Eng Gemeng fir Jiddereen (une commune pour tout le monde) A City for Everyone

In 1998, most of the Luxembourgish municipalities signed the Barcelona convention (la Déclaration de Barcelone – 1995) in order to integrate all the citizens, especially those with disabilities. Following the same principle, in 2005, Info-Handicap introduced an annual national contest, “Eng Gemeng fir jidereen” (A city for everyone), in order to encourage local authorities to improve or present their initiatives to promote the quality of life and participation of all citizens, including people with physical and mental disabilities in everyday life activities. This national competition is an excellent opportunity to gather all relevant information that could make everyday life more enjoyable, more comfortable, and more accessible for all the inhabitants of the town.

Project start date

2005

Contributing country

Luxembourg

Covering City

All cities in Luxembourg

Main placement

Luxembourg, Social inclusion and integration

Summary

Each year, the municipalities must submit their projects to Info-Handicap in order to participate in the competition. The jury is made up of 6 to 8 people with disabilities and in order to qualify for a prize, the submitted projects must meet minimum eligibility criteria. Municipalities that won the competition cannot win a price for the subsequent 3 years; however, they can submit their projects and eventually receive an “honorable mention”.

Issue

The project “Eng Gemeng fir Jiddereen” aims to promote equal opportunities to people with disabilities at local level in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg.

Approach (75-100 words)

In order to submit the projects, municipalities must meet certain eligibility criteria:

A description of actions which offer equal opportunities for citizens with disabilities, including all necessary details to enable verification by the jury (e.g. pictures, films, illustrations, statistics, etc.); these actions may concern integration, training, leisure activities, tourism, transport, communication facilities, etc.
Information about existing cooperation between the municipality and organizations for disabled people, or about the participation of people with disabilities in municipal commissions or particular working groups;
Information showing whether the municipality respects the legal quota for the employment of disabled workers.

Results

Since 2005, the municipalities of Hesperange, Frisange, Luxembourg, Roeser, and Sanem succeeded in their projects and have won the prize. Some examples of good practices are:

1. Parking spaces for disabled people;

2. An accessible tourist place (Robbesscheier);

3. Touch screens in Braille for blind people;

4. Disabled friendly public toilets;

5. Contrasted marking;

6. Ramp access to different public places;

7. Visual accessible signals of bus lines;

8. Accessible cash desk at Luxembourg Airport;

9. Touchable guide in the Belval train station;

10. Personal assistant at Luxembourg Airport;

11. Easily understandable pictograms;

12. Translation into sign language;