In order to meet the needs of the people affected, the Advisory Board for People with Disabilities was set up by the Salzgitter City Council in 2011. As those affected in their own right, the members played a key role in the creation of the action plan in line with the motto "Not about us without us".

In 2012, the city council decided to draw up an action plan to implement the UN CRPD in close cooperation with the Salzgitter Advisory Council for People with Disabilities. To this end, a kick-off event was held in July 2012 at which the project and the UN CRPD were presented.

A steering committee and a planning group were subsequently formed to draw up the action plan and coordinate the sub-projects. Five sub-project groups were also formed for the following areas:

• Education & Upbringing,
• Planning, Infrastructure & Mobility,
• Housing & Participation,
• working environment and
• Leisure & Culture.

In the project groups, employees of the city administration worked with participants from different areas (e.g. members of the Advisory Council for People with Disabilities, the Seniorenbeirat and the parliamentary groups of the council).

In the first phase of the project, the overall situation of people with disabilities in Salzgitter was analyzed in each sub-project group on a topic-specific basis. In a second phase, the sub-project groups prepared an inventory. This resulted in an interim report, which was presented in 2013.

In the third phase of the project, the sub-project groups developed well over 100 measures for the municipal action plan, which were then compiled into a catalog of measures in the fourth phase.

Measures were developed in the individual sub-project groups and incorporated into the catalog of measures in the action plan. There are a total of 68 measures that have been or are to be implemented.

Here are a few examples:

• Gebährdendolmetscher in the city administration,
• Grants to sports clubs, for example, if they can provide evidence of inclusive offers,
• Creation of a requirements profile with handicapped accessible
  requirements for barrier-free apartments,
• Organizing an ideas competition for lighthouse projects and publishing the winners,
• Guidance system for public buildings (e.g. barrier-free information board),
• Urban development concept "Reduction of barriers",
• Make public toilet facilities accessible,
• Make the city's homepage barrier-free (e.g. also information sheets, brochures in easy language),
• Hiking maps for people with disabilities and
• Increasing the number of apprenticeships and jobs in companies

In addition to the individual measures, public relations work is an important instrument for implementation, as awareness-raising and educational work for the needs of people with disabilities is an important element in all measures.

It is important to involve all stakeholders (e.g. networks, associations, organizations, politics, city administration and civil society) in the implementation of the tasks listed in the action plan.

Financial resources are also required to implement the measures. Therefore, the targeted acquisition of funding from various federal or state programs, non-profit organizations, foundations and the involvement of volunteers is necessary.

Do you have an idea of how we can improve the lives of people with disabilities in our city? Would you like to volunteer or have something to offer people with disabilities?

Then please get in touch with the Disability Officer, Mr. Frank Schimkat.