They rode in wheelchairs, wanting to understand the lives of people with special needs

Students from the International University of Sarajevo moved around with blindfolds, crutches, and wheelchairs within the UKCS complex, noting all the obstacles that people with special needs encounter when moving around the city, reports the BH News Agency Patria.

As Tijana Tufek-Memišević, organizer and leader of the workshop "Sit in My Chair", and a lecturer in the Architecture program at IUS, told NAP, the goal of this workshop was for students, who will work in construction institutes and design a large number of facilities, to start incorporating people with special needs into their work habits already, i.e., to keep in mind people with reduced mobility when designing the future living environment.

Streets and facilities in Sarajevo and other cities in BiH are almost not adapted for people with reduced mobility. There is a lack of audible signals at traffic lights, adequate sidewalks, and ramps at the entrance to public buildings. All of this not only narrows but also limits the time people with special needs can spend moving and staying on the streets of BiH cities.

It is precisely for this reason that a workshop on the topic of facility accessibility, prevention, and resolution of architectural barriers for people with reduced mobility was launched on May 19.

- In BiH, as many as ten percent of the population has some form of disability. However, we believe this number is far greater. All of them encounter difficulties moving around the city every day. This must change - Tufek-Memišević told Patria.

The workshop was held in cooperation with the International University of Sarajevo, the University Clinical Center Sarajevo, and the Association of Paraplegics and Children's Paralysis Patients of Sarajevo Canton.

The complete results of the workshop will be presented tomorrow at the IUS premises.