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Country Report – Italy Tactall

WP2

TACTALL - COUNTRY REPORT

ITALY
WP2

List of Contents:

1 Background ..................................................................................................... 2
Accessibility Legislation and Standards.......................................................... 2
Municipal Accessibility Regulations ................................................................ 3
Information on the tourism industry and accessibility levels............................ 4
2 Accessibility in the city..................................................................................... 5
3 Tourism industry training needs ...................................................................... 5
Accommodation, Restaurants, Travel agencies and other tourism operators,
Cultural centres and Leisure and sports centres............................................. 5
4 The Associations’ Assessment of Accessibility ............................................... 5
5 Accessibility of VET Institutions...................................................................... 6
6.- Conclusions................................................................................................... 6
Appendix ............................................................................................................ 6
Report on questionnaires B and D.................................................................. 6

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1 Background
Accessibility Legislation and Standards
In Italy the laws of accessibility for people with special needs fall under the
national rules for the disabled people’s rights. The reference is the national
general law "For assistance, social integration and rights of persons with
disabilities", February 5th, 1992 with subsequent changes.

This fundamental law is precisely a general law, which identifies the general
guidelines in which, in regional and local levels, shall be placed the second level
regulations. Articles 2 and 3 below set out the principles of the law and its
recipients.

General principles
This law states the principles of regulation in matter of rights, social integration
and support of the disabled person. It is also a social and economic reform of
the Republic, under the Article 4 of the Special Statute for Trentino-Alto Adige,
approved by the Constitutional Law of February 26th, 1948, n. 5th.

Persons having the right

Is a disabled person who has a physical, mental or sensory (stabilized or
progressive) disability that causes difficulties in learning, integrating and relating
at work, which generates a process of social disadvantage or exclusion.
2. The disabled person has access to the benefits determined in its favor
according to the nature and consistency of the disability, the individual residual
capacity and the effectiveness of rehabilitative therapies.
3. In case the single or multiple disability has reduced the autonomy of the
individual (according to the age) so that a permanent and continuous care is
required (in the individual scope or in the relationships one), the situation
becomes of serious connotation. The situations recognized as serious are
determined as priority in programs and interventions of public services.
4. This law is also applied to foreigners and stateless persons, residents,
domiciled or having a stable residence in the national territory. The benefits are
given within the limits and conditions provided by the legislation or international
agreements.

An annex attached to the decree developed by the Commission for the analysis
of issues related to disability in the specific field of assets and cultural activities,
defines the basic concepts and presents an outline of the main legal provisions
inherent to architectural barriers.

The guidelines contain also an interesting chapter about accessibility to places

of cultural interest in which are exposed:

• the criteria and guidelines of the Universal Design;

• alternative solutions;
• the criteria for the design and management.

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In the paragraph regarding the criteria for the design and management, we can
find useful information concerning:

• guidance (reference points, signs, maps);

• overcoming distances;
• overcoming slopes (ramps, elevators, platform lifts, stair lifts, adaptation
and improvement of existing escalators and ramps, overcome of
gradients in urban or landscape scale);
• usage of environmental units and equipments (entrances, toilets,
furniture);
• connection with the safety rules and fire prevention;
• preparation of exhibition spaces (hosting and access services, tours,
artworks and objects exposure, captions, lighting);
• monitoring and maintenance (information, parking, overcome of
distances and gradients, reserved entrances, signs, temporary yards,
toilets).

In the last chapter, regarding the case of studies, are specifically analyzed
some of the most common types of cultural assets, with a few paragraphs set
as synthetic recommendations concerning:

• historic parks and gardens, archaeological areas and parks;

• urban spaces;
• buildings and monumental complexes;
• worship places;
• exhibition spaces, museums, archives and libraries

This decree, like the general law, contains information deemed positive by the
interested parts, but has, frequently in Italy, encountered the problem of
implementation. Bureaucratic slowness, lack of resources and a general
tendency to work primarily on emergencies result that, even for advanced
legislative actions, the actual implementation takes a long time and occurs
unevenly over the territory.

Municipal Accessibility Regulations

In Tuscany, the law in question is the 47 of 1991 modified by the Act 66 of 2003
and its implementing decree of January 3rd, 2005.

