Website of the President of Russia: Commissions and Councils

Meeting of the Commission for the Disabled

2026-04-10T19:54:20+04:00

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova chaired a regular meeting of the Presidential Commission for the Disabled.

The Commission members discussed the development of comprehensive medical care and rehabilitation for individuals with spinal cord disabilities, the use of assistive technology in the electoral process, and the development of audio description – a form of audio-visual translation used to assist blind or visually impaired individuals – in sports and culture.

Corresponding instructions have been issued following the discussion.

Tatyana Golikova chaired a meeting of Presidential Commission for the Disabled

2025-11-13T15:37:10+04:00

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova chaired a regular meeting of the Presidential Commission for the Disabled. The agenda included improving the accessibility of information from state and private resources for visually impaired persons, as well as a progress report on the Concept for Promoting a Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Habilitation Framework for People with Disabilities, Including Children until 2025.

In her remarks, Tatyana Golikova said that the Government intended to introduce new requirements regarding the accessibility of information resources for visually impaired persons, which would come into effect on March 1, 2026. In the meantime, the Government is drafting a corresponding act. These regulations will cover accessibility-related matters for websites of state-level and local government agencies, as well as their affiliated organisations.

Today, mandatory requirements for enabling visually impaired persons to access information include text-to-speech solutions, using keyboard and screen-access software for website navigation, better text contrast ratios and several other options. The draft Government directive is expected to set forth specific requirements for ensuring that visibility settings for visually impaired users can be easily located on the webpage. Offering text-to-speech capabilities will also become mandatory.

The Deputy Prime Minister emphasised that both state and private entities must gradually bring their resources up to this standard ensuring full compliance with a single set of requirements so that people with disabilities can access information.

The progress report on the Concept for Promoting a Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Habilitation Framework for People with Disabilities, Including Children until 2025 was a separate item on the meeting’s agenda. This concept is designed to ensure that all people with disabilities can access quality, effective and safe services, thereby benefitting from maximum autonomy and improving their quality of life.

“Today, there are 11.4 million people with disabilities living in Russia, and 788,000 of them are children. According to the WHO, over one billion people suffer from various kinds of disabilities around the world. Consequently, the availability and quality of rehabilitation services is a global issue,” Tatyana Golikova pointed out.

Efforts to implement the concept have helped increase employment figures among working-age people with disabilities. Today, one in three people with a disability has a job in Russia, up from one in five in 2021.

All 27 mandatory standards for providing rehabilitation services have been adopted, covering areas from social and professional rehabilitation to prosthetics and orthopaedic assistance. This is expected to ensure the transition to a unified approach and improve the quality of services across the country. This initiative includes a transition period until 2030.

The development of rehabilitation infrastructure is subject to an annual review. Almost 29,000 organisations provide rehabilitation services in the country, either operating within or being affiliated to various agencies. Mobile services have also enjoyed positive momentum in their development. The number of stations renting out technical rehabilitation equipment has increased to 2,150 in 2025. A single digital platform has been launched at the federal level to enable all medical and social assessment commissions to operate within a unified digital ecosystem.

The authorities have been paying special attention to offering early care and assistance to children and their families. This included approving a standard for providing early and preventive care to children under three years old. In 2024, 91 percent of children who needed this kind of assistance were able to receive it. Improving the lives of people suffering from mental disorders has also been a priority.

Following the meeting, instructions have been issued to the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, and the Ministry of Education.

Meeting of the Commission for the Disabled

2025-08-11T18:36:14+04:00

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova chaired a meeting of the Presidential Commission for the Disabled.

Tatyana Golikova reported that as of June 1, 2025, there were 11.4 million people with disabilities in Russia, including 784,000 children. Approximately 90 percent of adults with disabilities have a permanent disability status. Since 2018, the total number of disabled people has decreased by almost 6 percent.

The Deputy Prime Minister emphasised the necessity of considering disability statistics when addressing public healthcare matters, particularly regarding personnel training, prioritising preventive medicine programmes, and organising health check-ups.

Thirty-nine percent, or almost 4.5 million people with disabilities, are of working age. To improve the employability of people with disabilities, the Government is taking measures under the Personnel National Project. For example, this year companies are eligible for additional funding to equip workplaces for staff with disabilities.

