A/HRC/20/26/Add.1 mechanism,40 and an Ombudsman for people with disabilities with a general advocacy role. (the Equal Treatment Commission does not cover discrimination related to disabilities.) A consultative process is currently under way for the development of a national plan of action on disabilities, bringing together federal ministries and civil society representatives. According to information given by the Government, the Action Plan is expected to be adopted in 2012. 48. Initiatives of the Federal and Länder governments to improve access to cultural life for people with disabilities include funding and support provided for participation in sports; the establishment of barrier-free visitor facilities and infrastructure; subsidies for recreational offers and communications facilities; and measures to improve accessibility of cultural and arts facilities, inter alia.41 49. However, representatives of associations of persons with disabilities informed the Independent Expert of the limitations experienced in accessing cultural life and education. Obstacles include: the lack of a comprehensive national accessibility policy; insufficient funding and availability of services offered to persons with disabilities; construction-related barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from fully participating in cultural life; deficient inclusion and support for persons with disabilities in the education system or in the field of work; the fact that Austrian Sign Language is not a language of instruction and the lack of requirement for sign language competency for kindergarten and school teachers; insufficient availability of information in alternative means of communication (such as Braille, sign language, and Lorm‟s alphabet); the lack of cultural opportunities for people with learning disabilities; insufficient measures for the realization of independent living; and the limited use of subtitles in public and private television broadcasting. 42 50. Those interviewed were also concerned that persons with disabilities continue to be portrayed in the media as needing charity, rather than as fully entitled rights-holders,43 and emphasized the need for a shift in paradigm from one of exclusion and pity, to one of inclusion, self-determination and entitlement. B. The right to enjoy one's own culture Recognized national minority groups 51. The official recognition of ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity in Austria, and the codification of the right to use minority languages in education, topographical signs and administrative or judicial procedures, provides an important base for promoting cultural rights and cultural diversity in Austria. However, the Independent Expert has received numerous reports about the insufficient implementation of these rights. Bilingual topographic signs 52. The issue of bilingual road signs in Carinthia has been controversial since the 1970s. In response to numerous complaints submitted by members of national minorities, in 2001 the Constitutional Court ruled that the threshold requirement of 25 per cent minority population for bilingual topographic signs in the Law on Ethnic Groups does not conform to article 7, paragraph 3 of the State Treaty of Vienna and is therefore unconstitutional. The 40 41 42 43 12 BGBl. I No. 109/2008. http://www2.ohchr.org/SPdocs/CRPD/futuresession/CRPD.C.AUT.1_en.doc, p. 47. Austrian Association of the Deaf – Individual UPR submission 2011, OEAR, Extract from the alternative report to CRPD 2011, p. 2, and IDA - Joint UPR submission 2011. Initiative Human Rights. Now; Joint submission for the UPR session 2011, p. 4.