Even the distance between the time of approval of the Act and the implementing
decree is an indicative of the structural difficulties faced by our country in the
transition from regulation to implementation.

Apart from the legislative activity, many initiatives taken at regional levels go in
the direction of overcoming environmental barriers for people with disabilities.
One of these is the creation of a Permanent Observatory in support of actions
and projects for the removal of architectural barriers, first experience in Italy,
connected to a documentation center.

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At regional level was important the regulation that demanded the municipalities
to approve, under the city planning regulations, the Plan of Elimination of
Architectural Barriers (Piano di Eliminazione delle Barriere Architettoniche -
PEBA). Also in this context, the actual implementation indicates a regional
uneven reality, with many municipalities still in delay in approving the plan.

Regarding the city and the province of Pistoia, these actions have been
implemented in the years of the attention politics to the problems of persons
with disability, often in a positive collaboration with the associations that
represent different categories. Significant initiatives have been taken for public
facilities accessibility, territory monitoring and obstacles reporting.

An example is the detailed publication, put on the internet by the municipality of

Pistoia, of the "Guide to the city of all", produced in collaboration with the
“Centro Studi e Documentazione Handicap”, informing about accessibility in the
major public buildings and that intends to be also an instrument for continuously
update of information on new services and also on shops and other public
places.

The Province of Pistoia then committed itself, through the establishment of a

Permanent Observatory, to an action of monitoring and soliciting to the
municipalities procedures for the approval and implementation of the PEBA and
has adopted and implemented measures to improve accessibility in tourist
facilities.

In summary, it can be concluded that the legislative and regulatory situation

may be considered advanced in many aspects, but not properly implemented at
local level for a complexity of historical and technical administrative reasons.
The good practices of cooperation between institutions and groups of the
interested parts have a positive impact locally, where the social and cultural
sensitivity and the political will come together in a constructive manner.
However, even the territories in Tuscany are very different in level and quality of
assistance to accessibility, particularly for the many private structures in a
region of high tourist vocation. There is also lacking of a plan of information and
spread flexible means to reach people with special needs.

Information on the tourism industry and accessibility levels.

In Italy the “Ente Nazionale Italiano per il Turismo” - Italian State Tourism
Board, established in 1919, and reorganized in October 1990 and again in May
1995, is responsible for "the overseas promotion of tourism in Italy." It’s not
possible to find any information concerning accessibility in its websites but this
is not true for other official websites, like http://www.italia.gov.it where there are
useful information on accessibility, even if only in Italian. Anyway, there are
various private and not profit body who give information in accessibility tourism.

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2 Accessibility in the city

According to a regional regulation, supported and monitored by the province,
each municipality should prepare a plan for the Elimination of Architectural
Barriers (PEBA) to be associated with the city planning regulation. At a
provincial level, a working group has been structured with institutional managers
and representatives of the associations of the interested parts (Provincial
Center for overcoming architectural barriers), which regularly monitors the
progress of PEBA in all the Province’s municipalities. Current data indicates that
only part of the municipalities have actually complied with the PEBA, even if,
until today, we do not know the status of actual implementation.

3 Tourism industry training needs

Accommodation, Restaurants, Travel agencies and other tourism
operators, Cultural centres and Leisure and sports centres

The majority of respondents in the hotel, restaurant, and other sectors

interviewed have various understanding of the terms “disability” and
“accessibility” and generally do not demonstrate to be familiar with the
meanings of these terms, except to refer them to physical disabilities meanings
and mobility in particular. Also possible procedures or services for dealing with
customers with special needs appear something to be left only to specialized
operators.

Everybody agrees on the principle that improving accessibility creates a better

environment for everyone, but it’s significant to know that even if the interviewed
work in tourist enterprises that serve elderly people, they didn’t have any
specific strategy to improve accessibility for this kind of customers; anyway, all
of them expressed the interest to have more information on the subject.

4 The Associations’ Assessment of Accessibility

In Pistoia, the Provincial Association of Families of disabled individuals and the
Associations for elderly with disabilities, state to feel a good willingness from the
institutions and satisfactory levels of listening and opportunities to participate, in
a legislative framework they consider to be advanced. Not yet positive is the
evaluation of implemented interventions, which are under their necessity and
expectations and above all, constantly subjected to delays due to the lack of
resources or technical paths and slow decision-making. The level of
accessibility is very uneven and particularly poor in the private tourist facilities
area. Lacks a structured information system in a consistent manner throughout
the territory.

