Our man in Bucharest

Ambassadors typically conceal themselves and their views behind the diplomatic mask. But HM Ambassador to Romania, Robin Barnett, decided to challenge some of the views in his host country by using his status both as a diplomat and a disabled person

In the early 1980s when Romania was still under Communist rule, I served in Poland where, particularly for disabled people, there wasn’t what you might call quite the necessary focus. My exposure to Romania came a lot later but things weren’t very different.

I first came on the scene in the middle of 2006. By then a lot of the orphanage issues had been tackled but there were still, and still are today, issues relating to the treatment of disabled children.

In most respects, under Communist rule, when it came to resources and opportunities, disabled people didn’t figure very much, but there was one unexpected benefit. In that non-consumer society, some of the frustrations that disabled people have to confront today – such as accessible parking – didn’t exist. So ironically, some of the advantages of a more modern society have made life more difficult. Then again, things like health and social security provision have improved a lot over the past 20 years.

As part of joining the EU, Romania signed up to all the requirements on anti-discrimination and equality. The challenge is that Romania is one of the poorest countries in the EU and hasn’t yet been able to implement everything. In addition to that, there are still issues of attitude to be tackled.

So while the Romanian government is committed to tackling discrimination, there are many people who believe that disabled people cannot make any contribution to society. There may be more five-star hotels in Bucharest but they don’t have disabled access. I believe passionately that we’ve got to help Romania speed up in terms of progress in some of these areas.

There are now companies in Romania, some foreign owned, some not, that are beginning to recognise that disabled people can make a fantastic contribution.

On other fronts, in the city of Cluj, there’s now an international table tennis tournament for disabled people (pictured, above). And it’s not that long ago that the Romanian Table Tennis Federation didn’t want to have a disabled section. Now it has one of the most successful internationally.

At the same time, I often talk to disabled people who feel absolutely marginalised. Some of them feel that, even if they applied for a job, they wouldn’t get it because almost any able-bodied candidate would get it over them.

Public transport in Romania varies greatly. In the best places, there are accessible buses. In the worst, well, the most you can say is that people find themselves trapped in their local communities because they’re unable to get out.

There’s a big difference between urban and rural areas. For example, in one city, there’s a group of people who’ve got together to cannibalise old wheelchairs to build new ones, all done in the back of a shed.

But there’s no doubt in my mind that the lot of people who are living in rural Romanian communities is very difficult. In some areas, you’re not even talking about roads at all, so you can imagine what it’s like trying to get about in the winter.

Having said all that, there are signs of forces for change but so far it’s at a local level. I’ve met some people in places like Craiova and Pitesti where people with all forms of impairment are coming together and badgering for change. They’re not saying “Fix it tomorrow” – they know that Romania doesn’t have an awful lot of money – but they are asking local authorities to have action plans for making things better. But I’d think that if you asked disabled people in Romania, they’d say that there’s more to do. And on their behalf I’d say that disability does need to rise further up the political agenda.

More formally, disabled politicians are a rarity. I’ve met some disabled politicians but at the very top level in terms of disabled people being in role model positions, Romania is certainly a long way behind.

As a disabled person myself, obviously my status as Ambassador affords me a high degree of protection and privilege. Interestingly, for most of my life, my approach has been that I’m just going to get on with things. But when I arrived in Romania, I realised that there were still many people facing prejudice or exhibiting fantastically outmoded attitudes and I decided that it was time for me to come out myself, but at the same time to show that I was capable of running a very busy and active life, making a contribution to relations between Britain and Romania.

People in Romania need to understand that, just because you have some sort of impairment, it doesn’t prevent you making a contribution.

• Robin Barnett was talking to Ian Macrae