Beirut airport 'unfriendly' for disabled people – spider Australia News – Australia News

Depending on the conditions of travel, the term "disabled" includes a large number of people. In addition to the disabled (motor, visual, auditory, intellectual), it also includes: pregnant women, infants, the elderly, patients (heart, pressure, shortness of breath, etc.). Children traveling without adults, patients fractured and transferred. On the cradles … For all this, the "facilities" offered by the Beirut airport can be described in one word: "bad".

A few days ago, Fadi Sayegh, president of the Lebanese Federation for the Physically Handicapped, conducted a prova at the airport in coordination with the Training Center for Strengthening Airport Security. In less than six hours, Sayegh performed all the normal procedures followed by pbadengers with special needs, parking, inspection and boarding, as well as the procedures for arrivals, departure to parking. Initial result: many difficulties for people with disabilities "place Lebanon in a critical phase in terms of human rights engagement and weaken it in terms of tourism, given the large number of travelers with needs in the world, especially the elderly, "said activist Silvana Lakkis.

Suffering begins before entering the airport. There is no parking spaces near the entrance for disabled people, while the airport traffic police do not take into account the need to have more time to disembark. During the inspection, there is no designated place to perform procedures, taking into account the special equipment that the patient can carry, while the screens and plates -forms are not suitable for small sizes and wheelchair travel. The suitcases of disabled people are also poorly considered, as they may contain special and sensitive tools that must be placed away from the baggage of ordinary pbadengers. The airport service companies are "slow" (do not provide a wheelchair to the pbadenger at the door of the plane that delays them, nor sit in an inadequate chair that affects their health ), a lack of clarity in the instructions and most of the crew members are elderly. In addition to the obsolescence of tools (such as wheelchairs) used by these companies. Some of the bathrooms for disabled people at the airport have become warehouses for cleaning equipment and their waterproofing.

Service companies are "characterized by slow service and by the fact that most employees are older

The difficulties faced by people with disabilities go beyond services to security aspects. Like other travelers, they are subject to the mandatory security procedures of inspecting security forces, customs and public security during the round trip, and often to the absence of facilities to provide them. . Therefore, modernization procedures were necessary to comply with the Law 220/2000 on the rights of persons with disabilities, even from a secure entry. Driven by the development of airport inspection procedures, including those with special needs, the Training Center for Improving Airport Security held a workshop yesterday to discuss facilities. for people with disabilities to provide a simple, efficient and trouble-free procedure. Representatives of the ministries of public works, social affairs, tourism and defense, the director general of civil aviation and the service providers of the airport of Beirut (MIG) and LATT have attended the workshop. According to the center's director, Colonel George Nader, the goal of the workshop is that "security measures should not harm the rights and dignity of those who need them, but privileges Neither must they violate security measures that can not be derogated from to protect the airport. " He badured "News" that specialized workshops would be organized later to take into account the nature of each disability as well as the obstacles and difficulties encountered in the use of the various facilities of the airport. He said the center would begin training airport staff, civilians and military to procedures to help people with needs, pointing out that there are "quick procedures and little expensive. "