National Strategy for a Barrier-Free Environment: Problems,tolerance and implementation

Abstract

The aim of this article is to study the issues of inclusiveness in Ukraine and analyse the National Strategy for Creating a Barrier-Free Environment regarding its consistency with the facts of life in Ukraine. It considers the international experience in creating a barrier-free inclusive society and the implementation of the most effective achievements in Ukraine. It analyses the National Strategy and singles out its specific features, key elements, and main aims in creating a barrier-free environment in Ukraine. Analysis of the National Strategy was conducted in the context of inclusion and ensuring equal opportunities.

Introduction

As developed countries’ experience shows, a passive state policy on social protection of persons with special needs is based on compensation expenses such as pensions, monetary aids, allowances, indemnification, etc. In the 30 last years, in leading European countries, social support for persons with a disability and persons with reduced mobility is characterised by considerable funding to create suitable living and educational environments, workplaces or adapt them for persons with limited abilities. Currently, the system to protect persons with reduced mobility does not only embrace governmental social aid, pensions, allowances, indemnification and social services but also includes healthcare, education, employment for persons with a disability, their social and professional rehabilitation and integration into society (Yaroshenko et al., 2018).

Therefore, disabled persons’ social security policies should include new conceptual approaches to social, economic, political, legal, management, scientific, methodological, moral, ethical, and informational aspects of human life (Serdiuk and Petrov, 2010). In this context, the creation of a barrierless society acquires special significance, aimed at ensuring equal access of all people to social life by creating the relevant infrastructure, education, digital services, participation in public life, and so on. In Ukraine, the National Strategy for a Barrier-Free Environment has been adopted to solve the existing problems and provide decent conditions for persons with reduced mobility on the basis of equality and inclusiveness.

The equality and the protection of a person’s right to equality have always been at the forefront of principles of international law and national legislation of developed countries. However, nowadays, despite declaration of rights to equality and non-discrimination, people face the opposite situation and cannot enjoy their rights. According to the research Opinions, Views and Attitudes of Ukrainians on Barrier-Free and Inclusive Society conducted by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in 2020, among the top categories of the population facing social barriers, 58% of respondents mentioned persons with a disability, 28% named people aged 55 and over, and 27.4% mentioned persons with limited mobility. Such a situation is attributed to a low level of consciousness regarding the importance of creating a barrier-free environment and ensuring equality in Ukrainian society (Opinions, Views and Attitudes of Ukrainians on Barrier-Free and Inclusive Society, 2020).

In 2020, according to the Global Social Mobility Index, Ukraine ocuppied only the 46th place out of 82 countries. Moreover, out of 10 fundamental indicators taken into account when calculating the Index, Ukraine ocuppied the worst positions in institutional inclusiveness (the 79th place), technologies accessibility (the 64th place), and lifelong education (the 5th place) (Global Social Mobility Index 2020, 2020). Effective government and regional policies on eliminating barriers for citizens to participate completely in the social and economic life of their communities should not only protect their fundamental rights and improve their living standards and health, but also mitigate general tension and accelerate the economic development. At the same time, low levels of inclusiveness in healthcare, education, social security, infrastructure, technologies and employment market opportunities have a negative impact on the objective indicators of the state – as so decisively evidenced in the Social Mobility Index (Zubchenko et al., 2020).

In Ukrainian society, there is a complex of challenges connected with the problems of barrierless access to education, employment, and public services by persons with reduced mobility. Therefore, it is essential to create a barrierless environment in public spaces, such as access to infrastructure. Considering all these problems and Ukraine’s aspiration to European standards, the Strategy for inclusiveness was adopted at the national level, aimed to introduce equality, inclusiveness and citizens’ participation in all spheres of state, public and social life. The target audience of the National Strategy are persons with reduced mobility, persons aged 50+, families with children up to 6 years old, children and adults with a disability, in particular, when it comes to employment and involvement (Gnatenko et al., 2020).

In addition, the creation of a barrier-free environment for persons with a disability and other groups with reduced mobility is one of the high-priority requirements for Ukraine regarding the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) and the Association Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, on the other hand (2014), which highlights the timeliness and necessity of governmental actions in pulling down barriers and forming an inclusive society in the country (Tokareva, 2021).

