im578x383-c1The question itself «place disabled in society» is inherently incorrect and humiliating. After all, it seems to imply that there is a disabled person and there is society. They are separate. And the whole point of socialization of a disabled person, his or her successful adaptation in society, in this case, is the coexistence of two parallel worlds: the general one, where plans for the future are correlated with the preferences and financial capabilities of a person, and the world of disabled people, where the concept of «opportunity», «person with disabilities», means not only the ability to move wherever they want, to be able to finance their own needs and desires, but also the fundamental the right of a person to take the place in society that he or she deserves.

The main problem that worries Ukrainian society today is the fate of soldiers returning from the ATO zone with serious injuries. We see many young people returning home disabled. This is a matter of concern for the society and puts it in front of difficult challenges. What kind of life awaits them and will they be able to adapt? People raise money for prostheses and medicines, and the state pays or declares its desire to pay decent compensation. But is it enough?

Countries whose level we are striving to reach have long adhered to the principle that a disabled person is a part of society, an equal, «one of». Therefore, the primary task set by the societies of countries such as Germany, Israel and the United States is to build a barrier-free world where people with disabilities will have the same starting conditions as other citizens.

And what about us? What are the chances of a Ukrainian disabled person to live a decent life? Is he or she a full-fledged member of society? What should we do to adapt our world for Ukrainians with disabilities? And are Ukrainians ready to change our common life in such a way as to create comfortable conditions for disabled people, whose number is growing every day?

I decided to talk about this with Valeriy Mikhailovich Sushkevich, a man who has been working with people with disabilities for almost forty years.

Sushkevych Valeriy Mykhailovych is a Ukrainian politician, People's Deputy of Ukraine, President of the National Committee of Sports for the Disabled of Ukraine (National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine) since 1996, Chairman of the All-Ukrainian Public‘єSince 2001, he has been the president of the National Assembly of Disabled People of Ukraine and the president of the Sports Industry of Ukraine Association. He has been disabled since childhood and uses a wheelchair.

(From Wikipedia)

You are a specialist, you have been working with people with disabilities for many years, and you were at the origin of Ukrainian Paralympic sport. That is, you deal with people who, despite their disabilities, achieve professional and life successes through their own will. I would like to talk about what awaits young people who were injured in the war zone and became disabled in this «peaceful life». What problems do they face? Is the Ukrainian environment adapted to the needs of people with disabilities? And what should society do to help soldiers adapt and adjust to new life realities?

First, I am very grateful that you are raising this topic. Due to the inefficiency and corruption of the Ukrainian state system, a certain «fake attitude» has been formed over the years towards the problems of disabled people as something of secondary importance. It was believed that disabled people should be given money and that the state's obligations to them end there. In fact, the level of adaptation of a disabled person in society is a purely legal issue. Soldiers returning home after being wounded face problems that simply cannot exist in a civilized society.

This has always been the case. We, the disabled, should have gotten used to the state's indifferent and legally discriminatory attitude by now. Little by little, something is changing, the country is moving towards civilized norms, but money and resources are constantly lacking. I understand all these arguments and try to write laws, look for people who can help, both within civil society and among the authorities. But now, during the war, it is becoming very difficult to tolerate the inaction of some representatives of the Ukrainian authorities and their cynical attitude towards disabled people. When I see a guy who sometimes went to the front without weapons, without means of protection, and defended our country from the enemy, and today he is without legs, without arms, blind, with a broken spine, lying in a hospital broken and disoriented, for me it is a matter of responsibility of the state, which should have provided him with everything he needs. Which, when drafting him into the ranks of the regular army, should have done everything to preserve his health and life.

I am sixty years old. Since I was twenty years old, I have held senior positions in various public organizations and associations of disabled people. For more than forty years I have been living with the problems of these people. I am disabled myself, so I understand the complexity of the problem. But now, what is happening around the increase in the number of disabled people, the emergence of war veterans in our society, this war, looks much more acute and puts certain demands on me as a people's deputy. Today it is time to realize the joint responsibility of those in power, those who are supposed to take care of social problems and Ukrainian society to fulfill the state's obligations to people with disabilities. Moreover! Disabilities incurred in the performance of their military duty.

