In preparing for the 2014 Games, the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee gives particular importance to meeting the needs of people with disabilities. Even today, everything that is being created for the Olympics - transportation, roads, sports venues, and public infrastructure - is being constructed with consideration for the needs of people with disabilities. By the 2014 Games, a minimum of two rooms will be accessible for the people with limited agility in all hotels, health resorts, and other accommodation facilities.
A total of approximately 1,800 venues are included in the list of priority venues for the creation of a barrier-free environment, which was created by the Sochi City Administration, including the airport, railway station, bus station, and sea port. As of the beginning of 2011, more than 500 venues included in the program were completely or partially accessible (of these, 8 have an international certificate of accessibility). "Accessible Sochi", an electronic schematic map where venues and streets that correspond to the standards of a barrier-free environment are marked, is located at Sochi City Administration site.
On the whole, Sochi City Infrastructure will be accessible both for people with physical disabilities (elevators, chair lifts and ramps doubling the staircases; slip-resistant hard surfaces), and for people with visual impairments (tactile pedestrian surfaces, color delineation of dangerous areas, protective barriers, audible signals on traffic lights).
A special dispatcher service will provide information on accessible transportation vehicles, assist in their booking, and provide escorts in areas where people with a disability may have difficulties in trying to make a change in their means of transportation.