Materials and methods

During the research, a general scientific, philosophical and special methodology was applied, ensuring the results’ credibility and fulfilment of the study’s objectives. The main research methods are analysis and synthesis. They were used to analyse the National Strategy for a Barrier-Free Environment, in particular, its aims. Moreover, these methods were applied to study the norms of international law and foreign countries’ experience in creating an inclusive society. It is important for Ukraine to analyse the international experience because the proper implementation of the National Strategy requires deep understanding of problems and exact steps to be taken, while other countries’ experience helps select the most suitable ways to implement it. On the contrary, the lack of specific steps complicates the effective introduction of barrierlessness in Ukraine and inhibits Ukraine’s European and global integration.

A legalistic method was used to analyse the acts of international law, compare the legislation of Ukraine and other countries and study legal acts of international ogranisations in the context of equality, non-discrimination, inclusiveness, and barrierlessness.

A systemic method allowed to generalise the materials and distinguish some key factors in the research. For instance, it was used to single out three stereotypes about barrierlessness as follows: first, in Ukraine, the inclusion and a barrier-free environment are necessary only for people with a disability and reduced mobility; second, the creation of a barrier-free environment requires a lot of funds and can be realised only in low urbanised cities; cultural barrierlessness is just one-time formal participation of persons with a disability in cultural events. Apart from that, the systemic method permitted definition of the specific steps to be taken to exercise barrierlessness in Ukraine. This includes the coherence of legal acts with regard to a barrier-free environment; a balanced state policy and cooperation of all governmental authorities; the adoption of special social and public involvement programmes for persons with reduced mobility; educational programmes; and the implementation of inclusiveness principles in decision-making.

A comparative method facilitates establishing similarities and differences between certain notions used in the article. Furthermore, it was used to distinguish the existing problems of barrierlessness in Ukraine and compare other European countries’ experience in this area to find the most suitable barrier-free environment system for Ukraine. In addition, it was concluded that the Estonian experience was the most apposite to the current situation in Ukraine.

Induction and deduction methods helped study the existing problems of barrierlessness in Ukraine, i.e. the shortcomings which would need to be overcome to provide equal opportunities for everyone. In addition, these methods were applied to argue that in Ukraine such barrierlessness problems are caused by a low level of equality and diversity in society, discrimination on the grounds of different features, and lack of respect for diversity in society.

Results

Problems and stereotypes about insecurity in Ukraine

First of all, it is worth stating that in Ukrainian legislation, the notion of ‘barrierlessness’ is a general approach to forming and implementing the state policy on barrierless access of all population groups to different spheres of life (Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No 366-r, 2021).

Despite the fact that Ukraine observes the norms of international law in ensuring equal opportunities for everyone, currently the reality is different. So, there is a need to ensure inclusive participation of all citizens in public and social life. In Ukraine, different population groups do not have a real opportunity or motivation to participate and fulfil themselves in public, economic, educational, sport, and cultural spheres of life. Accordingly, their rights and freedoms are not fully ensured (Marchenko, 2015).

Such a situation is caused by a low level of equality and diversity in society, discrimination on the grounds of different features, and a lack of respect for diversity in the society. Moreover, the state policy on equality is not realised efficiently by all public authorities charged with eliminating barriers (Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No 366-r, 2021). Apart from that, not all population groups have equal access to civil influence instruments since they are excluded from the political process. It is also worth highlighting that access to justice for some population groups is uneven, which strengthens inequality and decreases public confidence in the government (Zapara and Strelnyk, 2016).

Moreover, the level of young people’s commitment to political and civil processes is quite low, while cities do not offer opportunities for persons with reduced mobility (Antoniuk et al., 2018; Britchenko et al., 2018). These facts have a negative impact on public participation in public life (Berchenko and Fedchyshyn, 2018). However, the involvement of persons with reduced mobility in all spheres of life has been studied and developed throughout the world. In almost all countries, the adaptation of the living environment to the needs of certain groups of people has been carried out. These population groups include people with different diseases, elderly people, pregnant women, preschool children, adults carrying children in their arms or in a baby carriage, people with chronic illnesses, people with limited mobility due to some trauma, and so on.

