Türkiye’s Largest Active Living Center for People with Disabilities Opens in Karatay

Türkiye’s largest Active Living Center for People with Disabilities has officially opened in Karatay, bringing together education, rehabilitation, daytime care, and social services for individuals with special needs and their families. The project also includes the Karatay Barrier-Free Living Park.

Completed by Karatay Municipality, the Karatay Active Living Center for People with Disabilities and the Karatay Barrier-Free Living Park were inaugurated during a ceremony attended by Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş. As the largest facility of its kind in Türkiye and the first active living center for people with disabilities in Konya, the complex will provide comprehensive support for individuals with special needs and their families by offering education, rehabilitation, daytime care, and social services under one roof.

Built with an investment of 300 million Turkish lira, the center will operate under the Ministry of Family and Social Services. It brings together a wide range of services, including education, rehabilitation, daytime care, vocational workshops, sports and recreational facilities, and relaxation areas, with the aim of improving the quality of life for individuals with special needs while providing extensive support for their families.

Constructed on a 10,544-square-meter site with 7,164 square meters of indoor space, the center can accommodate up to 600 people at a time, making it the largest active living center for people with disabilities in Türkiye. As Konya’s first facility of its kind, it is expected to make a significant contribution to the education, rehabilitation, and social development of individuals with special needs.

The center includes dedicated special education rooms for individuals with autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disabilities, specific learning disabilities, hearing impairments, and visual impairments. It also features speech and language therapy rooms, physiotherapy facilities, sensory integration and sensory relaxation rooms, as well as classrooms for education and supervised study.

Its daytime care unit, with a capacity of 60 people, will provide professional care, education, and developmental support throughout the day while also helping ease the daily responsibilities of families.

The center also offers a variety of workshops designed to help individuals with special needs discover their interests, develop new skills, and participate more actively in social life.

Participants will be able to take part in handicrafts, ceramics, painting, printmaking, computer studies, science, pastry and culinary arts, carpet and kilim weaving, music, drama, recycling, dance, and agriculture workshops, enabling them to develop practical skills while supporting their personal growth.

Adjacent to the center, the 15,000-square-meter Karatay Barrier-Free Living Park has been designed as a safe, accessible, and inclusive environment where individuals with special needs can spend quality time with their families.

The park features outdoor sports facilities, walking paths, expansive green spaces, relaxation areas, and agricultural activity zones. Every section has been designed to encourage greater social participation for individuals with special needs.

The complex also includes quiet and audio libraries, a conference hall, a sports hall, a dining hall, a prayer room, and multipurpose social spaces. Designed with accessibility at its core, the facility provides an inclusive environment that supports both rehabilitation and social participation.

Kılca: “We Are Working Without Leaving Any Citizen Behind”

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Karatay Mayor Hasan Kılca said the municipality was proud to inaugurate Türkiye’s largest active living center for people with disabilities and Konya’s first facility of its kind, describing it as one of the strongest examples of Karatay’s people-centered approach to municipal services.

Emphasizing that individuals with special needs have always been among the municipality’s top priorities, Kılca said that removing barriers goes far beyond improving physical accessibility.

“We know that disability does not begin in the body—it begins in the heart,” he said. “With our people-centered approach to municipal services, we will continue working without leaving any citizen behind.”