Guttmann institute boosts independent living in Barcelona
Apartments for disabled patients give second life to old hospital where institution was born 53 years ago
disability
Students create obstacle detector for wheelchair users
Plans in pipeline to turn college project into business
Catalan students win US robotics prize for remote control wheelchair
High school team from Girona awarded in international competition
Catalan students win US robotics prize for remote control wheelchair
High school team from Girona awarded in international competition
'I know what I'm stepping on,' says amputee testing groundbreaking prosthetics
Catalan hospital, among four in the world to implant bone-anchored prosthetics to its patients
Andorra La Vella and La Seu d’Urgell to organize 2018 Special Olympic Games
The joint bid between Andorra la Vella, the capital of the Principality of Andorra and the closest Catalan town, La Seu d’Urgell, to organize the 2018 Special Olympics Games has been successful. The Mayor of Andorra la Vella, Marc Pons, and the mayor of La Seu d’Urgell, Albert Batalla, made this public last week. The two mayors said the games would be a challenge and there will promote the two cities as sports centers and towns of solidarity. The event will be held from the 4th to 7th of October and will bring more than 2,400 people from more than seventeen international delegations. This will be the first time that the Special Olympic Games, the most important international sports event for athletes with mental disability, will be held in the Pyrenees.
Getting around Barcelona with a disability
The Catalan capital underwent a major transformation concerning the infrastructure and urban planning during the nineties, mainly due to the celebration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 1992. However, rather than stopping there, Barcelona continued to adapt the city to its disabled visitors and is now considered one of the most accessible tourist destinations in Europe. Various travel agencies in the Catalan capital specialise in providing information for people with a disability. To achieve this, they offer the best accessible hotels, activities and adapted transport. Moreover, the public transport network is fully accessible and several beaches, one of the main attractions in Barcelona, also offer assisted bathing services for disabled people who cannot access the water independently.
The ‘Ombudsman’ has “less influence” and is under “threat of disappearance”
In an international conference taking place in Barcelona of Ombudsmen from Europe, America and Africa, the Catalan Ombudsman, Rafael Ribó, has warned that the institution has “less influence”. Furthermore, in some areas of Europe there is a threat that they will “disappear”. The Ombudsmen have been discussing their role in the face of the privatisation of basic services. The conference has been organised with the ‘Cercle d’Economia’, which is mainly an economic forum, open to businesspeople, academics and economic professionals.
Intellectually disabled people also hit by economic crisis
DINCAT demands equal rights in a difficult context as special learning centres are hit by job cuts and a reduction in the number of new service centres