"PURPLE VEST MISSION" – LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND

We, at the Israel Accessibility Association, have been working wholeheartedly and professionally for over 20 years, to promote accessibility and integration, to make Israel accessible and integrated, for all types of disabilities and in all areas of life.

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In the last twenty years, we have developed many diverse projects to make Israel and the world more accessible and integrated. Along the way, we have accumulated a wealth of professional experience and insights that change lives.

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In the recent years the association has built an international community, which grows stronger every year, and includes experts, opinion leaders, decision makers, technologies, organizations and more from around the world, around accessibility and integration issues with the association being the center and leader of this ecosystem. As part of its activities abroad, the association has established contacts with officials in countries around the world. In addition, we have created an international network of contacts which is currently contacting us during assistance during assistance.

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Last December 3^rd hundreds of buildings and monuments around the world were lite in purple light in support of the International Day for the Rights of People with Disabilities and joining the call of Leaving no one behind.

Less than three months later the war in Ukraine hit us all by surprise and unfortunately this principle of leaving no one behind – in many cases was not kept and most of the people with disabilities and elderly in the Ukraine – found themselves helpless and facing even more challenges than the rest of their nation due to lack of accessible solutions in the evacuation process.

Many have shared they don’t believe and do not trust that there will be accessible assistance throughout the escape route and therefore they prefer staying back.

We want this feeling to change. Access Israel along with dozens of organizations and partners from all over the world are taking this purple symbolic color and using it to shot out – WE ARE COMMITTED TO LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND!! We are starting to spread the Purple Vest Mission bringing together amazing organizations each one continuing the task they took upon themselves – but now they will do so with some purple vest representatives who will undergo basic training on accessible evacuation and will connect to a network which will help each other provide flawless accessibility sequence in the evacuation process.

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With the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and receiving many in calls from the organizations operating in the battlefield and members of the refugee families, we realized that there are many organizations and individuals who saw the need and want to help Ukrainian Refugees in general and specifically those with disabilities and the elderly. However, in many cases these representatives on the ground understood they need more specific guidance and understanding what it means to be part of an ACCESSIBLE evacuation, in addition, we understood the importance of creating a sequence of connected organizations that with good communication and a systematic approach can together ensure we keep a sequence of accessibility throughout the evacuation process.

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Considering this, an accessible evacuation system was established by Access Israel in cooperation with Social Work Hub to provide a quick response to assist in the rescue operations of people with disabilities in combat areas and throughout the sequence.

The Operations Room of Access Israel serves as a control room and assists various organizations in the coordinating and professional guidance on accessible evacuation in the battlefield.

 For more information - please contact - Hila Ben david  :hilab@aisrael.org

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