In Ukraine, as in the majority of countries, there are regulations regarding the design of inclusive architectural environment inside and outside. Still, very few people with a disability are seen in the streets, parks, schools, hospitals, pharmacies, shops, and so on; there are numerous reasons for this: inadequate regulations, their violation, and poor realisation of a project design by construction workers. Such a situation signals the topicality of this problem and requires new approaches (Barmashina, 2014). The existing problems do not only create serious problems for persons with reduced mobility but also can cause personal insecurity and life-threatening situations (Fesenko and Lisyuk, 2021).

Another significant problem of barrierlessness is the stereotypes about this problem that exist society. The first stereotype pertains to who needs the barrierlessness policy. In Ukraine, social inclusion and the creation of barrierlessness are traditionally constructed in regard to persons with a disability and persons with reduced mobility. However, as the international experience shows, such a methodological approach is constrictive and not characteristic of the European and world practice. Developed countries consider broader policies on inclusiveness, including not only persons with a disability but also elderly people, mothers with preschool children, young people, and children without parental care. This creates more opportunities to involve different population groups in social processes. Accordingly, special policies on ethnic minorities’ and migration groups’ integration are introduced. Another fundamental component of this process is pursuing a policy on non-discrimination and real equality for different population groups in all spheres of public, social, and economic life. Therefore, a complex approach to eliminating limitations in society is a constituent part of strategic programmes of social integration (Zubchenko et al., 2020).

The second stereotype involves funding. In other words, the creation of a barrier-free environment is believed to be very expensive. Moreover, it is said that proper inclusive conditions can only be realised in rich cities, where the level of urbanisation provides a lot of free space for new infrastructure. Therefore, it is necessary to mention that in 2020, Warsaw received the 2020 Access City Award. This fact proves that even a big city with a population of over 1.7 million, and Poland being a post-socialist country, can introduce innovative ideas of inclusiveness in infrastructure and create a barrier-free environment, as long as there is the political will and a realistic strategy (Zubchenko et al., 2020).

The third stereotype is built on the assumption that cultural barrierlessness is just a one-off formal participation of persons with a disability in cultural events such as the theatre, a museum or the cinema. In fact, this is a complex process involving fully fledged participation of all people in consumption and creation of cultural values. Besides, it is an opportunity to feel one’s belonging to the culture and creative institutions of one’s country (Afonin and Kolesnikov, 2019).

So, the following obstacles to barrierlessness can be identified: problems faced by persons with reduced mobility; low informational and cultural inclusion; discrimination on the grounds of age, sex, race, appearance, physical abilities, experience, and so on; unequal representation of different population groups in the central government and municipal administration; poor public awareness of public participation instruments; a low level of cooperation between public authorities and civil society organisation; poor adaptation of physical and digital infrastructure for the whole population; and poor adaptation of social participation instruments to all people’s needs.

To tackle the existing problems, in 2021, the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, initiated the creation of the Council for Barrier-Free Space and the National Strategy for a Barrier-Free Environment, within which the Plan of Action would be adopted, ensuring equal opportunities for all members of society without exception.

In general, the legislative framework of Ukraine has a number of legislative acts aimed at creating and maintaining a barrier-free space, as well as ensuring the rights and freedoms of people with low mobility. Elements of inclusiveness and barrier-free spaces were reflected in legislative acts such as: ‘On Amendments to Some Laws of Ukraine on Education on the Organisation of Inclusive Education’ (2014); ‘On Ensuring the Creation of a Barrier-Free Space in Ukraine’ (2020); Order of the Cabinet of Ministers ‘On Approval of the Composition of the Interagency Working Group to Develop a Draft National Strategy to Create a Barrier-Free Space in Ukraine’ (2021); the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine ‘On Approval of the Action Plan to Create an Unhindered Living Environment for Persons with Disabilities and other Immobile Groups of Population in 2009–2015: Barrier-free Ukraine’ (2009); Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine ‘On Approval of Criteria of Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities and Other Low Mobility Population Groups of the Premises Provided to Precinct Election Commissions of Regular Polling Stations for Organisation of their Work and Voting’ (2020).

