HOMS — Using crutches, Anas Awad makes his way from his home in the Reef Dimashq city of Zamalka to the nearest bus stop each morning. To make it to his job at one of Syria’s state media agencies in Damascus each day, he runs a gauntlet of public transportation and infrastructure with no accommodations for disabled people like him. “I suffer a lot because of public transportation. The buses are old and don’t take the conditions of people with disabilities into account,” Awad told Syria Direct . “There are no regular schedules for the trips, and when the bus arrives at the stop people push to get on and don’t consider our situation.” Taking a servees , a public microbus, is not an option for Awad unless he finds a seat in the front next to the driver, he said. Awad has had a permanent motor disability since 2015, after suffering a spinal cord injury when Zamalka was bombarded by the Assad regime. An estimated 28 percent of Syrians over the age of two have some form of disability—nearly twice the global average of 15 percent. In 2009, before the 2011 revolution and ensuing war, Syria’s estimate was 10 percent . The number of people with disabilities rose during the years of revolution and war, as well as due to the February 6, 2023 earthquake that struck northern Syria and southern Turkey. In all, around 2.6 million disabled people live in Syria. While Syria’s new government has made some efforts to include those with disabilities in public employment and society , the country’s public transportation and infrastructure remains a daily obstacle, one that isolates disabled Syrians and prevents them from fully participating in public life. “The acute daily mobility challenges that disabled people face stem from the absence of infrastructure that accommodates their needs—from unsuitable sidewalks and unsafe roads to the absence of guidance signals for the blind, as well as buses that are not equipped for people with disabilities. This turns the right to mobility into a constant struggle and unspoken form of social exclusion,” said Marai al-Ramadan, head of the nonprofit organization Deirna Nexus . A daily struggle Before returning to Zamalka after the Assad regime fell in December 2024, Awad lived in Gaziantep, a Turkish city near the border with Syria. “The city is served by public transportation, and accommodates people with disabilities,” he said. “Traffic is organized, the buses are modern and climate controlled in summer and winter, and there are apps that allow passengers to know the schedule,” making it “easier to move around without wasting time waiting.” But in Syria, public transportation does not operate regularly, and there are no places reserved for disabled passengers. Additionally, some drivers do not respect their needs and load buses with more passengers than their capacity allows, Awad added. Although Awad’s job in the media requires him to be particularly punctual, he is still sometimes late for work. Occasionally, he has to take a t
Originally reported by Syria Direct. Published on ABN12.