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5 Accessibility of VET Institutions

CSCS worked with blind people to improve their abilities in information
technology sectors and developed and experimented various training resources
for them, including an online platform to assess and certificate their IT
competences. In its services, CSCS also provide placements periods for deaf
and for people with low mental disabilities.

6.- Conclusions
The National legislation, for its content, is considered sufficiently advanced even
though it is 18 years old. Subsequent additions have touched specific aspects
concerning people with special needs. It is worth mentioning the recent decree
from the Ministry of Cultural Assets containing guidelines for overcoming the
architectural barriers in places of cultural interest.

Many of the regulations that affect people with disabilities are defined at
regional level by the set of competencies that the regions in Italy have in the
field of health and social services.

The situation indicated by the interviews does not show a legislation lack; rules
exist and are even deemed to be advanced. The problem comes from the
implementation. From the results of the monitoring and controlling procedures,
a dual-homogeneity is exposed: in the reception of regulations by the
municipality (the PEBA) and in the state of implementation of the predicted
measures. Even where the PEBA was approved delays are identified,
sometimes striking, in the implementation in relation to the administrative and
technical procedures slowness and the lack of financial resources. The private
institutions system is also under rules but not sufficiently controlled and
requested to follow them. The successful collaboration with the associative
structures, for instance in the case of voluntary reporting of barriers, represents
in anyways, an effective tool for the knowledge of the territory, for planning
interventions and spreading a collective sensibility towards accessibility for all.

Appendix
Report on questionnaires B and D

The questionnaire B is directed to persons in charge of accessibility, working at

local institutions. The goal was to reconstruct a general picture of the situation
of the territory when it comes to accessibility, both in terms of regulations and
actual conditions implemented in different intervention areas.

Interviews were conducted with officials responsible for the social services in the City
and Province of Pistoia and with those in charge of the management of actions
regarding people with disabilities. At this stage it was chosen to be used as a source,

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the technical officials at highest level rather than politicians, once the time of
conduction of their duties lasts longer than administrative mandates.

Here's a summary of the responses obtained from the individual questions.

1. Existence of a territorial plan for accessibility.

According to a regional regulation, supported and monitored by the province, each

municipality should prepare a plan for the Elimination of Architectural Barriers
(PEBA) to be associated with the city planning regulation. At a provincial level, a
working group has been structured with institutional managers and representatives
of the associations of the interested parts (Provincial Center for overcoming
architectural barriers), which regularly monitors the progress of PEBA in all the
Province’s municipalities. Current data indicates that only part of the municipalities
have actually complied with the PEBA, even if, until today, we do not know the
status of actual implementation.

2. Strategies adopted for the plan definition.

Some of the indications have strictly a legislative origin, coming from existing
national or regional regulations. Other parts of the plan are defined and agreed
along with the associations representing the interested parts. Generally, the
discussions with the associations are constant, especially when planning
interventions.

3. About development and improvement of the plan.

Monitoring the plan actions, the obstacles and their report are mainly entrusted to
the public structures that largely use the cooperation with voluntary associations.
The Province of Pistoia has designed and implemented a campaign of voluntary
reporting of Architectural Barriers "All together in the hunt of the Barrier", here
illustrated by this passage of a Province informative note.

"The campaign for voluntary reporting of architectural barriers "All together in the hunt of the
barrier" is still in progress. You can fill up a simple form on the Province website
(http://www.provincia.pistoia.it/). The "alert" is possible also on similar paper forms
distributed at all the Province’s URP offices and its municipalities. The Provincial
Observatory for overcoming architectural and sensory barriers is composed of the Province
of Pistoia, the municipal administrations and of the association’s representatives that, over
the Province territory, deal with disability. The goals are studying, planning and intervening
to overcome the barriers, thanks to the actions of these persons and to the spread of the
culture of building spaces without barriers "

4. About types of disability considered and individualized priorities.

In general, the legislation and the implemented regulations refer to all types of
disabilities, physical, sensory, intellectual, organic, but for the interventions
implemented, it is clear the prevalence of attention to physical and sensory
disabilities. The priorities identified are those in the transport system, access to
schools and to public structures. Apart from a comprehensive program, we must
speak of individual interventions. Some time ago, the construction of access routes
for disabled people at the Sala Maggiore of the City Hall, located in the city’s most
prestigious historic building, had a great resonance.

