Carrying out many projects for disabled individuals to live in an accessible, equal and fair city, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality ensures the active participation of disabled individuals in social life through activities such as disabled service and awareness centers, transportation services and employment supports. Services that provide equal opportunities to disabled individuals support them in overcoming the difficulties they encounter in daily life.
The Izmir Metropolitan Municipality is working all around the city to provide an independent living space for the disabled. The Metropolitan Municipality, which makes disabled individuals a more active part of society with its disabled service and awareness centers, enables them to step into business life with its Supported Employment Office. In addition to transportation services for the disabled, the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, which continues the Red Flag application for their equal presence in social life, also supports the disabled with social assistance.
Disabled service centers
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality has three Disabled Service Centers in Konak, Örnekköy and İnciraltı. These centers provide special education for the disabled, handicrafts, ceramics, table tennis, boccia, painting, movement and sports, scouting, music, dance, photography, nature-based intervention programs and supportive training as well as psycho-social counseling services.
Parent Information and Education Center
The Parent Information and Education Center located in the Olympic Village offers programs for people who are in the process of being diagnosed with autism, those who have been diagnosed with autism, those with neurodiverse conditions such as autism, mental retardation, and Down syndrome, and their families. Psycho-social support activities are also carried out at the center.
Awareness centers
Metropolitan, Limontepe Awareness Center and Örnekköy Awareness Center offer experiences on daily life practices of the disabled with wheelchair, autism sensory labyrinth, special learning difficulties, mental health, sign language and dark room courses. Students, adults from different professions, municipality personnel, decision makers and all segments of the society benefit from these trainings and reach awareness.
Wheelchair Maintenance Repair Station
The Wheelchair Maintenance and Repair Station located in the Disabled Services Center of the Disabled Studies Department in Konak provides repair and maintenance services to disabled individuals' broken down wheelchairs, just like a hospital. The station, which repairs wheelchairs, which are the most important connection of disabled citizens to life, in a short time and returns them to their owners, does not charge any fee for this service. The center also provides a charging station service for electric wheelchair users.
Barrier-free transportation service
Within the scope of disabled studies, barrier-free transportation services are also provided for the transportation demands of different disabled groups to health institutions, exams and places such as the sea, meetings and picnics. In addition, these vehicles are used for disabled people who have difficulty in transportation.
Disabled Izmir Card and companion card
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality provides free city transportation cards to disabled people and a companion traveling with them. In this way, disabled people and their families are supported to be more active in both urban and social life.
Office of Supported Employment
The Supported Employment Office provides consultancy and job coaching to match disabled people with jobs that are suitable for their qualifications. While many disabled individuals enter the workforce through the Supported Employment Office, job coaching training with supervision is also provided to those working in the field.
Red Flag application
The Red Flag application, carried out within the scope of accessibility studies, includes the work of giving Red Flags to open and closed spaces and transportation vehicles belonging to private or public institutions operating open to the public, which have been made accessible to the disabled. In this way, disabled individuals who can easily access Red Flag-holding spaces are provided with the opportunity to socialize.
Social helps
Within the scope of social assistance, the Metropolitan Municipality provides electric wheelchairs, manual wheelchairs, pediatric wheelchairs, gel batteries, patient beds, air mattresses, patient diapers and walking sticks for the visually impaired to disabled citizens.
Izmir Touchable Accessible Modern Arts Museum
The Izmir Touchable Barrier-Free Arts Museum exhibits world-famous paintings with the relief technique so that visually impaired individuals can feel the art by touching it. The Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, which works to prevent disabled individuals from experiencing various difficulties in accessing art, also provides audio descriptions for the visually impaired and sign language explanations for the hearing impaired with the QR code application.
Independent Movement Education
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, in collaboration with Izmir Accessible Disabled People Association, has also started the Independent Movement Education program for visually impaired and blind citizens. The trainings, which were provided by only one private rehabilitation center until now, are now being provided to citizens free of charge thanks to the collaboration. Independent Movement Education will be provided on Saturdays between 15:2025-10.00:15.00 until June XNUMX, XNUMX under the management of Nadir Gültekin, one of the few trainers in the country.