Under the Personnel National Project, special military operation veterans are eligible for free retraining and professional development programmes in high-demand fields, facilitating their employment. The Work in Russia integrated digital employment platform now has a designated section for veterans that explains the most common life situations. Over 48,000 veterans are currently employed.

A campaign promoting sports and the Paralympic movement among special military operation veterans is also underway. One such event is the Defenders of the Fatherland Cup for special military operation veterans. Team sports are particularly popular among the veterans.

Members of the commission also addressed the challenges that special military operation veterans with disabilities commonly face. It was noted that the Government is taking consistent action to improve the quality of services and the available state guarantees.

Following the discussion, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, the Ministry of Healthcare, and the Ministry of Sports received instructions.

Meeting of the Commission for the Disabled

2025-04-17T16:46:23+04:00

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova chaired the first meeting of the Presidential Commission for the Disabled in a renewed composition. It includes representatives of public organisations, charitable foundations, state agencies and institutions, ministries and departments, as well as the State Duma and the Federation Council.

The issues discussed included the accessibility of secondary vocational education for children with disabilities and special needs, as well as aspects of rehabilitation and medical services for people with disabilities.

According to Tatyana Golikova, there are 775,000 children with disabilities in Russia, 230,000 of whom are aged between 17 and 22. Almost 20 percent of them, or 43,000, are students at secondary vocational education institutions. The quality and accessibility of education and the skills learned through physical interaction with peers and work on their assignments are crucial for young people with special needs to advance professionally.

As many as 4,500 education providers in Russia offer secondary vocational education programmes. The number of students with disabilities in these programmes increases annually; it grew by 8.1 percent in 2024. The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that inclusive education has been provided for some of these students. However, this classroom-based format does not always work for students with disabilities because of the nature and severity of their conditions, especially when it comes to learning vocational skills. Therefore, 23 specialised schools offer vocational training programmes for this category.

People with disabilities also get assistance with employment. The national project Personnel includes a programme for subsidised recruitment, where employers receive compensation for expenses incurred in equipping workplaces for people with disabilities. Retraining courses are also available to acquire skills that are in demand in the labour market.

Following the meeting, Tatyana Golikova instructed the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, the Ministry of Healthcare, and the Social Fund to collaborate with the regions to thoroughly examine the situation with the vocational education of students with disabilities and submit proposals to improve these institutions’ work.

The Commission members also discussed issues related to improving rehabilitation and medical services for persons with disabilities and special needs. Following the discussion, a number of instructions were given to the Ministry of Healthcare in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, regional executive authorities, and also involving the professional community.

Meeting of Commission for the Disabled

2024-04-27T14:42:18+04:00

Presidential Adviser Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a regular meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

Participants in the commission’s meeting included Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Inna Svyatenko, Chair of the Defenders of the Fatherland State Foundation to Support Participants in the Special Military Operation Anna Tsivilyova, commission members, representatives of federal executive bodies, as well as regional executive bodies of the Vologda, Nizhny Novgorod and Leningrad regions, and also members of national public organisations for persons with disabilities.

The commission meeting’s agenda included the following items:

annual summary report on the state of affairs regarding people with disabilities in the Russian Federation in 2023;

carrying out measures to provide services related to assisted living, social employment and supported employment for people with disabilities (Item 3 in the list of the instructions by the President of the Russian Federation No Pr-2539 of December 30, 2022).

The debate on the first item of the agenda dealing with the summary report on the state of affairs regarding people with disabilities in the Russian Federation in 2023 included presentations by Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Alexei Vovchenko, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Inna Svyatenko, Deputy Minister of Healthcare Yevgeny Kamkin, Deputy Minister of Transport Valentin Ivanov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Yekaterina Priyezheva, Chair of the Defenders of the Fatherland State Foundation to Support Participants in the Special Military Operation Anna Tsivilyova, Deputy Chair of the State Duma Committee on Labour, Social Policy and Veteran Affairs, Chair of the National Society of the Disabled Mikhail Terentyev, and Director General of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects Svetlana Chupsheva.

