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The many faces of disability discrimination

12/02/2012 12:02 By AVRAHAM RABBY

Marking the Int'l Day of People with Disabilities,a blind diplomat’s perspective on attitudes to disabilities in Israel.

Photo by: Thinkstock/Imagebank

On Monday, December 3, Israel will join the rest of the world in marking the International Day of People with Disabilities. Two timely surveys by Access Israel highlight the shocking and illegal discrimination stemming from the fact that most public facilities and consumer businesses are partially or wholly inaccessible to people with physical disabilities. Access Israel reveals that 65 percent of cinemas, 70% of pubs and bars, 80% of restaurants and 92% of public swimming pools have architectural barriers which effectively preclude the disabled from frequenting them.

Outright exclusion of people with disabilities from the economic and social life of the community is due not only to architectural barriers. Numerous attitudinal barriers exist, too, as in the case of taxi drivers who refuse carriage to blind guide-dog users or in the case of insurance companies which deny coverage to people with disabilities, without having any statistical evidence that a person with a disability is necessarily more prone to accidents.

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The many faces of disability discrimination

Marking the Int'l Day of People with Disabilities,a blind diplomat’s perspective on attitudes to disabilities in Israel.

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