A total of 12 actions with a budget of €1.47 billion are being launched to support people with disabilities, including accessibility interventions and housing measures, with an estimated 100,000 citizens expected to benefit.
Yet significant barriers remain in daily life. Accessible buses with ramps exist, even more than before, but that alone does not solve the problem, Korina Theodorakaki, a member of the Panhellenic Association of Paraplegics and Mobility-Impaired People, told Kathimerini.
“There are accessible buses, but this alone does not solve the problem,” she said, noting that staff are not trained or are unwilling to deploy the ramp. “How can we move around the city when sidewalks are either occupied, broken or lack the proper width?” she added.
Maria Moschovou, a mother of a child with autism and a member of the Special Scientific Committee for Autism, described the daily ordeal faced by families due to the absence of school buses for special schools.
“As students in special schools come from different areas, some are forced to travel distances of up to 60 kilometers daily,” she said.
The challenges are widely known and complex, requiring “cooperation, continuity, consistency,” said Minister of State Akis Skertsos during a presentation of the government’s planned actions.