Vaasa was awarded a special mention in the Access City Award competition

The City of Vaasa has gained the fourth place in the European Access City Award competition. The award ceremony took place in Brussels on December 8^th.

Vaasa gained a special mention for the participation in the campaign Job Shadow Day. On the Job Shadow Day people with disabilities can shadow other people their job. The purpose of the day is to change attitudes and gain an insight in the working life in a good spirit. Vaasa also got thanks for planning to consider accessibility in the summer jobs next summer.

− Getting among the finalists was already fantastic for Vaasa and for us working for accessibility, says disability and accessibility representative Tiina Mäki with a smile.

The Access City Award inspires cities to improve the accessibility in public places.

− In Vaasa the office holders and elected officials develop the accessibility in strong cooperation with people with disabilities, long-stay patients and elderly persons, says Mäki.

In the competition, that has been held since 2010, 48 cities from more than ten countries were participating. This year the winner was Milan. More information about the competition: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&newsId=2410&furtherNews=yes

More information:

Disability and accessibility representative ms Tiina Mäki
tiina.maki@vaasa.fi

phone: +358 -040 095 6221