A village in Kaohsiung that accommodates victims of the August 8th flood in 2009 has long been short on barrier-free facilities, causing great inconvenience for the elderly and the disabled. Recently representatives from the Executive Yuan paid an inspection visit to the site, trying to find a solution to their problem.

Mrs. Hung wants to take her husband in wheelchair out for a walk.

But staircases are right at the doorway in every permanent housing units of Da-ai village.

Mrs. Hung filed the case to the reconstruction center and waited for a year before a barrier-free ramp was built last month.

Still it is quite inconvenient.

However, due to the regulations of the village, the doorway designs cannot be changed.

Mr. Chiu who lives in another alley paid for the ramp building himself but the road surface is bumpy and makes it even more difficult for Mrs. Chiu to walk on.

The management committee of the village prepared a statistic in last August.

Nearly 100 of 700 families need barrier-free facilities.

Some physically challenged residents can only stay home all day.

They can only go out when their family members return home from work.

After six months of petition, the Post-Disaster Recover Commission of the Executive Yuan finally paid an inspection visit, hoping the newly upgraded government can help improve the condition.

But the Kaohsiung City Government surveyed that only 57 families are of Low- and Middle Income and eligible for subsidies.

The committee hopes the authority to lower the bar because there are some eldesr who are unable to afford barrier-free facilities.