Barrier removal is the elimination of physical obstacles that prevent people with disabilities, seniors, and parents with children from accessing buildings and services. In practice this covers step-free entrances, lifts and platforms, adaptation of sanitary facilities, orientation and guidance features for people with visual impairment, and adaptation of the surroundings of buildings. It is funded mainly at schools, healthcare and social facilities, public authorities, stations and cultural venues, often as part of a larger renovation. For applicants it is essential that accessibility also tends to be a horizontal condition of other calls – if a renovated building does not meet accessibility requirements, the project will not succeed regardless of the quality of the rest of the solution. A similar shift is also taking place in the digital environment.
See also: Horizontal principles, Website accessibility (WCAG), Renovation of public buildings.