In his remarks, Alexei Vovchenko said that the Ministry of Labour drafted the summary report as per the commission’s decision and worked together on this matter with the corresponding federal and regional executive bodies with input from representatives of civil society and expert organisations. The purpose of compiling this report consisted of devising state policy measures targeting persons with disabilities by relying on data from the Federal Bureau for Sociomedical Assessment, the federal registry of persons with disabilities, and federal statistics.

The summary report covers current issues of people with special needs, namely the current state and dynamics of child and adult disability, the improvement of the disability assessment system, the development of the system of comprehensive rehabilitation and habilitation of children and adults with disabilities, the provision of technical rehabilitation equipment, the employment of people with disabilities, inclusive education, the accessibility of physical training and sports, and the participation of disabled people in social and cultural activities.

Following discussions, it was decided that the annual summary report should be approved with some stipulations concerning the provision of medical assistance and medicines to disabled children and adults, including by the Circle of Kindness Foundation, the accessibility of transport and other infrastructure and the provision of technical rehabilitation means for disabled children.

It has also been recommended that the results of social research and opinion polls be taken into account. The updated summary report will be made accessible for consideration by the general public.

Reports on the second issue were made by Acting Minister of Social Policy of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Igor Sedykh, Chair of the Social Protection Committee of the Leningrad Region Anastasia Tkachyova, Acting Head of the Social Protection Department of the Vologda Region Irina Okopnik, and Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Alexei Vovchenko.

Other participants in the debates were President of the All-Russia Association of the Blind Vladimir Sipkin, Deputy Chair of the State Duma Committee on Labour, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs and Chair of the All-Russian Society of Disabled People Mikhail Terentyev, Chair of the Board of the All-Russian Organisation of Parents of Disabled Children and people aged over 18 with mental and other disabilities who need representation of their interests Yelena Klochko.

The Labour Ministry, acting jointly with the executive authorities of the Russian regions, organised a survey on assisted living, social employment and supported employment of people with disabilities.

According to the Labour Ministry of Russia, as of March 1, 2024, 1,721 disabled persons made use of assisted living services, 73,508 were involved in social employment, and 2,248 people with of group I and II disabilities were involved in supported employment.

Speaking about the technology of assisted living, the main goal is to complete the development of a legal framework at the federal and regional levels.

Other issues that are important for the further development of the assisted living technology have to do with the drafting and approval of a comprehensive interagency action plan (roadmap) for the development of assisted living in the constituent entities of Russia until 2026, issues of guardianship and custody, a legal framework for the procedure of allocating living premises, training skilled personnel and coordinating the relevant indicators of statistical survey.

The speakers pointed out that additional attention should be given to the organisation of supported employment for people with mental disabilities.

Meeting of Commission for the Disabled

2023-10-31T23:33:34+04:00

Presidential Adviser Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a regular meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Federal Assembly chambers, federal and regional executive bodies, national public organisations of disabled persons, as well as heads of the Orlyonok and Alye Parusa children’s centres.

The meeting participants discussed the following issues: the implementation in 2022–2023 of a pilot project to provide services for comprehensive rehabilitation and abilitation of children with disabilities in the Sverdlovsk and Tyumen regions and the further expansion of this project in accordance with the Presidential instructions; organisation of recreation and health improvement activities for children with disabilities and children with limited health capacities in 2022–2023; review of the patient survey results on applying new rules for disability categorisation and proposals for their improvement.

Corresponding decisions were adopted following the discussion.

Meeting of the Commission for the Disabled

2023-06-12T20:28:58+04:00

Presidential Adviser Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a regular meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

The meeting was attended by the Commission’s members, representatives of federal and regional executive bodies, national public organisations of the disabled and veterans, Russia’s Glavgosexpertiza agency and the Russian Railways.

The discussion focused on issues of increasing availability of transport infrastructure for the disabled and promoting assisted living for them.

Deputy Transport Minister Valentin Ivanov, Head of the Federal Agency for Transport Supervision Viktor Basargin, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Alexei Vovchenko, Head of the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology Anton Shalayev and Russian Railways Deputy CEO Dmitry Pegov reported on the first issue.

