Brinek: Cumbersome procedures concerning installation and financial sponsorship of stair lifts

Vienna: Cumbersome procedures concerning installation and financial sponsorship of stair lifts. Ombudswoman Gertrude Brinek asks for a rapid solution

ORF-Series "Bürgeranwalt" (“Advocate for People”) – Broadcast of December 6th 2008

Physically disabled people have to overcome seemingly insurmountable bureaucratic and legal obstacles if they want to obtain financial sponsorship so as to have a stair lift installed at their home in Vienna.

These are the facts: A father is no longer able to carry his 40 kg son, who is completely paralyzed, upstairs into his bedroom. As legally required, he requested the Municipal Department responsible for these matters to sponsor the installation of a stair lift and commissioned a franchised company to do the installation. Instead of refunding 75% of the costs, as was expected, the Municipal Department keeps asking him for more and more documents and imposes new conditions. He was furthermore requested to furnish a report based on the Viennese Elevator Act. So when the estimated costs for the report threatened to exceed the sum that he had been told to expect, the father asked the Ombudsman Board for help.

Ombudswoman Gertrude Brinek understands that the father feels to have been unduly harassed. “In any case the municipal authority should have informed the requester in good time as to all the documents that were needed.” “It is bad administrative practice to be asking, one by one, for each document, report or notice of completion that is required.” says Ombudswoman Gertrude Brinek.

In the Ombudswoman’s opinion, it is hard to understand why the Viennese Elevator Act should put a battery-powered stair lift that is meant to be installed in a private home on the same level as the installation and maintenance of an elevator in a multistory apartment house. “The Viennese legislator should make a distinction –like is done in the other federal states - between stair lifts and other elevators. This is certainly not an isolated case. The installation of a stair lift is often the only possibility to care for a physically disabled relative at home.

Ombudswoman Gertrude Brinek calls for a rapid solution of the problem.

The Ombudswoman does not consider the recent designation of a focal point for matters concerning handicap accessible homes and the change of the homepage of the responsible authority to be a sufficient remedy.

Wien district of Siebenhirten: No more disturbances through floodlights

Good news to report from the district of Siebenhirten:

In the ORF- series „Bürgeranwalt“ (People’s Advocate) – Broadcast of December 1, 2007 the Ombudsman Board reported about the disturbances caused by the operation of a soccer pitch. The intervention of the Ombudsman Board has made it possible to stop the blinding effects of the floodlights. Furthermore it was possible thanks to the adoption of appropriate measures to reduce considerably the noise pollution.