“The First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska took part in the meeting of the “Business Without Barriers” community, united around her “Without Barriers” initiative. The community includes companies that share and implement the values of equal opportunities for their teams and customers.”, — write: www.president.gov.ua
The First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska took part in the meeting of the “Business Without Barriers” community, united around her “Without Barriers” initiative. The community includes companies that share and implement the values of equal opportunities for their teams and customers.
The event was held with the participation of the Minister of Veterans Affairs Nataliya Kalmykova and the head of the National Bank Andrii Pyshnyi.
The main focus is projects implemented within companies and together with community members, team training and communication. These areas were identified as priorities during the strategic session of the “Business Without Barriers” community at the beginning of the year.
“There is a phrase: ‘the best version of us.’ Barrier-free is a better version of our common present. The version where all of us, regardless of age, gender, health, even enemy attacks, have a quality and dignified life. And during the defense of the country, responsible businesses are those that provide not only services and goods, but also sustainability,” Olena Zelenska said.
Each company in the community has its own barrier-free development project. For example, “Nova Poshta” opened the first barrier-free branch this year: with an entrance without thresholds, tactile tiles throughout the square, a mnemonic diagram, a sound beacon on the door, adapted furniture and a digital assistant.
This year, Ukrzaliznytsia began the reconstruction of stations in Kyiv and Lviv, modernized 50 carriages, added the service of online ordering of station assistants and announcements in sign language in high-speed trains and at stations.
During the year, “Foxtrot” scaled up the sign language service (up to 30 chain stores), when communication with customers takes place with the involvement of an online sign language interpreter.
Almost all companies of the community implement projects aimed at supporting the process of reintegration of veterans. In particular, these are DTEK, McDonald’s in Ukraine, SoftServe, Silpo, FUIB.
Among the projects implemented is a project to install mobile rehabilitation modules, which was supported by Visa, Oschadbank and PrivatBank. These are barrier-free spaces that provide a full range of services for physical and psychological recovery.
Together with Mastercard, Ukrzaliznytsia adapted its application for people with visual impairments: all interface elements can now be interacted with using voice control.
All companies of the “Business Without Barriers” community this year conducted training for employees on correct communication and interaction: Ukrzaliznytsia – a course on barrier-free literacy (20 thousand employees were covered), McDonald’s in Ukraine – interaction with people with war experience (more than 5, 5 thousand employees), OKKO – barrier-free communications and emotional support (3.7 thousand employees), “Foxtrot” – basics barrier-free (2.5 thousand employees), FUIB – correct communication during service of people with disabilities (2 thousand employees), SOCAR (2 thousand employees).
Also, in particular, EPAM conducts training on digital accessibility for students and future IT specialists.
Starlight Media and 1+1, communicating the topic of barrier-freeness, use an integrated approach in all media products. At PrivatBank, Cardman talks about accessibility: during each transaction in the mobile application, the mascot reminds us of the need to take care of ourselves and others, talks about the rules of correct use of terms. And FUIB – through the photo project with Kostyantyn Liberov “Unbreakable stories of veterans”.
“In each of your projects, which are presented here today, it is not just numbers that are important, although they make an impression, but specific human destinies that have changed for the better,” the first lady emphasized.
During the event, she spoke about the update of the “Barrier-free Guide” – a guide to correct communication and interaction, created on her initiative. “Handbook of barrier-free accessibility” can be viewed by link
At the meeting, community members received the “Business without barriers” award.
“Your experience and your projects can also be a useful guide for others. I believe that accessibility is not created by official orders. Humanity can be made a new value only by those who are human themselves.”, – summarized Olena Zelenska.
According to the results of the meeting, the MEGOGO media service, the LUN IT company, and the agro-industrial company Kernel signed a declaration on the implementation of barrier-free principles.