Following the discussion, a number of decisions were made and respective instructions were issued.

Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Alexei Vovchenko reported on the issue of assisted living for the disabled.

Following the discussion, decisions were made to work on specific issues including with regard to living conditions for the disabled, the performance of specialists who provide assisted living, and custody and guardianship.

Meeting of Commission for Disabled

2022-10-18T17:07:41+04:00

Adviser to the President Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a regular meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

Taking part in the meeting were representatives of federal and regional executive authorities, national public organisations for the disabled and specialised expert bodies.

The participants considered the main tasks and measures for organising an effective system for the rehabilitation of people with disabilities, increasing the availability and quality of rehabilitation and habilitation services, as well as developing the Abilympics movement as a form of rehabilitation for people with disabilities.

Reports were delivered by Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Alexei Vovchenko, Deputy Healthcare Minister Yevgeny Kamkin, Deputy Defence Minister – Head of the Main Military and Political Directorate of the Armed Forces Colonel-General Viktor Goremykin, General Director of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives Svetlana Chupsheva, and representatives of supreme executive bodies of the Tyumen Region, Tatarstan and Buryatia.

Meeting of Commission for Disabled

2022-04-18T21:22:48+04:00

Adviser to the President Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

Taking part in the meeting were Federation Council Vice Speaker Galina Karelova, Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, commission members, representatives of federal executive bodies and regional executive bodies, as well as of Russian public organisations on the disabled.

Commission meeting participants discussed measures to increase the availability of children’s recreation and the rehabilitation of children with disabilities; and a review of the monitoring of the introduction of an electronic certificate to provide disabled people with high-quality technical support in rehabilitation.

Meeting of Commission for Disabled

2021-10-05T21:00:14+04:00

Adviser to the President Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the federal and regional authorities, nonprofit organisations of people with disabilities and the professional community from the sphere of culture.

The participants discussed new goals and additional measures to promote inclusion in the sphere of culture and compliance with the presidential instructions in this area. In particular, they reviewed issues related to expanding disabled people’s ability to participate in cultural life and fulfil their creative, artistic and intellectual potential, and to improving the system for providing disabled people with high-quality rehabilitation equipment, including with the use of an electronic certificate.

In her opening remarks, Alexandra Levitskaya noted that the monitoring carried out by the Ministry of Culture revealed that access to cultural facilities and services for people with disabilities was woefully inadequate with less than 40 percent of buildings and 15–20 percent of events meeting the requirements.

The participants supported the Ministry of Culture’s proposal to continue systematic work aimed at involving people with disabilities in cultural life and highlighted the need to draft a comprehensive interagency action plan for the period to 2025; to promote inclusive creative projects, nationwide festivals and exhibitions; and to train cultural organisations’ employees to provide services for people with disabilities.

First Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Aleksei Vovchenko updated the Commission members on the state of affairs in providing disabled people with rehabilitation equipment.

Following the discussion, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection was directed to work through the proposals made during the meeting on improving the provision of disabled people with rehabilitation equipment.

Meeting of Commission for Disabled

2021-04-06T20:24:31+04:00

Presidential Adviser Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a regular meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

The participants included Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy Inna Svyatenko; Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Anna Kuznetsova; First Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Alexei Vovchenko; Deputy Healthcare Ministers Yevgeny Kamkin and Pavel Pugachev; Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Gulnaz Kadyrova; Head of the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare Alla Samoilova; as well as representatives of federal and regional executive authorities, and nationwide public organisations of people with disabilities, and experts.

The participants discussed ways to improve medical and social evaluation and ways to expand the production of rehabilitation products.

Alexei Vovchenko delivered a report on the first issue. He spoke about the Labour Ministry’s plans to reorganise the medical and social assessment procedures under a departmental targeted program for 2020–2025. Other speakers brought up problems that arise when patients are referred for medical and social evaluation and as they go through the process.

Gulnaz Kadyrova spoke on the second issue on the agenda. She discussed plans for contacts with the All-Russian Society of the Deaf, the concerned federal executive bodies and the expert community to draft a comprehensive science and technology programme for a full innovative cycle for hearing restoration, as well as plans to form interagency expert councils in order to provide the necessary technical solutions for the rehabilitation of disabled people.

