In the district, "real participation should be a matter of course". A story of three people who are still excluded five years later.
District - On a rainy May day Gregor Schlicksbier sits in his squeaky blue wheelchair in front of the entrance to the house of the associations in Zorneding. On the notice on the facade is advertising for offers from the adult education center. Many events take place in this house. Schlicksbier, 57, cannot participate: The former school building of the municipality is not barrier-free. The wheelchair user pulls a cigarette. "We people with disabilities want to participate in normal life," he says.
It's not just the ten centimeter high concrete slab in front of the entrance. The trouble starts 50 meters ahead. There, Schlicksbier, who has been in a wheelchair since a stroke, has to go to the sidewalk. "But it is often parked by cars," says Schlicksbier, and he is also Zorneding's representative for the disabled. This is a problem for him because the curb in front of the house is not lowered. There is a boardroom on the ground floor, but "it doesn't even get there". The rooms on the upper floors: unreachable. Schlicksbier does not want to speak of the S-Bahn stations: Markt Schwaben, Poing and Zorneding are not barrier-free.
Gregor Schlicksbier is one of over 10,000 severely disabled people
Gregor Schlicksbier is one of over 10,000 severely disabled people in the district. 686 people with severe disabilities live in the municipality of Zorneding alone, according to figures from the district office. That is over seven percent of the local population.
The topic of inclusion has a high priority for the district, that is in the demographic concept of the district office of 2015. In the past, the authority spent over 1.1 million euros for the barrier-free conversion of the district schools. A look at the demographic concept also shows that many of the goals you have set yourself have not been achieved. One measure from the concept: "Each municipality should have its own disability officer." Five years later, this is not the case: nine of the 21 municipalities still do not have an officer. Incidentally, the barrier-free expansion is the responsibility of the municipalities.
Another measure that has been decided is the “wheelmap”. It is a map with wheelchair accessible places in the district, it is maintained by different places. Wheelmap should be made known and promoted in the district. If you click on the link to the map on the website of the district authority, you will end up in nowhere. "Error 504."
Anton Schneid has a democracy problem
Anton Schneid has another problem, a democracy problem. Schneid, 65, retired, Zornedinger, has been deaf since he was six years old after a meningitis. He can speak, sometimes other people don't understand him. He wanted to be set up for the local council last year. But who pays the sign interpreter in the event of an election? Local community? District? Free State? After careful consideration, it left Schneid. "The problem is that sign language interpreters are not always readily available," he says. You had to plan ahead for months.
An interpreting hour costs 75 euros
There are 15,000 deaf people in Bavaria and only “just over 100 interpreters,” says an employee of the Bavarian Association of the Deaf. An interpreter hour costs 75 euros, plus travel time and kilometer flat rate. A deaf council member has to pay the costs himself because a council like in Zorneding is honorary, says an employee of the district association of hearing impaired Upper Bavaria.
In Zorneding, Schneid knows six other deaf people, and he estimates the number in the entire district to be between 50 and 100. The problem: In the district, people with communication difficulties have no lobby. "I lack deaf associations here." So far, many have not wanted to fight for their concerns: Deaf people are "modest" supporters, says Schneid. This is now the end: "We want acceptance as an equal citizen."
After all, there were already interpreters at the town meetings
Schneid wants sign language interpreters in the public council meetings and better trained staff in the town hall and district office. After all, there were already interpreters at the town meetings in Zorneding.
Daniel Weil, 44, from Ebersberg has been blind since his birth. His way to work leads past traffic lights every weekday. Many of the plants in Ebersberg do not have so-called blind signaling devices, says Weil. Traffic lights on state roads in particular are often not equipped with it. There is an important traffic light without a signal generator on Münchener Straße in Ebersberg, not far from the district clinic and a senior center.
Slow-moving e-cars and cars with Stop & Go technology are a problem
Traffic lights without a blind signal switch usually switch after ten to twelve seconds, says the employee of the district office. He hears cars when they stop. This way he knows when he can cross the street. Slow-moving e-cars and cars with stop & go technology are a problem for men: the engine switches off at the traffic lights, because Weil doesn't hear him.
Daniel Weil is also a witness of how much has been done in his city and elsewhere in the district. "30 years ago there wasn't a single traffic light with a signal transmitter in Ebersberg," he says. Calls to the then mayor changed that. His way to work, a good kilometer long, was equipped with signal systems.
"These restrictions live people with disabilities every day"
Schlicksbier, Schneid, Weil - the corona crisis with distance rules and hygiene regulations and other cuts makes their lives more difficult. "Every citizen was able to experience the limits of public participation and strong restrictions," says Gregor Schlicksbier. "People with disabilities live these restrictions every day".