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5. About the detection of levels of accessibility in public or private structures.

There is no comprehensive study on levels of accessibility of the territory

structures. There are many reports on individual problems, almost all referring to
public structures. For the private sector even the attention level of the associations
is lower and, in fact, the reality of private structures is largely unknown.

A training course about accessibility for people with disabilities directed to all
municipal offices’ technicians concerned to the problem, has revealed a low level of
interest and motivation. A typical example of the procedures implemented is
illustrated by the following.

“Continues the work of checking the accessibility of public facilities of major importance by
the Provincial Centre for Overcoming Architectural and Sensory Barriers. Some early
surveys have already been made at the new Pistoia’s "San Giorgio" library, performed with
the assistance of associations for disabled people and with the help and advice of this
people. From these verifications, resulted some observations available to the municipality of
Pistoia to perform certain works necessary for the full accessibility to this important
structure. A further survey was made at the head office of the Province of Pistoia to verify
the degree of accessibility in the entrance in Via Cavour, where an easy access to persons
with disabilities is expected. The last survey was recently carried out at the train station of
Pistoia in order to verify the degree of accessibility for persons with disabilities. The survey
was conducted by some representatives of the Centre among whom a person in a wheel
chair for verifications.”

6. About accessibility to the transport system.

Also this subject suffers from the typical problem in our country of achieving
statistically satisfactory solutions to a problem. Part of the transport system is
adequate to the needs of disabled persons, but others are not. Some progress was
made in the Municipality of Pistoia with the establishment of the Free Mobility
Guaranteed Service (Mobilità Garantita Gratuitamente - MGG) accomplished with
the purchase of two equipped buses.

7. Availability of information about accessibility at the city’s tourist attractions.

There is no comprehensive information system for accessibility. Two information

desks were put in service for disabled people, one in Pistoia at the Factory of
Emotions and the other in Monsummano (a Province’s municipality) at the public
relations office. On the province website (www.provincia.pistoia.it), information
about accessibility to tourist facilities and accommodations can be found.

Some publications show tourist information about accessibility. The private

institutions system is very uneven when it comes to information about accessibility.
The situation indicated by the interviews does not show a legislation lack; rules
exist and are even deemed to be advanced. The problem comes from the
actual state of their implementation. From the results of the monitoring and
controlling procedures, a dual-homogeneity is exposed: in the reception of
regulations by the municipality (the PEBA) and in the state of implementation of
the predicted measures. Even where the PEBA was approved delays are
identified, sometimes striking, in the implementation in relation to the
administrative and technical procedures slowness and the lack of financial
resources. The private institutions system is also under rules but not sufficiently
controlled and requested to follow them. The successful collaboration with the

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associative structures, for instance in the case of voluntary reporting of barriers,

represents in anyways, an effective tool for the knowledge of the territory, for
planning interventions and spreading a collective sensibility towards
accessibility for all.

The questionnaire D is directed to representatives of disabled and/or elderly

people. The goal is to provide a general overview of the perception of the
interested parts towards the implementation situation, legislative and
operational, of the actions for accessibility in the city and in the province.

The interview was made with persons responsible for the Provincial Association
of Families of disabled individuals and representatives of associations for
elderly with disabilities.

1. About the evaluation of the accessibility level for all in the territory

A good willingness to listen and to dialogue has been recognized by the institutions
and also the fact that, over the last years, several interventions have been made.
The overall situation is still not considered satisfactory, in particular because of the
procedures slowness and the chronic shortage of resources. Some recent
interventions (such as on city sidewalks) have even worse difficulties. Difficulties for
a positive relationship between the needs expressed by the ones with disability and
the technicians responsible for the implementation of the interventions have been
indicated. "The technicians are not prepared to consider the real needs of people
with disabilities".

