The third Accessibility March will be held on September 8th at the opening of the Althingi (Parliament) and will gather at Austurvöllur at 12:45 PM. The March is organized by seven groups/associations, but everyone who cares about accessibility is welcome. Sjálfsbjörg encourages people to attend with their walker, in a wheelchair, with a cane, on an electric scooter, or with other assistive devices, and reminds everyone that now that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has been ratified, its articles need to be implemented into law. Implementation must follow ratification. We can be thankful for the ratification of the CRPD, but as a wise man said, ,,Thanks, and what's next?‘.
Access to physical, speech, and occupational therapy changed on September 1st when the Minister of Health implemented co-payments, and now people with disabilities must pay 500 kr. per visit, senior citizens 1,000 kr., and the general public 1,500 kr. There is no cap on the fees. This has the obvious effect of causing people to reduce or stop attending these necessary services. Therefore, although the amount may be low in the eyes of many, it can be too high for the group living on the lowest incomes. It has been pointed out that this fee collection may be a questionable cost-saving measure, as the effect could be that people stop seeking, for example, physical therapy, which leads to them entering the healthcare system later and may by then have become seriously ill.
Since the organization's founding, Sjálfsbjörg has advocated for accessibility in the built environment. Like everything else, the organization has evolved and changed over its 67 years of existence, and today it advocates for accessibility throughout society.
We need access to jobs, access to housing, access to assistive technology, access to restaurants, swimming pools, natural wonders, access to healthcare, rehabilitation, and everything that people generally have access to. Let's all meet at Austurvöllur!
The CP Association, The Arthritis Association of Iceland, MND in Iceland, The MS Society of Iceland, The NPA Center, The SEM Association of Rehabilitated Spinal Cord Injured, and Sjálfsbjörg, the National Federation of the Disabled.