As Alexandra Levitskaya noted in her remarks, problems with digitising all stages of medical and social assessment, the availability of medical tests and long testing turnaround times are still relevant.

At the end of the meeting, a number of decisions were adopted concerning, in particular, the improvement of the state system of medical and social assessment; transition to 100 percent use of digital interdepartmental communication when the relevant documents are sent to examination facilities; and monitoring of the progress of the individual rehabilitation programme for orphans.

Meeting of the Commission for the Disabled

2020-07-27T14:45:30+04:00

Presidential Adviser Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

Participants in the meeting included Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Galina Karelova, Minister of Labour and Social Protection Anton Kotyakov, Healthcare Minister Mikhail Murashko, Chair of the State Duma Committee on Labour, Social Policy and Veteran Issues Yaroslav Nilov and his deputy Mikhail Terentyev, representatives of Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod and Leningrad regions, as well as representatives of public and expert organisations.

The meeting concerned ensuring the right of the disabled to social protection, medical care and medication supplies during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, as well as measures necessary to ensure the disabled people’s employment.

According to the Federal Registry of People with Disabilities, there were 11.82 million disabled people in Russia as of June 1, 2020, including 698,500 disabled children. The Russian Labour Ministry reported that during the period between January and May 2020, the number of people of employable age with disabilities was 3.4 million while working disabled people account for 27 percent of this number. The same figure was recorded between January and May 2019.

Following a discussion, the meeting participants decided to take measures to improve the job quota allocation system for people with disabilities, and to analyse, in cooperation with private staffing agencies, the number of inquiries from disabled people and the number of job openings offered by employers, to further improve the employment support for people with disabilities and to expand the practice of involving NGOs in these efforts.

Meeting of Commission for Disabled

2019-07-02T17:37:36+04:00

Presidential Aide Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a regular session of the Commission for the Disabled.

The session agenda was devoted to the implementation of the President’s instructions of January 13, 2018, following a meeting with the disabled on December 5, 2017.

In her opening remarks, Ms Levitskaya pointed out the factors that complicate life for disabled people: lack of a job, social isolation and the absence of an accessible environment that allows them to move around by themselves.

Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Grigory Lekarev, Deputy Healthcare Minister Yevgeny Kamkin, Deputy Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities Tatyana Kostareva, Deputy Minister of Culture Nikolai Ovsiyenko, and Deputy Minister of Education Tatyana Sinyugina delivered reports on including measures to ensure full and effective participation of the disabled in social life alongside other people into national and federal programmes and into the main areas of the project under the state programme Accessible Environment until 2025.

The participants noted that the creation of a barrier-free environment for the disabled should be reflected in specific measures and indicators in national projects.

The participants made decisions on the need to tailor national projects to the President’s instructions and the methodological guidance on drafting national projects endorsed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on June 4, 2018.

Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Grigory Lekarev reported that the work on the draft state programme Accessible Environment until 2025 has not yet been completed and that the draft is expected to be submitted to the Government in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Members of the commission noted that national projects and the state programme Accessible Environment should harmoniously supplement each other, ensuring the resolution of the most pressing problems of the disabled.

Meeting of the Commission for the Disabled

2018-01-30T20:10:21+04:00

Presidential Adviser Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

The meeting participants discussed the progress of programmes to support young people with disabilities as they receive professional training and to assist them in subsequent employment.

Minister of Labour and Social Protection Maxim Topilin, Minister of Education and Science Olga Vasilyeva, Head of the Federal Service for Labour and Employment Vsevolod Vukolov, Chairman of the Pension Fund Board Anton Drozdov, and Deputy Head of the Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science Natalia Naumova delivered reports.

The Law On Employment in the Russian Federation was amended to provide for individual assistance to unemployed persons with disabilities who need support as they look for employment, to create proper conditions for them to perform their work duties, to speed up workplace adaptation, and to form routes for them to get to and from work and around employer’s grounds.

As implementation of this law will require joint efforts of the federal and regional authorities, the decision was made to develop an appropriate action plan for its practical implementation starting January 1, 2019.

