Wilfried Raith

As the City of Salzburg's Commissioner for People with Disabilities, Wilfried Raith championed the interests of people with disabilities from 1990 to 1995 and achieved significant progress.

He established the position of Commissioner for People with Disabilities with considerable effort, sometimes facing political opposition. As Commissioner, he was not afraid to publicly confront the responsible city councilor, Veronika Garber of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ).

"Our office," as the press reported in October 1991 regarding his protest, "was merely a meeting room divided by movable partitions. We had only recently been granted a personal computer – albeit without a printer."

Accessibility was always a key concern for the Commissioner; he could become quite emotional about it:

"We even have to fight to be able to go to the toilet."

He emphasized that people with disabilities have the right to simply use the restroom. Willi demanded that wider doors and accessible restrooms in public buildings be legally mandated. He successfully lobbied for the city of Salzburg to commission a study on accessibility in December 1992.

At the presentation of the study, "Accessible City," on July 22, 1994, measures proposed included the application of the Austrian standard ÖNORM B 1600 "Accessible Construction" to all public and publicly funded new construction and renovation projects, as well as the establishment of a Center for Independent Living in Salzburg. (Vienna already had a center for independent living, BIZEPS, at that time.) That same year, an inquiry entitled "Salzburg for All – Accessible City" was held, at which I gave a keynote address.

As the city of Salzburg's Commissioner for People with Disabilities, he pointed out that discrimination often drives people with disabilities to a state of resignation. His decision to resign as the City of Salzburg's Commissioner for People with Disabilities in July 1995, citing a lack of support, caused a stir. The position remained vacant for some time, and his non-disabled successor faced protests.

Other positions held: HOSI Salzburg, MOHI Salzburg, and many more.

In 2010, Willi, himself a wheelchair user and gay, publicly criticized HOSI Salzburg for its lack of accessibility. He emphasized that it was unacceptable to speak of anti-discrimination in connection with HOSI, especially since the new room layout continued to exclude wheelchair users, thus perpetuating deliberate discrimination despite the fact that the problem had been known for many years.

Willi also worked for the Mobile Assistance Service (MOHI) Salzburg, one of the first organizations to offer personal assistance services in Austria. (MOHI was later taken over by Volkshilfe.) In 1994, we visited Denmark together, where a well-established system of personal assistance already existed, which was considered a model for Austria.

He not only championed the interests of people with disabilities but was also active in other areas of human rights. As president of AIDS-Hilfe Salzburg, for example, he successfully fought to keep the counseling center open.

In the years leading up to his retirement, he headed the "Specialist Unit for Assistance to People at Risk" at Soziale Arbeit GmbH, an organization dedicated to preventing evictions in the city of Salzburg.

From 2017 to 2022, he was a member of the Salzburg Monitoring Committee for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, contributing his extensive experience. (See also)

For many years, Willi was a leading figure in the field of disability rights, not only in Salzburg but also beyond. I had known and appreciated Willi for about 35 years, but unfortunately, I only had sporadic contact with him in recent years.

He passed away on June 5, 2022, in Salzburg. 

Zum 30. Jahr des Bestehens der HOSI in Salzburg und dem Kampf gegen Diskriminierung steht für mich – wie die letzten 26 Jahre meines Lebens – als Rollstuhlfahrer die Frage im Raum, wie weit die Bemühungen gediehen sind, einen barrierefreien Zugang zum Vereinszentrum zu schaffen.

"Es ist mittlerweile ein unerträglicher Zustand, im Zusammenhang mit der HOSI von Antidiskriminierung zu reden, zumal mit der neuen Raumwahl der Ausschluss von RollstuhlfaherInnen weiter betrieben wurde und damit trotz Kenntnis des Problems die Prolongation von Diskriminierung bewusst in Kauf genommen wurde.

Ich ersuche den Vereinsvorstand um eine Stellungnahme zur Situation!

Mit mittlerweile (jahrelang) frustrierten Grüßen Raith Wilfried, schwul und behindert"  Wifried Raith.

Memories: "Ich habe ihn durch einen Jugendfreund namens Conny im Jugendzentrum auf dem Mönchsberg in der Stadt Salzburg kennengelernt. Damals war er in der Jugendszene sehr aktiv. Eine Zeit lang leitete er sogar selbst ein Jugendzentrum auf dem Mönchsberg. Gemeinsam mit anderen Jugendlichen gingen wir sehr oft nachts in die Lokale. Zuerst in die Humbold Stub´n und dann die anderen salzburger Nachtlokale. Wilfried diskutierte meistens über soziale Konflikte, wie Arbeitslosigkeit, Arbeitsunfähigkeit und so weiter. Ich erlebte ihn als einen sehr wachen Kopf. Wilfried war sehr gesprächig und konnte uns Jugendlichen (damals war ich ca. 17 Jahre alt) stundenlang blendend unterhalten. Wilfried war ein Kämpfer für Selbstbestimmung und Gleichberechtigung. Sein berühmter Satz als Rollstuhlfahrer war: "Wir müssen sogar darum kämpfen, aufs Klo gehen zu können." Peter Krug

Familienname:RaithVorname:Wilfriedgeboren am:27.08.1959gestorben am:05.06.2022Bestattungsdatum:27.06.2022Gruppe:083Reihe:09Ordnung:1Grabnummer:003

Friedhof:KommunalfriedhofAdresse:Gneiser Straße 8
5020 Salzburg

Source: https://www.bizeps.or.at/die-diskriminierten-diskriminierer/