On March 21, 2006, World Down Syndrome Day was proclaimed. Probably you saw posters promoting this day in the subway and on light boxes around Kyiv recently. But my question is: Have you actually seen many people with Down syndrome on the streets of our city? To make the question broader: How many people with special needs, such as those with physical or mental disabilities, have you seen on the streets of Kyiv in general?
Probably not many, except for those who beg near churches and in the metro. So are there so few of them in our country? Or are they just staying away from those who consider themselves “normal” and “healthy”? I was nine when I first went abroad, to Germany. I noticed so many people with different physical and mental disabilities on the streets that I was shocked. When I grew older and continued traveling, I was still thinking: Why aren’t there many people like that back in my country? Now I understand why.
I don’t think that there are less people with Down syndrome or in wheelchairs in Kyiv than in Paris or Berlin. According to research, Down syndrome happens in 1 out of every 750 births, regardless of race or nation. Officially, Ukraine has 2.7 million people with different disabilities. It is hard to get a complete picture, however, since many of these people never register. Unfortunately, in Ukraine, people with disabilities are just not considered “normal.” They don’t have a chance for respect or equal rights in society, where people hate or ignore “cripples” and “idiots.”
Sometimes people with disabilities are pitied. But as famous Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig said, “…[it is the] weak and sentimental kind, which is really no more than the heart’s impatience to be rid as quickly as possible of the painful emotion aroused by the sight of another’s unhappiness.” (“Beware of Pity,” 1939)
People who cannot walk cannot actually go out in our country. At all.
They cannot use public transportation because there are no lifts to the subway and no special platforms for those in wheelchairs. I actually saw one platform at the entrance to the underpass in Independence Square, but it was broken. What’s the reason to have this only platform in the center of the city if a person in wheelchair won’t be able to get to this center?
They cannot even cross the street because there are no curb cutouts to help them up or down. The destiny of people in wheelchairs is to sit at home all their lives and depressingly concentrate on the disability that they have.
Of course, there are family members. But in most cases they are too busy with their own lives to help those in need. Comparably, in most European countries, people with special needs can live without the help of others. They work, study and party just like people, who are “healthy.” Of course, a platform or ticking traffic lights are no substitutes for legs or eyes, but they make the lives of thousands of people abroad much easier.
When it comes to post-Soviet space, our governments totally ignore people who have special needs. Soviet times are over, but people with special needs still don’t find a place in a “normal” world. Society prefers not to notice them and, if they want to be noticed, they face rejection and misunderstanding.
There are a few organizations that work to raise public awareness on these issues. “Krok za Krokom” (Step by Step) Foundation (http://ussf.kiev.ua), for example, is working to secure rights for children with disabilities. One of its goals is to build an inclusive education system in Ukraine, thus providing children with special needs the right to study with everyone else.
But the mentality of ordinary people is hard to change.
I witnessed this scene in the metro once: There was a social advertisement on the TV screens about kids with Down syndrome and mental backwardness who live in the orphanages. Film clips concentrated on particular cute kids, who were 3-5 years old. “This is Andriy, he is 4. He is a very kind boy. He dresses by himself, enjoys music and loves to dance … The best thing you can do for this kid is to give him the warmth of the family.” A middle-aged lady next to me said quite loudly to her friend: “Oh, come on! He is sick, who needs him?”
At the same time, I know many examples of families from Italy, Canada, France, etc., who adopted children with special needs. In Ukraine, these children have almost no chances to find a family. First, they were abandoned by their biological parents and, later, are ignored by the rest. Additionally, those families from the European Union who would like to adopt Ukrainian children (both healthy and sick) meet thousands of bureaucratic problems and finally end up with no child.
I remember going to one bar in Berlin. There were three people in wheelchairs laughing with their friends and drinking beers just like others. They felt normal, accepted and respected. They cannot walk, but they can move all around the city by using lifts in the metro, platforms in the buses and trams. They can find a normal job there.
Of course, only 100 years ago, Western society had the same attitude to people with special needs. They were called cripples. When talking about the living, nowadays Western society is much more tolerant and respectful. We also know that people are equal.
So, why in our country some still don’t feel like they are equal with others?
I was walking on the street by the Lva Tolstoho Square recently when a boy with one leg and a crutch dropped his mobile phone. I picked it up and gave it to him because I thought it would be harder if he did it on his own. But suddenly he threw it on the ground again and picked it up himself with the words “I can do it.” Of course I didn’t mean to hurt him by helping. But I understood his feelings. He didn’t need pity from me. He wanted me to see him as a normal person who didn’t need help from others to live a normal life. For him it was still possible, but what about thousands of others, who live their lives miserably because of the government and society ignoring them and their needs?
I know that a lot of money is needed for building lifts and platforms, for installing special equipment in schools, for those who cannot hear or see. But when I see how many new shopping malls, useless monuments and fancy stores are opened in our capital every day, when I see how much money some people spend for cars, jewelry and clothes, I understand that the problem is not money. It’s people’s attitude to other human beings. They just don’t want to be bothered with other people’s problems. Schools don’t want to take pupils with special needs. Employers do not hire them.
We live in a modern Sparta. Ancient Spartans used to kill babies who were weak or unhealthy. We also “kill” those who are too weak or have more needs than most of us. I hope this attitude will change one day. I have already seen changes in some attitudes. But more time is needed before we live in a society in which everybody feels good, no matter which syndrome or diagnosis he or she was born with.
Alina Rudya is a Kyiv Post columnist who can be reached at [email protected].