National Strategy for a Barrier-Free Environment in Ukraine: Regulations and plans

Given the existing problems and Olena Zelenska’s initiative, in April 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine passed the Ordinance ‘On Approval of the National Strategy for Creating a Barrier-Free Environment in Ukraine until 2030’. The Strategy is based on the following international documents: the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (ratified by the Law of Ukraine of 16 December 2009); the European Social Charter (Revised) (ratified by the Law of Ukraine of 14 September 2006); the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979); and the Biarritz Partnership for Gender Equality (Fesenko and Lisyuk, 2021).

The provisions of the Ordinance ‘On Approval of the National Strategy for Creating a Barrier-Free Environment in Ukraine until 2030’ (2021) enshrine the necessity to approve the National Strategy and pass the Plan of Action for its realisation. The aim of the Strategy consists of creating a barrier-free environment for all members of society to ensure equality and opportunities to enjoy their rights in informational, social, digital, physical and economic spheres (Ordinance of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No 366-r, 2021).

Suffice it to say that the National Strategy embraces six main development aims for Ukraine to create equal opportunities for everyone, that is, physical, informational, digital, civil/public, educational and economic. Therefore, it is necessary to examine each of this aims to provide a comprehensive analysis.

The first one is physical barrierlessness, which involves accessibility to facilities of the physical environment and transport as well as the improvement of construction standards and regulations. Thus, the Strategy highlights a real problem in this area since at the moment the majority of facilities are not adapted for persons with a disability or reduced mobility. Furthermore, most public and inter-city transport is not accessible to persons with reduced mobility (there are no wheelchair ramps, special places for persons with limited mobility, indicators, audible signals, subtitles, and so on). As the Strategy points out, the main reason for this is the lack of monitoring, the imperfection of legislation, the absence of qualified staff (Ordinance of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No 366-r, 2021). Therefore, the first aim of the Strategy is to overcome the existing problems in architecture and construction to create a safe, barrier-free physical environment for all population groups.

The second aim of the National Strategy is informational barrierlessness. It includes providing people with sensory or mental impairments with information in accessible formats. Although Ukraine has already made considerable steps towards informational accessibility and digitalisation, there are still various problems that need to be resolved (Novikovas et al., 2017). For example, at the moment, public authorities do not provide full informational accessibility. So, changes in public information are necessary. Apart from that, persons with sensory or mental impairments do not always have access to information during elections and court proceedings. Furthermore, most media are not adapted for them (Ordinance of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No 366-r, 2021). Consequently, it is necessary to take up some measures enshrined in the Strategy to improve ways of presenting information and, thus, ensure the right to information. Thus, cooperation between the government and civil society organisations for persons with a disability should be enhanced. In particular, this concerns distribution of the state budget, legislation and government’s and local authorities’ decisions. In addition, it is necessary to support civil society organisations for persons with a disability in monitoring the implementation of the state policy on ensuring the rights of persons with a disability (Lynn and Razik, 2013).

The third aim is digital barrierlessness, aiming to connect social infrastructure institutions and farms to broadband Internet; computerisation of schools, hospitals, post offices, public institutions, libraries; making allowances for persons with a disability or reduced mobility to purchase Internet access facilities and special software. Moreover, it is worth highlighting that not all citizens have access to digital infrastructure and need broadband Internet and computerisation of public institutions. In addition, Ukrainians have a rather low level of digital literacy (Shtal et al., 2018). Therefore, programmes and infrastructure for digital education are required. Generally, the tendency towards the digitalisation of society on a global scale is obvious. This process is a technological race for geopolitical and geo-economical leadership. At the same time, this is a chance for both developed and developing countries to improve their socio-economic situation. Currently, digital transformation and the creation of a hypercompetitive digital economy are the main task for almost all countries (Pishchulina, 2020). The importance of digitalisation in a contemporary world is so high that it was included in the National Strategy as one of the top-priority tasks.

The fourth aim of the National Strategy is public and civil barrierlessness, which involves ensuring citizens’ barrier-free participation in cultural life; facilitating access to cultural services, cultural values, cultural heritage; and promoting a barrierlessness culture in society. However, the main problems in this area are attributed to a low level of citizens’ involvement in cultural and civil aspects of life. It is possible to assert that such a situation is caused by poor support for diversity, the existence of discrimination in society, and the lack of acceptance of and respect for differences between people (Ordinance of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No 366-r, 2021). Therefore, it is essential to provide equal rights and opportunities for all population groups regarding their social and civil involvement. Apart from that, awareness-building and education are crucial to make all citizens conscious of the need to create a barrier-free environment and a non-discriminative society.

