Editor’s Note: This article is a part of the “Journalism of Tolerance” project by the Kyiv Post and its affiliated non-profit organization, the Media Development Foundation. The project covers challenges faced by sexual, ethnic and other minorities in Ukraine, as well as people with physical disabilities and those living in poverty. This project is made possible by the support of the American people through the U. S. Agency for International Development and Internews. Content is independent of the donors.
Natalia Samsonova is 23 years old, active, creative, and loves baking. She is currently applying for a job at a bakery in Kyiv.
And while she has Down Syndrome, she is determined not to let her condition keep her out of employment.
However, the statistics don’t paint a hopeful picture. There are 156,000 people with disabilities living in Kyiv, including 10,635 children. No more than 200 people graduate from Kyiv’s 28 specialized boarding schools for disabled people every year, and only 10 percent of them get a job, according to state’s statistics.
Oleksandr Voznyuk, the head of Human Rights Association of People With Disabilities, a Ukrainian non-government organization, says that even though under Ukrainian legislation companies have to ensure 4 percent of their staff are people with disabilities, companies often just “manipulate the figures to avoid penalties.”
Larysa Samsonova, the mother of Natalia, who was brought up in a boarding school, has two concerns about such institutions. First, they curtail pupils’ freedom, keeping everyone under a fixed agenda and not letting them express themselves, she says. Second, when kids graduate, they have nowhere to go.
So the parents of children with disabilities are trying to solve both problems, Samsonova says.
Co-working space
They have already created a charitable social and rehabilitation center called Rodyna (Family) in Kyiv – an alternative school where children with different kinds of disabilities can study together. However, when disabled children grow up, Samsonova says, they don’t have the opportunity for further self-development. Moreover, they still need supervision.
Children bake in the charitable social and rehabilitation center called Rodyna (Family) in Kyiv. (Courtesy)
So Samsonova, together with other Rodyna organizers and parents, now intends to establish a day-care and training center for young people with disabilities, called Horniatko Dobroty (A Cup of Kindness). The idea of launching a co-working space for young people with disabilities came up in 2016. The parents found a location for the space almost a year ago, but because of tangling bureaucracy, they haven’t been able to undergo all of the necessary inspections yet or collect all of the documents required to launch a non-profit organization.
Fighting for funds
Meanwhile, the bakery at the Auchan hypermarket invited Rodyna pupils to attend a baking master-class in mid-2016. Parents said the classes helped identify a future direction for training.
“We saw in our children the potential to help bakers during the process,” Samsonova says. “Kneading dough turned out to be elementary for them. Our children felt own importance and power.”
“Earlier we had an art-shop at Rodyna and tried to sell bijouterie and other decorations our children made by themselves. But it’s hard to sell to people things they don’t need. (In contrast) food always has a buyer.”
If everything goes well, later Horniatko Dobroty will train not only bakers, but also assistants for the jobs most in demand in the labor market, Samsonova says.
Samsonova says Ukrainian employers are often wary of taking on people with severe disabilities, including people with Down Syndrom and cerebral palsy. But she says that the adaptation period for such employees is only about a month.
“You have to motivate them and explain what is allowed and what is not. There’s no need to create anything new for our children. We just ask for help in getting them used to what is already there,” Samsonova says.
Olga Boyko, a public relations officer at Auchan Ukraine, told the Kyiv Post that the company already has a positive experience of employing people with severe disabilities.
“In 2016, in partnership with the Emmaus Center of Spiritual Support for People with Disabilities, we launched a pilot project to employ people with severe disabilities. Thanks to this initiative, several people with cerebral palsy are now successfully working in our two stores in Lviv,” Boyko says.
She says that at the first stage of the project, participants were accompanied by representatives of Emmaus. But as the new workers gained experience, the need for outside supervision disappeared.
“Now the participants of the project receive all of the necessary support from the store team,” Boyko says.
The Auchan and Leroy Merlin hypermarket chains have already said they will help provide a future bakery set up by Horniatko Dobroty with equipment, but more funds are needed. Horniatko Dobroty has now applied for Hr 1.9 million in financing from Kyiv’s budget.
Kyiv city authorities have earmarked Hr 100 million for civil initiatives of the capital’s 2018 budget, including education, energy efficiency, healthcare, and more. Over 800 initiatives had applied for financing as of Aug. 25. A public vote on which initiatives should get the money will start on Sept. 30, with the final results being announced on Nov. 9.
To find out more about all of the applicants, go to www.gb.kyivcity.gov.ua. Horniatko Dobroty’s page is at www.gb.kyivcity.gov.ua/projects/460. All the information is in Ukrainian, and only Kyiv residents can vote.
