Potrzeby osób z niepełnosprawnościami na poziomie lokalnym na przykładzie powiatu trzebnickiego

Getting to know the needs of people with disabilities might truly contribute to the improvement of their quality of life. The aim of the study discussed in this article is the hierarchisation of the needs of people with disabilities at the local level, on the example of Trzebnica poviat, and determining whether there are differences between their order of needs and that indicated at the regional level. The study was carried out from June to September 2020 among people with disabilities aged 15 and over divided into two samples: one consisting of 50 inhabitants of Trzebnica poviat and the other of 188 inhabitants of Dolnośląskie (Lower Silesian) Voivodship. Quota sampling in terms of selected socio-economic features, i.e. the respondents’ gender, place of residence and degree of disability was adopted in the study. Information about the surveyed population obtained from the National Population and Housing Census 2011 and non-governmental organisations was used in the sample selection process. People with disabilities inhabiting Trzebnica poviat identified bathroom modernisation as well as obtaining medicine and care products as their most urgent needs. They pointed to the absence of lifts in residential buildings, obstacles to travelling independently by means of public transport, lack of information about available training, poor prospects for obtaining resources for pursuing their interests and poor condition of roads as the most nagging everyday problems. The comparison of the order of needs of people with disabilities from the Trzebnica poviat and that of people with disabilities from the whole Dolnośląskie Voivodship shows there are differences. However, diagnosing the needs of people with disabilities at a local level and the subsequent implementation of relevant changes by local governments might improve the quality of life of people with disabilities in the whole region.