For example, it was a shock for me when I learned that in August the Ministry of Social Policy launched a reform of the prosthetic industry. As a result, only ten of the seventeen prosthetic plants in Ukraine are left. And this is during the war! It should be noted here that the state does not finance prosthetic plants. It compensates, at marginal prices, for the manufacture of prostheses directly to the disabled person, i.e. to the person. Reducing the number of factories under the pretext of optimization is nothing more than a reduction in the state's obligations to people in need of prosthetics. A prosthetic plant is not just a workshop. It brings together doctors, rehabilitation specialists, and other professionals - those who work not only on the physical but also on the psychological and moral adaptation of an injured person. So what is the optimization? To deny rehabilitation to a person without limbs? To deprive them of a chance to live a full life? Do we not need these plants? No, we do not. We do, and especially now.

In previous years, under any government, the state, due to a lack of funds, provided a maximum of 55% of the need for prosthetics. Now that the government has allocated an additional 280 million hryvnias, we are able to raise the level of provision of free and high-quality prostheses to Ukrainian disabled people by almost 80%. This is a very big achievement. So how should we understand the reduction of the prosthetic plants themselves? This is nothing more than an irresponsible step by Ukrainian officials, their lack of understanding and unwillingness to fulfill the obligations assumed by the state. Already today, amid increased funding, there is talk that the prosthetics industry should be privatized. Listen, how is this possible? Again, «to whom the war is for, and to whom the mother is for»? For me, this is an emergency situation.

Private workshops are calling from everywhere, cutting off the phones and saying that due to the liquidation of Ukrprotez, the recording of work has been completely stopped, which in turn makes it impossible to finance prostheses already made and pay compensation to the disabled. Who are we kidding when we talk about the need to transform state-owned enterprises into private ones? In fact, there is a certain provocation of people who have lost their health at the frontline to raise money like beggars for what they have a full civil right to. Volunteers and sponsors are constantly taking disabled people to Germany or Italy for prosthetics. At the same time, they do not realize that the prosthesis made there now, for a person with a fresh stump, will be thrown away in a month and a half. In fact, we are using a person's tragedy to enrich foreign clinics and a certain circle of stakeholders within the country. Humiliation, pain, a sense of self-deprecation, and a prosthesis thrown away. That's what the government, with its stupid decisions, is doing to the guys who gave everything they had to the country.

You yourself have lived the life of a Ukrainian disabled person. Do you think Ukrainian society understands that treating disabled people as someone to raise money for or to feel sorry for degrades the human dignity of a crippled person? After all, the problem of social adaptation and successful integration of a disabled person into society lies not even in money, but in providing them with opportunities that put them on equal terms with other members of society.  

The answer is this. I have been in many hospitals and looked into the eyes of people who have returned from the front line with a broken spine or a neck injury. There is a guy lying there, I'm talking to him, and he doesn't want to look me in the eye. «His life is over. Deputy! Why did you come to me? My LIFE is over. Neither arms nor legs - nothing works. Who needs me like this? Your mom? Yes. And who else? What will my mom do with me? Will she feed me? I don't want to live. Why am I left after this war? I don't want to be like this.».

You see, he is alive and not alive at the same time. This is how a person feels when he suddenly loses the ability to move. In this situation, the responsibility of the state, through a particular official, through me as a people's deputy, through civil society, is to bring this guy back to life. A real full life.

Imagine a man, a defender of the Motherland and the Ukrainian people, who has no legs, a broken spine, has just come from the front, is psychologically and physically disfigured and needs to go home, to a hospital, to a prosthetic factory, or for some other needs. He has a mother, or a wife, or a sister with him, who also has no idea what to do with him, how to accompany him. And you have to go up to the train with him, sit in a compartment, endure three, four, five, or eight hours without a toilet, because there is no toilet for the disabled in the train. You have to ask passersby for help, you have to look for a car that is suitable for transportation. Imagine his state of mind. This feeling of powerlessness and the perception of himself as a burden for his loved ones will continue to kill him in the future. He is so disfigured, without legs, without the ability to be his own boss. If we look at the rights of disabled people from this human angle, the problem is seen in a completely different way.

The consciousness of the Ukrainian government is a derivative of the consciousness of the people. All the years I have been dealing with the problems of Ukrainian disabled people have taught me to be critical of many actors in the Ukrainian government. I have seen a lot of rejection, unwillingness to delve into the nuances, or outright cynicism about the needs of disabled people. Today, thanks to civil society, the National Assembly, the largest public organization of disabled people in Ukraine, and the National Paralympic Committee, the situation is gradually changing. A generation of people in power has already emerged that sees the European way of organizing the country as building a society with equal opportunities for all citizens.

