The German government aims to expand accessibility nationwide but is facing significant criticism over a planned legislative reform. The cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft amendment to the Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities Act. While the coalition proposes binding requirements for public administration, it relies on “self-responsibility” in the private sector, a decision that social organizations sharply oppose.
According to the draft, all existing federal buildings must be made accessible by 2045. Government authorities will also be required to provide more guidance and information in accessible formats, including simple and easily understandable language.
Accessibility is also meant to be encouraged in the private sector, though businesses will not be legally obligated to implement it. Instead, companies are expected to ensure access to their goods and services through “reasonable accommodations” when needed, for example, providing a mobile ramp. The draft states that the government is relying on the “self-responsibility and dialogue of the parties involved.”
“Each barrier we remove for people with disabilities makes us stronger as a society,” said Federal Social Affairs Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD). She emphasized that the update to the disability equality law fulfills “an important commitment in the coalition agreement.” However, the Bundestag must still approve the reform.
The Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Relating to Persons with Disabilities, Jürgen Dusel, said the reform does not go far enough. The core objective of making Germany accessible in the private sector “will not be achieved,” he stated.
Dusel criticized the reasonable accommodations required of businesses and other private providers as “only short-term solutions.” They do not involve structural changes such as installing elevators. “Yet our aging society increasingly depends on accessibility,” he warned. He also objected to the fact that “legal enforcement is left entirely to those affected.” Private businesses that discriminate against people with disabilities would face no sanctions such as fines. As a result, he said, the law is “a toothless tiger.”
The Independent Federal Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Ferda Ataman, called the reform “a missed opportunity.” She said it offers “minimal progress while creating maximum uncertainty” and that it “misses the needs of the people in many areas and subordinates their rights to the interests of businesses. That is bitter.”
Social associations also argue the reform does not go far enough. The VdK described it as “inadequate” and demanded improvements. “The private sector must finally be held more accountable, and the enforcement of rights must be guaranteed,” VdK President Verena Bentele told AFP. This is not only about millions of people with disabilities but also older adults, parents with strollers, and individuals with temporary impairments. “For all of them, accessibility is essential to ensure that promises of equal opportunity and participation do not remain empty words,” Bentele emphasized.
“The reform feels like a sham,” said Michaela Engelmeier, chair of the Social Association of Germany (SoVD), in remarks to AFP. People with disabilities have been waiting many years for concrete progress. She said they had expected tangible improvements, including obligations for private businesses. “That the government is now presenting a draft law that changes almost nothing structurally is a slap in the face to an entire segment of the population,” Engelmeier said. What is needed, she added, are “real reforms, not cosmetic adjustments.”
While SPD deputy parliamentary leader Dagmar Schmidt said the draft will be “further improved” during the parliamentary process, the CDU/CSU welcomed the proposal. “Given the ongoing difficult economic situation for many companies, a measured level of responsibility placed on the private sector is the right step,” said CDU social policy spokesperson Marc Biadacz.
According to the federal government, around 13 million people with disabilities live in Germany, roughly 16 percent of the total population. Only three percent of these disabilities are congenital; the vast majority develop over a lifetime, particularly in old age.
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