Data for use by those with various forms of disability has been published on 200 buildings in Ljubljana.

In 2008 Ljubljana joined a 'Local authority tailor-made for those with disabilities' project, which also included research on the accessibility of buildings in public use in the City of Ljubljana.

In order to develop an action plan, analysis on the position of those with disabilities in the City of Ljubljana was prepared. One of the points in the action plan which directly relates to the local authority is “to ensure accessibility to the built environment, information and transport as a basic condition for the realisation of rights to equality of opportunity and social inclusion”. It was ascertained that we did not have a situational analysis of the accessibility of buildings in public use in the City of Ljubljana.

Thus we formed a partnership with English company Disabledgo. They carried out research in which they analysed the accessibility of 200 important buildings in public use in Ljubljana. Experienced researchers visited each building individually and used the same criteria for a description of each. Practical data on the accessibility of these buildings and to the services within them (such as the capacity of the staff to communicate with those with hearing impairments) are now available at the following link.

In addition to the database on access to individual buildings, the contractor has also produced a practical handbook for building owners or managers – within it there are recommendations to improve access to individual buildings. As well as the practical handbooks, owners/managers of these buildings receive practical instructions on dealing with people when they come into contact with people with various forms of disability (such as physical disability – hearing, sight or movement impairment).

With this, the first phase of research has been concluded. In the second phase, in 2011 and in the third in 2012 the contractor is to revisit the buildings and check the possible access improvements based on recommendations from the first phase. In both phases, 20 additional buildings will be included in the new research.

City of Ljubljana Department for Health and Social Care