In Lithuania, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has been in force since 2010. The Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania is responsible for the implementation of the Convention. The Ministry also shapes the policy on the social integration of persons with disabilities and organises, coordinates, and supervises its implementation. Its subordinate institutions are: the Employment Service, the Disability and Working Capacity Assessment Office, and the Department for the Affairs of the Disabled.
The protection of the rights of people with disabilities is performed by the Agency for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities under the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania. The aim of the Agency is to ensure the implementation of the policy for the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities and its measures, programmes and/or projects; to promote improvements in the governance of that policy; to promote the development of new, knowledge- and evidence-based measures and services; and to carry out monitoring of the disability-rights policy. Municipalities and NGOs deliver many services for people with disabilities on the ground. The Employment Service and the Disability & Working Capacity Assessment Office handle jobs and assessments.
According to the data of the Ministry of Social Security and Labour, 231 097 people with disabilities lived in Lithuania in 2024, and that accounted for 8.5% of Lithuania’s total population. In recent years, the policy of social integration of the disabled persons in Lithuania has been changing from social assistance and support to the ability of persons with disabilities to integrate themselves into social life. In 2020, the National Audit Office of Lithuania performed an audit on the Social Integration of Persons with Disabilities. The audit had shown that there is a lack of data on the services provided to persons with disabilities, insufficient focus on their needs, and integrated assistance to live independently; the integration of persons with disabilities into the open labour market is not increasing, and employment support services and measures are insufficient; monitoring of public buildings and transport, websites and mobile applications needs to be improved and ongoing measures still do not ensure equal access to them. To improve the situation and to implement the recommendations of the Audit Office, the Lithuanian Government approved the Action plan for the social integration of people with disabilities in 2021–2023. The plan included several objectives related to the equal opportunities of people with disabilities to take part in arts and culture, i.e. the development of the titration of film and TV programmes, translations in sign language, promotion of publications for people who cannot read a normal printed text, and by modernisation of buildings of cultural institutions in order to make them more accessible for disabled.
In 2022, the Ministry of Culture commissioned a study, Museums for Human Well-Being. The study had shown the main obstacles for people with disabilities to visit museums: physical access gaps in venues, entrances, routes, lifts, toilets, and wayfinding were still uneven across institutions; poor information accessibility, websites often lack clear, practical details about accessibility (what’s adapted, how to prepare a visit, contact options, easy-to-read info). Content not adapted widely enough: limited supply of captioned/sign-interpreted performances and audio description; theatres remain hard to access for Deaf audiences in practice; staff capacity/training gaps; weak, ad-hoc collaboration with disability organisations: only a minority of museums consult disabled people at the strategy stage; most collaboration happens only around specific events or tours. In order to improve the situation, the Ministry of Culture implemented the three-year programme Museums for Human Well-Being in 2022–2024. Its aim was to expand cultural accessibility for people with disabilities across the country by bringing together professionals from the museum, education, health and social services sectors, and by developing a new approach to the impact of museums and their activities on both psychosocial and spiritual well-being. Using programme funds, ten projects by national, state and municipal museums were financed. The main goal of these projects was to design and test museum services intended for persons with disabilities. In carrying out the pilot projects, the accessibility of museums’ physical and informational (content) infrastructure for persons with disabilities was increased, and, in cooperation with organisations uniting or representing these persons, training was organised for museum staff. Each project received EUR 100 000.
The cultural and artistic creation of people with disabilities is organised and coordinated by their associations. The Lithuanian Union of People with Disabilities unites 20 associations of disabled people, and 4 public institutions. Each year, the Union implements about 20 projects, many of which are related to arts and culture, such as “Tourism without barriers”, “Creative Bridges” (educational project designated to involve people with disabilities in creative activities), “The Young Film Creators” (creative project that aims to engage in dialog young people with disabilities and without them), “Creation of Social Interactions and Dissemination in Regions”, “Special Creation of Music and Education in Regions”, theatre festival “Begasas”, “Newly reborn cultural heritage – accessible to all” etc. Funding for these projects is provided by the Lithuanian Council for Culture, European Regional Development Fund, and international foundations.
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