate units; c) at least one level access, ramps without steps or suitable lifting means;
d) the installation, in the case of properties with more than three levels above ground, of a lift for each main staircase reached by ramps without steps.
4. It is mandatory to attach to the project the declaration of the qualified professional of compliance of the documents with the provisions adopted pursuant to this law'(art. 1.1).
5) Liability of Municipalities
Municipalities they are also required to provide interventions and services aimed at guaranteeing:
– care and support for social integration (day and residential centres, framework law 328/2000). There is no need to recall what has already emerged from the horrors of the news during the pandemic,
– personal mobility of people with disabilities. Municipalities have a duty to guarantee the personal mobility of disabled people, at affordable costs, to allow them to participate in an inclusive society. Mere utopia, with all due respect to the UN Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, article 20 (law 18/2009. See note 6).
6) Unresolved troubles
Architectural barriers they are ubiquitous in Italy, due to the absolute irresponsibility of any political area that has governed every municipality in Italy that is obliged to plan their elimination. From Rome Capital to the smallest villages (7,8).
98% of schools, including municipal ones, is inaccessible to pupils with sensory disabilities. 68% of schools are also inaccessible to students with motor disabilities (ISTAT 2020. See note 9) And universities are not doing any better. We envy developing countries, where at least the classrooms are often on the ground floor.
Public transport are still inaccessible, to a very large extent:
- at an urban level, even in large cities such as Genoa or Rome (5,10),
– at the intercity level, both coaches and trains,
- 83% of Italian railway stations are still inaccessible, while the seats reserved on trains for people with disabilities vary between 0 and 1,2%. (11)
As for the care services and assistance for social integration, we limit ourselves to underlining how the related investments vary significantly on a geographical basis. And their shortage translates into serious hardship for families with disabled people, already more exposed to severe material deprivation. Especially in the South. (12)
7) 10,5 million people
9 million over-65 in Italy, equal to 59,9% of the category, has mobility limitations due to health conditions (31,5%. 5,136 million approx.) or serious motor, sensory or cognitive limitations (28,4%, 3,860 million approx. ISTAT 2021). (13). About 1,5 million disabled people – the under-75, out of a total of 3,150 million people with disabilities, are added to the 9 million mentioned above.
Urgent needs mentioned above therefore concern 1 out of 6 residents in Italy, in line with the WHO global data on the prevalence of disabilities. To which are added various forms of fragility, not always visible and rarely - or perhaps never - considered in statistical processing. Even if prevalent, among the sequelae of tumors and various other diseases.
8) 75% bonus for removing architectural barriers
the 2022 it will be remembered as the first year in which the budget of the Italian Republic allocated some funds for the removal of architectural barriers, the expenses of which were made deductible in 5 years to the extent of 75%.
The bonus it must be renewed with attention to its true objectives:
– not a rain bonus for anyone who decides to redo the bathroom at the expense of the state with the justification of the 'accessible floor-level shower', but
– a bonus linked to the guarantee of accessibility of the entire property, certified by a qualified professional (or self-certified by a person with a disability who lives and/or works there),
– with the guarantee, for persons with disabilities who request it, of being able to transfer the tax credit to state-owned economic entities, without any advance payment. (14)
Dario Dongo
Note
(1) ISTAT (2019). Report Knowing Disability. Eurostat (2019). Disability statistics, poverty and income inequalities. v. https://www.egalite.org/conoscere-la-disabilita-rapporti-istat-ed-eurostat/
(2) Eurostat (2021). Population structure and ageing. Data updated on 1.1.20. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Population_structure_and_ageing
(3) Dario Dongo. International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3.12.20. Open letter. Égalité,
(4) Sabrina Bergamini, Dario Dongo. Disability, the 'new' European strategy 2021-2030. Égalité. 12.3.21,
(5) On architectural barriers and systematic non-application of the laws in force, see the previous article https://www.egalite.org/genova-dopo-il-ponte-le-barriere-architettoniche-appello-al-sindaco-e-denuncia-allamt/. On beaches and seaside activities, see also https://www.egalite.org/la-lista-delle-spiagge-senza-barriere-e-con-sedia-a-rotelle-anfibia/
(6) Personal mobility of the disabled, the duties of the public administration defined in the UN Convention. V. https://www.egalite.org/mobilita-personale-dei-disabili-diritti-negati-e-blackout-a-roma/
(7) Vanessa Ciccarelli. Plan for the Elimination of Architectural Barriers, 34 years late. Reporting in Rome. Égalité. 27.3.20,
(8) Albertina Pretto. Historic cities, accessibility problems in Italy. Égalité. 27.3.21,
(9) Istat (2020). The school inclusion of pupils with disabilities, school year 2018/2019. v. https://www.egalite.org/2-scuole-su-3-inaccessibili-agli-alunni-con-disabilita-rapporto-istat/. The same data on the inaccessibility of schools was confirmed in the 2019-2020 school year. See ISTAT (2021). The school inclusion of pupils with disabilities. https://bit.ly/3EOYbyy
(10) On the inaccessibility of the subways, see the example of ATAC Rome https://www.egalite.org/disabili-inaccessibilita-metropolitana-roma-ennesima-denuncia-alla-procura/
(11) On trains and apartheid, see previous report. On public transport and disability, see also the latest hoax and the related appeal to Minister Enrico Giovannini
(12) ISTAT (2019). Know the world of disability. ISBN 978-88-458-2005-2. https://bit.ly/2Zyl6Oz
(13) Persons with disabilities and their families are the most exposed to risks of absolute poverty and social exclusion. The tax credit can be a useless measure for many of them, in the absence of an equally tax debt. It is therefore necessary to ensure the security of the assignment of this claim
(14) ISTAT (2021). The health conditions of the elderly population in Italy, 2019 data. https://bit.ly/3AHrEYP
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