The fifth aim is educational barrierlessness. This aim is key, because equal access to high-quality education will produce qualified professionals who will develop the aims of barrierlessness. Furthermore, proper education will make people realise the importance of equality and diversity in society (Lavrentieva et al., 2020).

The need for complete restructuring of the education system of Ukraine is precipitated by societal transformation. Currently, in Europe, there is a tendency for inclusive education for children with special educational needs, regardless of numerous organisational differences in different educational institutions (Sadova, 2020). Taking into account the fact that modern education should comply with present-day social demands and ensure a bright new future, it is worth considering the existing processes, their causes and consequences. The study of these issues can become a basis for generating appropriate and rational steps to develop a new system of education (including for persons with special needs). Consequently, this will provide a young generation with decent lives in the future (Kolupaeva and Taranchenko, 2016).

Finally, the sixth aim is economic barrierlessness. It consists of developing investment support and mentoring for companies owned by the National Strategy target groups; adapting financial literacy and business culture programmes for persons with sensory and mental impairments; supporting veterans’ businesses, and so on. At the moment, the potential of entrepreneurship and self-employment is not fully used to provide for the target groups’ economic independence. In particular, a low level of entrepreneurship can be observed among the youth, women, elderly people, and persons with a disability (Ordinance of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No 366-r, 2021). In addition, a low level of financial literacy and management skills impedes normal economic development and equality. Thus, the Strategy enshrines the objectives and ways of development to achieve economic barrierlessness.

Therefore, as the analysis of the National Strategy for Creating a Barrier-Free Environment shows, the majority of the existing problems in the sphere of barrierlessness are considered at the normative level and should be resolved. It is possible to conclude that normative instructions are logical and worked out thoroughly. So, under conditions of their implementation and a consistent policy, they can give positive results in creating a barrier-free society and reaching equality.

Equality and barrierlessness within international law

It is difficult to overestimate the significance of the equality principle. In fact, this principle is one of the key ones and is enshrined in many international legal acts. First of all, it is worth mentioning that already the Charter of the United Nations (1945) had determined the need to ‘to reaffirm faith in [. . .] the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small’ and the equality of all Member States (Charter of the United Nations, 1945). The entrenchment of the equality principle in the Charter of the United Nations requires its implementation in all spheres of life. In this context, the Declaration on the Right to Development (1986) is worth paying attention to. It enshrines the idea that the right to development is an inalienable human right and that the equality of opportunities concerns both nations and individuals (Declaration on the Right to Development, 1986). It is logical that the equality principle was further reflected in other international agreements on human rights.

For example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) also mentioned equality and non-discrimination in many articles. Thus, the Preamble recognised ‘the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family’ and ‘the equal rights of men and women’ (UDHR, 1948). Therefore, the UDHR defined the direction of further development of humanity.

Furthermore, the principle of equality was developed and established by the following international legal acts: the Convention on the Political Rights of Women (1952); the Convention on the Nationality of Married Women (1957); the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages (1962); the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965); the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict (1974); the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993); the United Nations Millennium Declaration (2000); the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006); the Sustainable Development Goals 2016–2030 (n.d.) and other documents.

Considering the characteristics of social and civil barrierlessness, it is necessary to highlight they correspond to the Sustainable Development Goals 2016–2030 (n.d.), adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015 (Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 2015).

Besides, the Council of Europe plays an important role in ensuring human rights in Europe. Equality is one of the key principles of this organisation, being enshrined in its legal acts. It is important to mention that, being a Member State of the Council of Europe, Ukraine is obliged to adhere to its norms. First of all, there is the European Convention on Human Rights (1950), which prescribes the prohibition of discrimination on any account (Article 14) (European Convention on Human Rights, 1950). Implementation of this Convention is obligatory for all Member States. Consequently, its provisions were introduced in to their national legislations. For example, it was implemented in Ukrainian legislation by the Law of Ukraine No 1767-VI ‘On Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Its Optional Protocol’ (2009).