2. About the evaluation of the current legislation.

It is considered that the laws are adequate but largely disregarded. It is considered
positively the regulation that finances and facilitates, for the private entities, the
renovation of dwellings in favour of persons with disabilities. It is believed that some
standards, particularly for mobility should be reviewed.

3. About the access difficulties encountered in daily life.

A great diversity is encountered between the public structures (where "something

has been done and continues to be done") and the private ones (where "everything
depends of the sensibility of the individuals"). The problems often come from an
uneven area where it is often unknown what to expect and where it is difficult “to
know whether a hotel do or do not have a car park suitable for people with
disabilities”.

4. About the evaluation of awareness of tourist facilities’ managers in matters of

services provision for persons with disabilities.

We emphasize once again how the private sector is set in a random and highly
uneven way, despite of the presence of rules that impose certain standards to
reduce access barriers. On many occasions there’s a general willingness that is not

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translated into real actions. A lack of culture and focus on accessibility situation is
revealed, particularly in accommodation and catering structures.

5. About availability of information for people with disabilities.

There isn’t a structured and consistent information system. A comparison with the
city of Florence can be made, where the tourist guide contains all the information
necessary for disabled people. The offices for territory information (Factory of the
Emotions in Pistoia, Public Relations Office in Monsummano) are useful
innovations but do not fully perform the task. A substantial step forward regarding
information in private structures is required.

In summary, those interviewed state to feel a good willingness from the institutions and
satisfactory levels of listening and opportunities to participate, in a legislative
framework they consider to be advanced. Not yet positive is the evaluation of
implemented interventions, which are under their necessity and expectations and
above all, constantly subjected to delays due to the lack of resources or technical paths
and slow decision-making. The level of accessibility is very uneven and particularly
poor in the private tourist facilities area. Lacks a structured information system in a
consistent manner throughout the territory.

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tactall: how we can work together effectively

To develop a new modular training package to

address the needs of SMEs and Support
agencies in raising skills and knowledge on
‘Accessibility’ in the tourism sector within ‘The
Accessible City’

An European initiative to improve skills in

the accessibility market

Upcoming Events

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Functional diversity
Go to calendar...
There are plenty of disabled people who would not call themselves disabled - a grandmother who is
Main Menu hard of hearing, a child with reading difficulties, someone who wears glasses. Some people may have
temporary mobility restrictions, such as someone with a broken leg or a pregnant lady; some conditions
tactall logo download
are not obvious - asthma, diabetes and allergies. Impairments that have an adverse effect on a person's
Contacts day-to-day activities can include cancer, multiple sclerosis, heart conditions; hearing or sight
Site news impairments; learning difficulties and mental health conditions such as dementia and depression.

Tactall objectives
Transfer experience in tackling ‘accessibility’ issues to promote Tourism for all
Develop new training course based on methodology of ERTD project www.ertd.info
Pilot/evaluate new learning modules/content
seek to integrate in national VET frameworks
Disseminate outcomes to stakeholders
Investigate potential to establish Accessible City network in Europe

This transfer of innovation project

builds on the 'European Rural Tourism'
What is the TACTALL project all about?
Pilot Project

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The course structure at the end...

by Giovanni Crisonà - Monday, 4 May 2009, 04:22 PM

Following first project meeting, Marny Thompson and Rosaleen Courtney of nortcoll uk, agreed to look at all
the skills objectives, both from the 'brainstorm' in the meeting and also the suggestions that Gruppo Adapta
had provided.

They spent some time arriving at a first draft document, in witch they have a suggested course structure,
which covers 12 weeks, 4 workshops. This would be blended learning (as we all partners agreed).

The basical idea was that the workshops should be very practical and interactive so, the first draf has been
updated with Adapta and Cdea contribute and Leif Haar suggested: "a structure with modules, so the
learner can pick the right module(s), which fits best. The structure now is not interesting for Danish
institutions or companies. The length of a course unit of several weeks will really be a problem."

First meeting in San Sebastian

by Giovanni Crisonà - Monday, 4 May 2009, 04:00 PM

First meeting in San Sebastian, Basque Country, has been held the 11th, 12th December 2008.

Partecipants discussed project plan, organization, skills objectives, roles and marketing aspects.

The official launch of Tactall has been the 12th with a press conference in the municipality of San
Sebastian.

Course categories

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