Artur Reszko/PAP

Poles with disabilities, through the State Fund for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled (PFRON), can now rent for free the equipment they need to help them, a Polish deputy family and social policy minister announced on Tuesday.

Pawel Wdowik told journalists during a press conference at a Governmental Agency for Strategic Reserves base in the northern Polish village of Nowa Wies Elcka: “We are enabling arrangements that are already in operation in other European countries, and the revolution is that from now on, the advanced devices will be available for loan.”

He added that the ultimate aim of the rental was to give disabled people access to advanced technology and to allow for more personalised selection.

Among the items that can be rented are wheelchairs and scooters for physically disabled people, Braille notebooks, TV magnifiers, technologically advanced hearing aids and Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) technology for those individuals with severe expressive communication disorders.

Wdowik pointed out that the value of the 14,000 items available for rental totals approx. PLN 100 million (EUR 22.3 mln).