The meeting participants discussed the measures that were taken to improve the operation of employment services, plans to create an infrastructure for developing inclusive education with 16 training and methodological centres at higher education institutions and 80 core professional training organisations, and the opening of a website for inclusive higher education.

According to the Ministry of Labour, the number of jobs for persons with disabilities grew by 37.6 percent, or 117,200 in 2017. In the first nine months of 2017, 122,000 persons with disabilities applied to employment services (an increase of 14.7 percent), of whom over 60,000 have found work (an increase of 50.4 percent). However, persons with disabilities, including the young, have difficulties in finding work and getting employed.

A number of resolutions were passed at the end of the meeting.

The Commission members were informed about preparations for the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to review, in February-April 2018, a report On measures taken to comply with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and progress made in observance of the rights of persons with disabilities in the two years since its entry into force for the Russian Federation.

Meeting of the Commission for the Disabled

2017-03-31T18:20:47+04:00

Presidential Adviser Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

Taking part in the meeting were Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Galina Karelova, Labour and Social Protection Minister Maxim Topilin, Education and Science Minister Olga Vasilyeva, Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova, Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Anna Kuznetsova, representatives of the Prosecutor General office, executive authorities of the Russian regions and public organisations.

Labour and Social Protection Minister Maxim Topilin reported on improvements in the state sociomedical assessment system, noting that a modern regulatory and legal framework was formed in 2014–2015 to conduct sociomedical assessments. The sociomedical assessment system is being computerised, and medical institutions are being equipped with special diagnostic equipment. The Labour and Social Protection Ministry has drafted an action plan to 2020 on improving the state sociomedical assessment system.

The meeting participants made decisions regarding the need to develop and implement additional measures to improve the state sociomedical assessment system beginning in 2017.

It was also decided to create a working group under the Commission on Improving the State Sociomedical Assessment System and Monitoring Compliance with the Adopted Decisions.

The commission supported the proposal by Chairman of the National Society for the Disabled and Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labour, Social Policy and Veterans Mikhail Terentyev on holding an All-Russian Exhibition InvaExpo: Society for All 2017 in November 2017.

Meeting of the Commission for the Disabled

2016-12-12T21:34:50+04:00

Presidential Adviser Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

The participants discussed the results of the Second National Championship of professional skills competition featuring persons with disabilities (Abilympics) held in November 2016, as well as the performance of executive bodies, local governments and non-governmental organisations to ensure the availability of transport infrastructure and transport services for people with disabilities.

Minister of Education and Science and Head of the Organising Committee of the National Championship Abilympics Olga Vasilyeva reported on the first issue.

The championship was held in accordance with the 2011–2020 Accessible Environment federal programme approved by the Government resolution of December 1, 2015.

The objectives of the championship include effective career guidance and motivating people with disabilities to pursue vocational training and improve their employability.

About 1,700 people with disabilities took part in the qualifying stages organised in 48 Russian regions in 2016.

The finals were held with the Moscow Government’s organisational support. Over 500 people with disabilities (students, young professionals and schoolchildren) representing 61 Russian regions took part in the contest with the support of over 300 volunteers.

The Commission supported the Ministry of Education’s proposal to hold the Abilympics in 2017.

The meeting participants noted that work is almost complete at the federal, regional and municipal levels to form legislation pursuant to Federal Law 419-FZ of December 1, 2014, and action plans to make facilities and services more accessible to people with disabled have been adopted.

It was suggested to pay special attention to accessibility for people with limited mobility on auto, air and rail transport, as well as on motorways and the metro.

The meeting participants also acknowledged the need to form, at the federal and regional levels, an effective system for monitoring the observance of the rights of persons with disabilities when providing transportation services.

Meeting of the Commission for the Disabled

2016-09-28T20:26:33+04:00

Presidential Adviser Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a regular meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

The meeting was held jointly with the Working Group on Industry and Trade at the 6th International Professional Exhibition “Rehabilitation. Accessible Environment 2016”. The participants discussed expanding the production of goods for the disabled and elderly people.

They focused on the need to develop a modern industry to produce goods for the disabled. This affects almost 60 million citizens of the Russian Federation – disabled and elderly individuals, people with chronic conditions, and people with limited capabilities in general, including temporary ones.

