Odesa's Inclusive Tour for Wheelchair Users Highlights Accessibility Improvements

Guide Evgeniy Grinkevich led a tour for people with disabilities in wheelchairs through the center of Odesa, thus testing the city center for inclusiveness.

An Intent correspondent went along with the tour participants.

This time, Yevhen Hrinkevych led the tourists from Hretska Square along Hretska Street, and from there to Evropeiska Street and along it to Deribasovska Street.

As one of the participants of the tour, Andriy, noted, he was interested and it was easier to move around the city than, for example, in Lviv, where he felt uncomfortable because of the cobblestones.

"I liked the tour, and we drove through more or less accessible places. I learned a lot of interesting things. In general, the accessibility of the center is 50-50. I have already found routes that are convenient for me to get around and I use them," he said.

The tour was also attended by city council members Lilia Leonidova and Oleksiy Osaulenko. The deputies expressed their opinions in different ways. For example, according to Lilia Leonidova, the city council cares about accessibility and does a lot to ensure it.

"The city is doing a lot for accessibility, but some locations need to be improved," she said.

Instead, according to Oleksiy Asaulenko, the municipality should involve people in wheelchairs as much as possible to monitor the accessibility of sidewalks and roads in the city.

"Monitoring should be done with people in wheelchairs, because they know what to look for! For example, water drains where new tiles are laid should be covered with narrow grates for easy passage! We think it's not scary, but it's actually a real problem! And if the sidewalk is uneven or missing tiles, it's also dangerous!" he emphasized.

The previous tour was conducted with the representative of the Government Commissioner for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Odesa Regional State Administration, public figure Oleh Sokolov in May 2024. At that time, the tourists walked from Soborna Square to Deribasivska Street, from there through the city garden to Hohol Street and on to Shatsk Palace. Even then, problems were identified along the route, which have now been mostly fixed.

Кирило Бойко