2024-01-16 03:30:00
The busiest public space in the city of Córdoba is, without a doubt, the sidewalk. Any sidewalk, in a neighborhood or on a downtown street. The most likely result is that its deterioration will be noticeable to the naked eye. But the Municipality has not intimated the frontists for a long time, nor does it assume its responsibility.
The issue takes on an unusual gravity if we think regarding the specific people who are prevented from moving because they encounter destroyed ramps, broken tiles, debris, exposed and protruding pipes, unevenness due to tree roots, or different types of public works. or private ones that reduce the width of the sidewalks to a minimum.
Common sense would say that, faced with these obstacles, the only alternative is to avoid them, jump over them, go down to the street for a moment. But not all of us can do it. Can a baby’s stroller be taken out onto the street? A wheelchair? Can a person with crutches, cane or walker do it? What does a blind person do in these circumstances? There are many cases, then, in which the slightest deficiency of a sidewalk becomes insurmountable for countless citizens.
Having made the general statement, let’s focus on the particular case of people who have motor disabilities. A journalist from this newspaper toured an area of the Nueva Córdoba neighborhood accompanying Gianna Mastrolinardo, a member of Orgullo Disca and the Disability and Human Rights Working Group. Gianna reflected on her experience: “People with disabilities have to get used to doing an exercise of overadaptation, which implies assuming that there are things that we will not be able to foresee,” which means being at the mercy of the unforeseeable.
Would those of us who do not have this disability accept having to face the unforeseeable every time we move around the city on foot? Not being able to overcome the obstacle that appears unexpectedly means frustration, since it imposes a new limit: something that should be perfectly possible becomes impossible. Or, in the best of cases, it can mean that one has to undo what has been done and take a new, longer path to reach the destination.
Law 24,314 establishes the conditions of accessibility of people with reduced mobility to public spaces. It determines, for example, the obligation to eliminate “physical barriers in urban architectural and transportation areas.” For this reason, it establishes that the ramps must be built with non-slip materials “without projections or openings that allow people with canes or wheelchairs to trip,” and with an inclination “that allows the passability, use and safety of people with disabilities.” reduced mobility.”
Córdoba has adhered to this law. But ramps are not on every corner; and where they are, it is common that they are poorly built, that part of their surface is in poor condition or that they are affected by unevenness that makes them dangerous.
For every law that is not followed, there are people who cannot enjoy their rights. The Municipality must assume its responsibility and enforce the law.
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