Speakers at the meeting included representatives of the leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Healthcare, and the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities, as well as spokesman for the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) and Chairman of the National Society for the Disabled Mikhail Terentyev.

The participants discussed and supported the incentives for the production of goods for this category of people, which were suggested by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

A package of measures to develop a modern industry to produce such goods in 2017–2019 will be drafted and submitted to the Commission for the Disabled by October 15, 2016.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade will establish a scientific and technical council to include representatives of several ministries, scientific and expert communities and public organisations to coordinate the efforts to determine priority types of rehabilitation devices.

Meeting of the Commission for the Disabled

2016-04-18T17:40:27+04:00

Presidential Adviser Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a regular meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

The meeting discussed new legislative changes made to implement Federal Law No. 419-FZ of December 1, 2014, On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation concerning Social Protection for People with Disabilities Following Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and planned measures to improve access to facilities and services for people with disabilities.

Labour and Social Protection Minister Maxim Topilin presented a report in which he noted that legislative work in this area is nearly complete now at the federal level, and the regions have already adopted the needed laws and regulations and drafted action plans.

The Labour and Social Protection Ministry will monitor these plans’ implementation, together with the Education and Science, Culture, Healthcare, Construction and Housing and Utilities, Transport, and Justice ministries, and public organisations.

The meeting also examined the establishment of a federal register of people with disabilities, which is being set up in accordance with the federal law.

This register’s creation aims to improve the quality of state and municipal services, reduce waiting times, better inform people about their social protection entitlement rights, and give people the possibility of online feedback with the state organisations.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Gulnaz Kadyrova presented information on development of a modern sector producing goods for people with disabilities.

In particular, she noted the work carried out in 2015 and 2016 to support Russian producers of rehabilitation equipment under the state programme Development of the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Industry over the period 2013–2020. Also, the Industry Development Fund offers preferential loans to manufacturers carrying out import replacement projects.

More than 1.1 billion rubles were spent on developing this sector in 2015, and this work will continue.

Meeting of Commission for the Disabled

2015-12-01T13:47:29+04:00

Presidential Adviser Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a regular meeting of the Presidential Commission for the Disabled.

Apart from the Commission’s members, the meeting was attended by representatives of ministries, regional executive authorities and public organisations, as well as leading experts.

In her opening remarks, Presidential Adviser Alexandra Levitskaya spoke of the need for federal and local executive authorities to pay greater attention to planning and holding various events with participation by people with disabilities in connection with the upcoming Day of Persons with Disabilities marked on December 3.

The discussion also covered the drafting of regulatory legal acts, action plans (‘road maps’) and administrative regulations to enhance the accessibility for the disabled of social, engineering, housing and transport infrastructure facilities and services to implement the Federal Law On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation Following Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Meeting participants noted the need to complete this work by January 1, 2016, and to develop a system to oversee the implementation of the Federal Law.

The Commission made recommendations to the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection to submit a report in April 2016 on measures taken to finalise the work following the enactment of the Federal Law.

Meeting of Commission for the Disabled

2015-08-12T10:12:32+04:00

Presidential Adviser Alexandra Levitskaya chaired a meeting of the Commission for the Disabled.

The main issue on the meeting’s agenda was the formation of a system for comprehensive rehabilitation of disabled children through 2020.

Labour and Social Protection Minister Maxim Topilin briefed the meeting participants on the Labour Ministry’s plans to develop a sub-programme to improve the comprehensive rehabilitation and integration system for disabled children and individuals for inclusion in the Accessible Environment draft state programme for 2011–2020, as well as to create a socio-medical expert report concerning a research and methodological centre for issues of rehabilitating and integrating people with disabilities.

Following the meeting, the Commission made the decision to develop additional measures aimed at creating a system of comprehensive rehabilitation for people with disabilities.

The Commission supported the proposal to create a federal research and education centre for the medical rehabilitation of children with disabilities, and found it appropriateto continue work to develop a network of children’s rehabilitation centres, as well as centres for psychological and educational, medical and social assistance.

The composition of the Commission for Social Integration of Young People with Disabilities working group was confirmed during the meeting.