Another important international legal act is the Council of Europe Disability Strategy 2017–2023 (2016). To tackle multiple discrimination and its consequences, the Strategy highlighted the need to improve access of persons with a disability to information, education, training programmes and human rights remedies. It means the inclusion of persons with a disability as subjects and users into educational projects funded, supported, controlled, and carried out by the Council of Europe (Council of Europe Disability Strategy 2017–2023, 2016).

Apart from that, it is worth paying attention to the European Union’s experience in resolving these problems. Accordingly, the Council of Europe passed directives implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin; ensuring equal access to well-being, social protection, goods, and services; implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services; and prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sex. Moreover, the European Disability Forum (EDF) was created within the European Union. As a European organisation, it represents interests of 80 million people with a disability and promotes their rights. As a result, the rights of persons with a disability to benefit from measures taken to ensure their independence, social and professional integration, and participation in public life are enshrined in the Article 26 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights (2000).

In spite of Ukraine not being a Member State of the European Union, it defined European integration as the key development goal. Accordingly, it follows and implements all best European experience, principles and standards, adapting them to Ukrainian realities and demands. In this context, it is necessary to mention the Association Agreement between Ukraine, on one hand, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, on the other hand (2014), which determined that all actions of the government should be based on equality, non-discrimination, and respect to diversity.

Therefore, having analysed the regulation of equality within international law, it is possible to highlight the importance of a barrier-free environment for the development of any democratic state and for ensuring human rights on the basis of equality and non-discrimination. Moreover, Ukraine having ratified many legal acts on equal opportunities for all, the initiative for creating a barrier-free environment has become a logical completion of the legal implementation of the international standards in this sphere. In addition, the European direction of development has stimulated the improvement of national legislation on equality, inclusion, and barrierlessness (Polishchuk et al., 2019).

International experience in barrierlessness as equal opportunities for all

Leading counties’ experience shows that the problems of barrierlessness can be solved by integrating complex measures and special programmes, with legal, organisational and financial support (Levchenko et al., 2021). Their example can become the starting point for realising the National Strategy in Ukraine. Moreover, the best international experience in creating a barrier-free environment will help resolve similar problems in Ukraine and increase the effectiveness of the government.

Therefore, it is important to study the example of some European countries at the forefront in creating a barrier-free society. First of all, Finland is considered a country that provides maximum inclusive living conditions for its citizens. Finland’s First Action Plan on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted in 2018. This country’s special feature is adherence to the principle ‘nothing about us without us’ at the governmental and local levels. This principle ensures the development of specific measures of inclusion and barrierlessness by both service receivers and their representative organisations. They also control their implementation. Furthermore, another special feature of the Finnish approach is commitment to primary public institutions at the local level, maintaining genuine communication with them. It facilitates legitimation of governmental decisions at the stage of their adoption and increases the public’s confidence in the government (Tokareva, 2021).

Moreover, the Estonian experience is interesting as well, Estonia being a country of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. So, if Estonia could achieve positive results in creating a barrier-free environment, so could Ukraine. It is worth noting that a normative base for inclusiveness and barrierlessness is provided for by the Welfare Development Plan 2016–2023 (n.d.). Accordingly, in Estonia, digitalisation of services and communication between all citizens and governmental, municipal institutions and broadening of people’s digital competences have become a priority (Sysoeva and Krystopchuk, 2012). Young citizens get acquainted with new technologies already in primary school, while elderly people can attend courses on digital technologies. Furthermore, the Estonian government actively promotes digital technologies in business (it uses a system of electronic document transfer called X-Road and an e-residency service, which allows an entrepreneur to register a company in the European Union from any country and manage it fully online). Owing to the active digitalisation, e-government, and cybersecurity, Estonia has become a leader in digital public services in the EU (Yaroshenko and Tomashevski, 2021).

In addition, there is the 2020 Estonian Lifelong Learning Strategy (2020). According to this Strategy, learning opportunities at all educational levels, the support of each learner’s social development, the improvement of learning skills, creativity, and entrepreneurship should be ensured. A specific characteristic of this Strategy is a detailed system of indicators in five main sectors as follows: changes in an approach to education; teachers’ competences and motivation; coordination with the labour market; digital competences; equal lifelong learning opportunities and extended participation.

