Today is Election Day in Israel for the 19th Knesset
and some are calling it a celebration of democracy.
For a hi-tech country voting is decidedly low-tech,
with a cardboard ballot box and voting booth in a school classroom.
Inside the booth, write-in votes are possible with a pen on white paper.
The nice workers in our polling place were happy to pose for a photo.
Across the hall the scene was similar,
and though the turnout is described as heavy,
the lines were short at midday.
BUT,
in order to get to the voting place you had to climb stairs, lots of stairs.
While I was trying to get a good angle to show a serious problem,
a friend who had moved to Haifa came up the stairs to vote.
However, for the disabled and many elderly in the neighborhood,
there was nothing to smile about.
Outside, to get in the building there were more stairs,
and for some getting down could be as hard as going up to vote.
As I left, this woman with two walking sticks tried to vote,
and I do not know how long it took her to do all those stairs.
The situation for access of the disabled and elderly
is terrible in many of the old buildings in Jerusalem, Israel.
One thing no one could complain about was the weather.
Even though many sidewalks are still blocked by trees downed by the snow,
today was a day to get outside and enjoy the spring-like weather.
The temperatures certainly added to a party atmosphere,
but access for disabled must become a priority.
I still think it is outrageous that someone in a wheel chair
has a hard time to vote in a democracy.
There are locations for wheel chair access,
but isn’t it time to make public buildings accessible?
Reblogged this on Shibley Haleket and commented:
My thoughts exactly!
Glad you agreed and liked The Real Jerusalem Streets enough to reblog, not perfect streets, but still amazing ones.
I know that there were special places for handicapped people to vote and transportation was provided. But I guess not everyone knew about this?
Glad you are bringing up this difficulty! As I spent a fair amount of time taking care of my father z”l last year, I learned how so many buildings are not equipped for the disabled. I managed to get him an absentee ballot for the U.S. elections. Sounds like as SaraK pointed out there was supposed to be special places for handicapped to vote, but it was poorly publicized?
There were polling places, but not well advertised and not convenient.
My father had to change dentists when the office blocked an entrance so his wheel chair could not get in.
I want to take photos of one shul where a man in a wheel chair can get an aliyah to the Torah.
First time was so special to see, so wished I had a Shabat camera.
There are way too many public buildings in Jerusalem that are not accessible, and imporvement is way too slow.
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