Secretary of State wants to expand accessibility regime

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The Secretary of State for Social Action and Inclusion, Clara Marques Mendes, stated this Thursday that the legal framework for accessibility is out of date and announced its review and measures to make culture more accessible to all.

"We began reviewing the accessibility legal framework about a year and a half ago because, in addition to it being somewhat out of step in some areas, we understand that we should look at accessibility not just as physical accessibility or physical barriers," Clara Marques Mendes told Lusa news agency.

The revision of the document is being studied "by a working group that was created with several government areas and that also has the involvement of several entities", said the Secretary of State for Social Action and Inclusion, specifying that the Academy and entities such as the Salvador Association are being consulted, "with a view to soon presenting a work so that this regime can be revised".

The minister was speaking in Óbidos, on the sidelines of the International Inclusion Seminar, part of the Folio — International Literary Festival program, which this year is taking place under the theme “Frontiers”.

The festival is “the only one in Portugal that focuses on this issue, dedicating an entire day to inclusion since 2022,” said the person responsible for the seminar, Célia Sousa, coordinator of the Resource Center for Digital Inclusion (CRID), at the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria (IPL).

At the opening of the meeting, Célia Sousa took the opportunity to share with the Secretary of State the "concerns" of a sector in which "many boundaries still exist," with most people "thinking that accessibility is simply about having ramps or tactile pathways."

In Portugal, bookstores and libraries “still lack accessible books in Braille, audio, plain writing, pictorial language, video, and sign language,” lamented the CRID coordinator, criticizing the fact that most publishers do not consider accessibility.

In a country where there is so much talk about "inclusion, equity and diversity," he added, "a significant portion of the population, between 15% and 20%, continues to be unable to freely enjoy a play, a movie, or a concert."

In her list of concerns, Célia Sousa lamented that “school, which should be for everyone, still doesn’t have accessible stories,” and that accessible communication “is still not a widespread reality.”

In his “irritations” regarding this segment, he lamented “that people with disabilities are only talked about to portray tragedies or extol extraordinary feats”, calling them “poor things or superheroes, and almost never, simply, [are people talked about]”.

Célia Sousa also challenged the Secretary of State to form a working group between the Ministries of Social Security, Education and Culture to discuss access to books for all.

The Fólio — Óbidos International Literary Festival celebrates its 10th edition this year with three Nobel Prize winners and writers from various countries participating in more than 450 cultural initiatives, taking place in the town until next Sunday.

The festival is organized by the municipality of Óbidos, in partnership with the municipal company Óbidos Criativa, Ler Devagar and the Inatel Foundation, and has been held since 2015 in the town classified as a Creative City of Literature by UNESCO.