It is essential that all political parties, all local councils and all the relevant authorities give due importance to the improvement of accessibility in order to enable physical access for mobility impaired persons in all aspects. These include buggy, pram and wheelchair users with regard to all types of public transport and public areas such as pavements and beaches. One should also consider making the necessary modifications to the existing infrastructure.
The newly elected government should allot the necessary funds and resources to improve the current situation. One can mention that currently there are only around 25 per cent of the public buses that are low floor, and there are many popular beaches where wheelchair users are unable to have access down to the waterline.
Major public beaches such as Għadira, Golden Bay, Marsalforn and Birżebbuġa are not accessible for wheelchair users, and there are no publicly set target dates when such measures are to be implemented. Disabled children, their siblings, carers and parents just cannot enjoy our sea like others!
According to the Beaches and Swimming Pools section of Access for All Design Guidelines issued by the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (page 71), beaches should be provided with paths that can easily be used by persons using a wheelchair from accessible entrance areas to all areas of the beach to the waterline. Facilities should be provided to allow persons with disability, particularly wheelchair users, safe and easy access to the water.
Such access to the waterline of all public beaches ought to be provided at the earliest. A solution could be the use of wooden pathways from the beach entrance ramp to the waterline similar to that at Golden Bay installed from the steps of the hotel restaurant to the waterline. This would involve minor expense but would be appreciated by all including tourists.
There are still many cases in which mobility impaired disabled students cannot attend school activities with their peers. Parents often have to transport their children to and back from school daily (in cases of Church schools) and others are finding it difficult to attend educational institutions such as sixth form and university due to lack of frequent public accessible buses.
Considering that the size of Malta is a minor fraction of London and that all public buses in this city are fully accessible, full accessibility in Malta may not just be a dream but can be implemented within a few years if the authorities agree to this.
Quoting from Issue 13 of the August 2007 Forum Malta fl-Ewropa newsletter, "Around 10 per cent of the EU population is affected by reduced mobility - these are mainly disabled and elderly people, while others are unable to walk long distances as often required in modern airports". Considering 10 per cent of the Maltese population is in need of such improvements, this is quite significant considering the minor percentage difference by which one party supersedes the other in the general elections.
It is useless to have rights on paper for an inclusive society when in practice these are not fully implemented. Charity should begin at home and full accessibility is something from which all stand to gain. There should be equal opportunities for all!