Another noteworthy example of a barrier-free environment is Norway. This is a highly developed country remote from Ukraine, that occupies the leading positions in living standards. The Norwegian policy on digitalisation is similar to the Estonian one (Polishchuk et al., 2019). Thus, in Norway, high-quality communication based on the principles of inclusiveness and a universal design is recognised as an indispensable part of the state policy on equal opportunity and non-discrimination. Therefore, the task of the state policy on communication is to update, simplify, and improve the public sector. Its priority is to meet users’ needs, develop digital skills, and increase citizens’ participation in public and civil life. An integral component of this process is the universal design, allowing persons with a disability to fulfil themselves in everyday life, regardless of any disease, social, psychological or physical specific needs.

In addition, Norway has a separate Universal Design and Technologies Plan coordinated by the Norwegian Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion – Integration Affairs. This document stresses the fact that the universal design is useful not only for persons with a disability and elderly people but also for the society as a whole because it involves broad swathes of the population in working processes, communities’ technological development, transport and housing policies. The Norwegian government also implements the policy plans and events in other related spheres such as the National Transport Plan 2022–2033; the Norwegian Government’s strategy for an age-friendly society; long-term plan for research and higher education 2015–2024; the National Health and Hospital Plan; local development plans (Zubchenko et al., 2020).

Having analysed the examples of three European countries, it is possible to conclude that the Estonian experience is the most suitable for Ukraine. It is connected in several respects. First, Estonia and Ukraine have a similar socialistic history. Second, they both move towards digitalisation and implementation of digital services.

Discussion

A Ukrainian scholar Tokareva (2021) studied the implementation of barrierlessness by countries throughout the world. She determined that the creation of a barrier-free environment for persons with a disability and reduced mobility is one of the paramount requirements in Ukraine. So, the National Strategy for Creating a Barrier-Free Environment in Ukraine until 2030 means prompt and necessary governmental actions to ensure inclusiveness and form a barrier-free society. Apart from that, the National Strategy underlines that leading countries create social (civil) and public inclusiveness with the help of complex measures and special programmes. In her opinion, the adaptation of international experience will facilitate solving similar problems and increase the authorities’ effectiveness in Ukraine (Tokareva, 2021).

Furthermore, Zubchenko et al. (2020) made conclusions in the context of comparative analysis and the implementation of barrierlessness. They studied current international experience in creating a barrier-free environment and inclusiveness and characterised relevant legal acts, defined their general methodology, and their connection with the European and international acts. In addition, the researchers carried out a review of social, economic, physical, public, and digital barrierlessness as well as the infrastructure universal design that can be adapted in Ukraine.

Regarding physical barrierlessness and its problems, it is worth mentioning works by a Russian scholar, Kirichkov. He thoroughly analysed the adaptation of city architecture to the needs of persons with reduced mobility and singled out the main shortcomings, reasons for danger in buildings and their inconsistency with legal and practical demands. Furthermore, he defined the main ways to improve an inclusive environment (Kirichkov, 2019).

Apart from that, it is critical to mention the research conducted by Kolupaeva and Taranchenko (2016) into the building of a highly developed system of inclusive education. In their work, the scholars presented the basic foundations for inclusive education such as a socio-cultural context, a historic base, international and national legislation and regulatory support, which is considered a basis of transformations in education for persons with special needs. In addition, they chronologised the development of education for children with special needs since Ukraine’s independence; determined its perspectives and the newest approaches to teaching children with psychophysical special needs; defined strategies for the implementation of effective inclusion; and described the role and importance of parents’ impact on inclusive education (Kolupaeva and Taranchenko, 2016).

Moreover, Sadova (2020) studied European countries’ examples of inclusiveness and barrierlessness in education. She analysed the European experience in inclusive education, comparing different approaches to teaching children with special needs. Furthermore, the researcher determined the impact of socio-political phenomena on educational inclusion and learning technologies and strategies abroad. Furthermore, Sadova distinguished three European inclusive education models such as conservative, liberal, and social-democratic and five types of support for teachers and children with special educational needs as follows: teamwork, consultations, teachers’ cooperation, parallel learning and cooperative learning.

