Eighty five percent of polling stations listed as being adapted for the needs of the disabled in Poland do not meet basic standards, says the Human Rights campaigner Irena Lipowicz.

People with disabilities have limited access to education as well as web pages of public institutions, Professor Lipowicz said, noting that Poland has not yet ratified the UN Convention on disability rights, which it signed in 2007.

Speaking at a press conference in Warsaw, Professor Lipowicz called on the government to present a road map for the final ratification of this document.

“I am not asking the government to bring about the ratification of the convention overnight, I am asking about a road-map, about information about what has to be done yet,” she told Polish Radio.

“We can see, after the first meeting of the commission of experts, that the realization of disability rights  differs in various fields. The situation is most frustrating in the election rights segment, where the cost of implementing the rights is the lowest.”
 
According to Jacek Zadrozny, a visually disabled expert from a commission advising the human rights defender, says that the constitutionally guaranteed election rights of the disabled are frequently violated.

There are almost 900,000 people with visual disabilities in Poland.

Disabled people complain that names of candidates in elections are not written in Braille, which makes it impossible for the blind to vote without assistance.

Less then 20 percent of 93 web pages of public institutions that were examined are accessible to visually impaired people. (kk)