Disability: Between Mobility and Organizational Inclusion

Abstract

Various charters of rights in Western society recognise a specific right to mobility, but it may actually be difficult to travel freely for some citizens. Indeed, people with disabilities often encounter technical or organisational problems that prevent them from enjoying this right. We believe that ensuring mobility is fundamental for the organisational inclusion of people with disabilities. Since the early 1990s, many legislative provisions have been drafted to create and improve travel possibilities for people with disabilities in Italy. Therefore, after thirty years, it is legitimate to investigate the state of the arts of such provisions nowadays. Thus, the following paper carries out a specific study of the functioning of transport systems from the point of view of people with disabilities so as to explore the possibilities of improvements. Furthermore, this study evaluates if further interventions are necessary regarding the legislative framework and, above all, the actual possibilities of mobility offered by transport systems, beginning with the railroad, which first, in the 1980s, started to offer specific services for people with disabilities.