Saturday, June 28, 2008

Access 2010 (Prepared by Joon Baltazar)

What: Access 2010
When: March 27-28 2008
Where: Great Eastern Hotel, Quezon Avenue, Quezon City.
Who: Organizations of the Disabled sector, Organizations of the Transport sector, Officers of Government departments
Why: To address accessibility of public transportation for persons with disabilities
· Disabled sectors complaints and concerns (inaccessibility of some MRT stations for the wheelchair-bound, inaccessibility of jeepneys and lack of consideration of jeep drivers, refusal of some taxi drivers to take PWDs as passengers…) re inaccessibility of public transportation and the root causes of the issue
· Public transport orgs shows willingness to cooperate with the disabled and government sector re public transpo inaccessibility. They even gave suggestions on how to improve the inaccessibility situation
· Government officials show the disabled sector their own simple support in PWD orgs activities. Officials of different government departments show willingness and cooperation to implement and improve the inaccessibility situation of the transport sector.
· Several groups were formed within the summit to brainstorm on for suggestions on how to improve the current inaccessibility of public transportation in time for 2010. Each group consisted of PWD org leaders, public transpo org leaders, officers of different government departments, and officers of NGOs involved in the issue. Each group later on presented the outcome of the said brainstorming.
· My opinion: the mere fact that all the sectors mentioned showed willingness and cooperation to improve the public transpo issue by attending the summit, and being personally involved in the activities during the summit, I can honestly say that after how many decades of PWD sector fighting for disability rights, I think this summit is a good start. I truly felt the sincerity of all the participants, especially the officers of certain government departments and transport organizations. Representatives of the PWD sectors showed truly exceptional assertiveness and involvement, which I think is very commendable. If at the very least, I see the short-term goals of the agreed upon during the summit realized, I will be very impressed, and will be a sign that there is great hope that the mid-term and long-term goals will also be achieved. I honestly believe that the Access 2010 summit was a success. And I would like to congratulate all the participants of the summit.

Access 2010

What: Access 2010
When: March 27-28 2008
Where: Great Eastern Hotel, Quezon Avenue, Quezon City.
Who: Organizations of the Disabled sector, Organizations of the Transport sector, Officers of Government departments
Why: To address accessibility of public transportation for persons with disabilities
· Disabled sectors complaints and concerns (inaccessibility of some MRT stations for the wheelchair-bound, inaccessibility of jeepneys and lack of consideration of jeep drivers, refusal of some taxi drivers to take PWDs as passengers…) re inaccessibility of public transportation and the root causes of the issue
· Public transport orgs shows willingness to cooperate with the disabled and government sector re public transpo inaccessibility. They even gave suggestions on how to improve the inaccessibility situation
· Government officials show the disabled sector their own simple support in PWD orgs activities. Officials of different government departments show willingness and cooperation to implement and improve the inaccessibility situation of the transport sector.
· Several groups were formed within the summit to brainstorm on for suggestions on how to improve the current inaccessibility of public transportation in time for 2010. Each group consisted of PWD org leaders, public transpo org leaders, officers of different government departments, and officers of NGOs involved in the issue. Each group later on presented the outcome of the said brainstorming.
· My opinion: the mere fact that all the sectors mentioned showed willingness and cooperation to improve the public transpo issue by attending the summit, and being personally involved in the activities during the summit, I can honestly say that after how many decades of PWD sector fighting for disability rights, I think this summit is a good start. I truly felt the sincerity of all the participants, especially the officers of certain government departments and transport organizations. Representatives of the PWD sectors showed truly exceptional assertiveness and involvement, which I think is very commendable. If at the very least, I see the short-term goals of the agreed upon during the summit realized, I will be very impressed, and will be a sign that there is great hope that the mid-term and long-term goals will also be achieved. I honestly believe that the Access 2010 summit was a success. And I would like to congratulate all the participants of the summit.