There has been important research into aspects of equality and barrierlessness conducted by Afonin and Kolesnikov (2019), Barmashina (2014), Kutsevich (2008), Lynn and Razik (2013), Pishchulina (2020), Sysoeva and Krystopchuk (2012), Fesenko and Lisyuk (2021), and others. However, given the topicality of a barrier-free environment in Ukraine and adopted legal acts, it is worth analysing this problem in detail to find the most appropriate ways for its achievement.

Conclusion

Thus, barrierlessness is construed as a general approach to forming a state policy and its further implementation to ensure unimpeded access of all population groups to different life spheres on the grounds of equality and non-discrimination. Using positive European experience, Ukraine should provide maximum inclusiveness and barrierlessness to democratise and humanise the society. So, there is a need of research into mechanisms of barrierlessness at the local and sectorial levels.

It is possible to single out the following specific steps to be taken:

1. An integrated approach to and coherence of legal acts that are adopted to create a barrier-free environment;

2. A consistent and balanced policy in this area;

3. Gradual and deliberate implementation of the National Strategy;

4. Coordination of all public authorities to implement the National Strategy at all levels throughout the country;

5. Adoption of special programmes for social and civil participation of persons with reduced mobility;

6. Communication and a dialogue about ensuring a barrier-free environment and informing citizens about possibilities to participate in public life;

7. Ensuring equal rights to participate in cultural activities for persons with a disability;

8. Implementation of the principles of inclusiveness at all levels of governmental decisions.

Moreover, Ukraine can partially adapt the Estonian experience in creating a barrier-free environment because these countries have similar features of political development in the past. However, the most important thing is that it is necessary not to copy the country’s steps but to adopt foreign experience to the Ukrainian realities. Nowadays, it is essential to improve legislation because there are some discrepancies between the existing legal acts that slow down the implementation of international and European standards and foreign countries’ experience in Ukraine. In particular, it is necessary to harmonise the acts in the fields of construction, education, transportation, mobility, medicine, and a number of others to implement barrier-free accessibility. Although some acts have already been amended, for example, in the area of school and preschool education, other laws should still be expanded and supplemented.

Therefore, to create a barrier-free society, it is crucial to solve the following problems: to enforce responsibility of project designers, builders, and owners of commissioned infrastructural objects and edifices regarding their accessibility by persons with a disability; to create conditions for this population group to receive information about access to infrastructural objects and their rights; to activate monitoring and control over the implementation of the state policy on rights protection by public authorities. Another task is training of specialists in construction, architecture, transport, engineering, hotel and catering industry, media production, education, and so on, to teach them to create a safe barrier-free environment in their professional activities on the basis of equality and non-discrimination principles.

It is worth noting that despite all the difficulties that Ukraine has gone through and is going through, some individual aspects of the barrier-free policy have already been implemented. First of all, a legal basis for its implementation has been created, in the form of the National Strategy and other normative legal acts cited in the article. During 2021, a new state policy for creating a barrier-free Ukraine will be fully formed. After the President signed the Decree ‘On Ensuring the Creation of a Barrier-Free Space in Ukraine’ in 2020, a number of significant regulatory improvements were made. During this time, the National Barrier-Free Strategy was adopted – standards of equal opportunities for all population groups. Under the coordination of the Ministry of Community and Territory Development of Ukraine, an action plan to overcome barriers which is a roadmap for each agency was developed.

In addition, the project ‘Communities without Barriers’ was created under the patronage of the Ukrainian government. Within the framework of this project, memorandums on the development of barrier-free architecture were signed with the heads of the Kyiv, Cherkasy, Vinnitsa and Donetsk regions and with the mayors of Slavutych, Mariupol and Vinnitsa. Thus, the Ukrainian city of Slavutych is the first city where barrier-free architectural solutions will be implemented. For the first time in Ukraine, the position of a barrier-free ombudsman was introduced there. In addition, the first section of the Album of Barrier-Free Solutions, which is the most complete illustrated guide in Ukraine on creating accessible urban space (from entrances to bus stops) has been completed.