Municipal engineers and architects have learned about municipal accessibility in a conference held by the association
On September 14th, 2017, Access Israel Association held a professional conference on the issue of Municipal Accessibility; participants included approximately 150 municipal engineers, municipal architects, city planner board engineers, deputy municipal engineers, accessibility coordinators, accessibility licensed, engineers and architects, who came to learn, understand and acquire practical tools about accessibility, as well as update on new legislation and future trends.
The conference took place in the presence of Hod HaSharon Mayor, Hai Adivi, and the Ministry of Law commissioner for equality for people with disabilities, Avrami Torem, who spoke in the opening of the conference (the gist of their speeches follows).
The conference was held with participation of the Federation of Local Authorities and the Israeli Association of Municipal Engineers and Hod HaSharon Municipality, with commissioners for equality for people with disabilities. The topics of the professional speeches that were in the conference are as follows:
- Smart and accessible city – Yuval Wagner, head of Access Israel
- Improving the public space accessibility – Adler Iris Gorel, equality for people with disabilities commissioner.
- Accessible local municipality – accessible local municipality model – Neta Rotman – head of accessibility department, and an accessibility licensed from Access Israel Association.
- Panel – Dealing with the urban space – people with disabilities
- Legal issues regarding municipal accessibility – Attorney Michal Shik Hartov – head of the legal department in Access Israel Association.
- The role and involvement of the accessibility licensed in promoting an accessible city – Edri Meir Atedgi, accessibility licensed of buildings, interface environment and service.
- Accessible projects panel – designated accessibility projects.
Yuval Wagner, president and founder of Access Israel
“We must realize that we are facing a revolution, a social revolution! nothing more, nothing less. When you create such a large state wide revolution, there are endless obstacles… There can be no revolution without obstacles. Sometimes they are budgets, constraints, professionalism and a thousand and one more things.
Accessibility is not the goal, it is the mean.
The mean to enable people who are destined to live with disabilities to live in your community and in your city. Just live. Get to the grocery store, get to the park, the city hall, schools, and you enable that.
The name of the game is not to have some sort of law or Access Israel Association, the name of the game is everyone’s cooperation while striving towards achieving the goal. The name of the game is professionalism.
