Romanian authorities offer facilities to people with disabilities, such as free rail travel across the country.
But the gesture only goes so far. They may be entitled to half a dozen free journeys on paper, but getting on to a train is another matter.
Romanian Senator Cosmin Poteraş on Friday criticized what he called “the cynicism” of Romanian authorities after seeing a man in a wheelchair struggling to get on a train.
„What cynicism looks like in Romania: people with disabilities are eligible for six free train journeys, but they can’ actually get on the train. I would suggest to CFR Călători (Passenger Rail Service) that instead of making wheelchair users make a special request (!?) to get help getting on a train, they should buy some elevators. This is the least (rail authorities) can do if they are unable to modernize the stations and make the platforms higher,” Dolj Senator Cosmin Poteraş wrote on Facebook on Friday.
The Senator published a photo showing man in a wheelchair being hoisted onto a train in the southern city of Craiova.
He said he would lodge a complaint next week with Romania’s transport ministry.
Under communism, people with disabilities and orphans were institutionalized which has had lasing consequences, especially on the way society view people with disabilities.
However, disability rights have advanced in recent years after Romania joined the European Union.
Some 37.6% of Romanians with disabilities were at risk of poverty in 2020, although thanks to NGO work and government initiatives, the percentage is much lower than it was a decade ago when it stood at 44.1%., the Borgen Project reported.
