The idea of creating the program “Barrier free country” appeared back in 2018. Even then, the non-governmental organization Public Movement “Social Unity” was working to implement large-scale tasks that would help to break down barriers for people with various forms of disabilities.
The deeper the team delved into the topic of disability and studied the characteristics and needs of people with various forms of disabilities, the more they realized that, with existing resources, it was impossible to cover the needs of all people with some type of disability (and there are about 2,5 million of them). That's why it was decided to focus on Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, as there were such colleagues in the team. By the end of 2020, all the efforts of the non-governmental organization Public Movement “Social Unity” were aimed at the people with hearing impairments, which are about 400,000 Deaf and more than 1 million Hard of Hearing people.
However, studying the needs of people with other forms of disabilities, low-mobility groups, families in difficult life circumstances, single people, and the elderly did not stop. A large amount of data was analyzed from the perspective of the needs of people who require help. Various events and surveys were held, focus groups were gathered with one goal - to identify the problems faced by people with different types of disabilities. Thus, in early 2020, the idea of creating the National social portal “VILNO!” appeared, which should become the key to solving existing problems and barriers for people with various forms of disabilities.
The experience and achievements of the team did not go unnoticed, they formed the basis of the National Strategy for the creation of barrier-free space in Ukraine, initiated by First Lady Olena Zelenska. The team members of the non-governmental organization have joined the Council of Barrier-free and are already implementing grandiose and irreversible changes at the state level.
"Barrier free country" in our understanding is a country where equal opportunities are not only created but also provided for all people, including people with various forms of disabilities. Therefore, since 2021, the team of the non-governmental organization Public Movement “Social Unity” focused its work on all people with different types of disabilities, as well as all other categories of citizens in need.
Our team is ready to help anyone who requires it.