While visiting Stockholm and Brussels, the needs of visually impaired people were also noticed – “talking” traffic lights, tactile maps and guidelines. In Latvia, seeing something like this seemed like a distant and untouchable dream for us. When we returned at Liepājas society for the blind, we implemented a few ideas- we marked the doors, the first and last steps, painted contrasting door frames, etc., and thanks to the support of Liepāja City Council, the city has the first soundlights in Latvia and marked street posts.

It was 2006 when SIFs notified EEZ and Norwegian financing of projects. We had an idea - informing the wider public about the little-mentioned universal design in Latvia, its principles and ensuring access to the environment for people with visual impairments.
The “Atpazīt - saredzot, sadzirdot, sataustot. Universālo dizainu ikvienam Latvijā” was supported and we started working intensely. First people had to learn about universal design. We organised a 3-day seminar in which we invited our partners from Liepāja City and District disability NVO to participate, representatives from Latvian Association for the blind, experts from Liepāja City Council and NVOs Community, lecturers from Liepājas art school, students from the Latvian Academy of Art. The seminar was led by Bjorn Fagerheim, a universal design expert from Norway who himself is visually impaired.
At the seminar, we learned about the structure of the eye, various vision disorders and environmental perception disorders, we learned what is universal design, what are its principles, how to provide them, what are the specific needs of the visually impaired so people can navigate the environment as independently as possible. We learned about building co-operation with local governments and legislators, surveyed four public objects in Liepāja – hospital, city council, cultural centre and institute of higher education, and analysed the state of the physical environment in them.

We then started our public information process – we conducted seminars on universal design and the creation of an accessible environment for the visually impaired in 15 municipalities, including In Rīga. Seminar audiences consisted of municipality representatives and their institutions, NVOs members, architects, construction supervisors, students, i.e. our target group was people who are directly and indirectly involved in building a physical environment. In cooperation with the society for the blind of Latvia, we prepared recommendations for ensuring an accessible environment for people with visual impairments, which, thanks to the association “Apeirons”, were compiled and issued in a booklet. We met architects, builders and other stakeholders – we told them, showed them and convinced them.

During the course of the project, the website of the Liepājas society for the blind in www.redzigaisma.lv was created, in which all information, including photographs, is available to people with visual impairments (changeable backgrounds, letter sizes, textual description of videos and photos, the ability to use the keyboard only to navigate the page). The page was developed according to WCAG standards (Web content Accessibility Guidelines) developed as part of the WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) consortium WWWC (World Wide Web Consortium) eAccessibility Initiative.
We created leaflets and posters to inform the public about universal design.

So what is the biggest benefit of the project? Firstly, the fact that we ourselves acquired extensive knowledge of universal design during the course of this project, both by searching for additional information in the Internet environment, on the websites of state, local government and public organisations, by attending seminars on accessibility of the environment, and by working with the association „Apeirons”. Secondly, thanks to this knowledge, we repaired and set up a rehabilitation centre for visually impaired people “School of life” in Liepāja in accordance with the principles of universal design. We can present this object as a practical example of how to create an environment, accessible to people with both visual, mobility and hearing impairments from the available materials at no cost. Thirdly, we are very pleased that the speakers of the seminars were very responsive and interested, there were municipalities prepared to take up concrete works (Aizpute, Jelgava, Dobele) to improve the accessibility of the environment. We managed to overturn many entrenched views of what is important to people with both vision disabilities and the general public. The fact that unmarked glass doors are “invisible” to older people and running children, that people, talking on phones run into unmarked street equipment poles. The curb, which at the point of connection to the driveway is no higher than a centimetre, will be easy to overcome for parents with strollers and small cyclists. Everyday things you think about can improve everyday lives for hundreds and thousands of people.

Universal design – accessible environment, comprohensive products, services and information for all people. It is a simplistic definition of us, Liepājas society for the blind.

As part of the project, we've made it from theory to practice. The implementation of terrain guidelines in Latvia has been commenced. In Liepāja, these guidelines have already been incorporated into the cycle path in Aizpute on Katoļu Street. The action plan for ensuring accessibility of the environment in Liepāja, which was developed during the course of this project, in co-operation with Liepājas Development Board, the municipal Administration and the city's Executive Directorate, envisages further concrete steps so that accessibility of the environment in Liepāja is ensured in a planned manner. Liepājas positive example is and will be a suggestion for other municipalities to follow.

It has been achieved that in 2009, as a result of co-operation with the association “Apeirons” and Ministry of Economy, changes were introduced to Latvian building codes “LBN 209-09” and “LBN 208-08”, which now contain the previously unmentioned term “universal design”, as well as indicate how the environment for people with visual impairments, which had not been previously discussed anywhere, should be adapted. For many people, there has been a significant increase in knowledge of what changes in the external physical environment are necessary to realise the opportunities for visually impaired people to live a full life.

We are delighted that this project has not been one that has begun and ended, but that it has been the beginning of a change in the way the environment is accessible to people with visual impairments, parents with strollers, people in wheelchairs, cyclists, the elderly, children, i.e. all members of society. Of course, it will still be a long time before society as a whole understands that everyone should be free to navigate the environment, receive services, information, buy and use products. However, the process has started with the involvement of the Ministry of Welfare, the support of the Ministry of Economy, many more people with disabilities are aware of their rights, cooperation between different NVOs is becoming much more effective.

Help for informing about universal design is supported by "Philip Morris".