Let´s take a moment to talk about what happened last week at the Chilean President Sebastian Piñera’s Inaugural ceremony on March 11 which toole place in the Congress building in Valparaiso.
Being one of the most important events that a country can host with international and VIPs in attendance one would think that every detail would have been taken care of.
Astonishingly enough this is far from being true as we saw on international television that one of the guests, Lenin Moreno, the President of Ecuador attending this historic event on his wheelchair, was unceremoniously ushered into the Hall of the Chilean Congress where the ceremony was taking place through a side door service entrance.
I have traveled regularly to Chile throughout my life and I lived for two years in the beautiful city of Santiago, located in a valley at the foot of the Andes mountains, and can attest that they have a way to go in the field of accessibility and adaptive policies so as to include every citizen and also be able to welcome all visitors from abroad no matter what their physical condition may be, offering them adequate, timely and efficient service, making their trip a great experience.
The Arturo Merino Benitez Airport serving the city of Santaigo is fully adaptive. All new sidewalks in Santiago have slopes for wheelchairs.
At ATW we have been working our way to other important cities throughput South America such as Santiago.
The ATW team.