For example, I was pleased when, during a meeting at the Ministry of Infrastructure, in response to our remark that the situation requires immediate improvement of transport accessibility for the disabled, I saw understanding and willingness to work from government officials. And this is at the level of the Ministry of Transport and Ukrzaliznytsia, which disabled people have been contacting all these years. I saw that there is a real desire among Ukrainian officials, even despite the lack of money in the budget, to find a solution that will allow a person who has lost his health and almost his life to not feel like a secondary, uninteresting «product of war.» There is an understanding that the lack of accessibility of transportation for the disabled makes them doomed to lie somewhere on the fourth floor of a Khrushchev building or in a village in their mother's house with no legs, no arms, blind and just exist. This is a significant change.

By the way, this is a very important issue. After all, we see that the soldiers are passionate people, volunteers, patriots with an active life position. Being wounded or disabled forces them to take a fresh look at themselves and their lives. What should they do to find themselves in Ukrainian society and not lose the potential that brought them to the Maidan and to defend the country against the enemy?

I am convinced that once upon a time, Ukrainian Paralympians, with their high level of training and achievements, were able to convince society and the authorities that a person with a disability is capable of doing incredible things. Today, Ukraine is a leader in global Paralympic sports. On an equal footing with such countries as the United States of America, China and Russia. That is why our Paralympic community is constantly visiting military hospitals and trying to convince the soldiers by their own example that their lives are not over, that success and dreams are possible. Wounded ATO soldiers see Paralympians, people who have succeeded, and this revives their hope for returning and gives them strength to fight.

I can name you many people who have managed to make it in this barrier society, in this country that discriminates against and restricts the rights of people with disabilities. For example, the head of the state treasury of a small city, a disabled person without a leg, is the best volleyball player in the world in Paralympic sports. Or, a wheelchair-bound Paralympic athlete who has two children and, like any other woman in the country, does the housework, looks after the children and solves family issues in a wheelchair. I would also like to mention the head of the social security department of a large regional city who is an Afghan who is missing a leg and helps people solve social issues. Or a guy who has two degrees and, despite being completely deaf, runs a design department in a large design firm. They are all winners. They won in sports and they won in life.

But the best example for the soldiers, in my opinion, is the story of Captain Myronov. He appealed to the Minister of Defense while he was still in the hospital without a leg: «I want to return to the army. I want to defend Ukraine no matter what. I do not see myself as an incapable person. I want to return to the front and continue to be a warrior.» Today, after he contacted me, with the support of the National Assembly of Disabled Persons and the National Paralympic Committee, he received an offer to enter a military academy and return to serve in the army. This soldier did not give up on his desire to serve his country and found a way because he had the will and active citizenship.

On September 27, at 12:00, disabled people of Ukraine are planning to march down Khreshchatyk. Everyone is invited to the Peace March. Please tell us what events are planned during the announced Peace March.

September 27 is the sixth anniversary of Ukraine's signing of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We are proud that Ukraine is one of the first countries in the post-Soviet space to commit to international standards for ensuring the rights of people with disabilities. On this anniversary, at the suggestion of many public organizations of disabled people, we are holding a march along Khreshchatyk, which we called the Peace March. The Peace March because the understanding of the value of health and peace by disabled people differs from that of healthy people. We are the ones who have a true understanding of what it means to be crippled, what our soldiers sacrifice when they lose their health while defending their homeland.

At this event, disabled people plan to address the United Nations, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities with an appeal that appeasement of the aggressor is not the way to stop the war. Strong solidarity of nations, consolidation of nations and learning the lessons of history must be demonstrated. This is what our public organizations of disabled people in Ukraine are saying, and this is what we want to draw the attention of the world community to. And the second thing that will definitely be discussed at this march is the issue of human rights for people with disabilities in Ukraine and increasing the proportion of the legal component for those people who have problems with disabilities.

The state should treat people with disabilities differently, involve them in life, provide them with opportunities for self-development, professional and human fulfillment. As one of our NGOs wrote, «We are invisible». In our homes, in Khrushchev, in transportation, on the street. But we are part of the people of Ukraine and live with the country through all the stages of its path to a decent future. Including the most difficult ones.

Yesterday I got a call from a guy who said: «I'm going to come out with a poster on which I will write: «We are citizens of Ukraine». A man in a wheelchair, without legs, blind, is proud to be a citizen of his country, even though he understands the level of restrictions on the exercise of his civil rights. This situation is the best illustration of the place of disabled people in Ukrainian society. He wants to go out with a poster claiming his citizenship. We are citizens of Ukraine, as are those who defended Ukraine with their lives and health. We have repeatedly proved our citizenship through our work, achievements in sports, and bringing Ukraine closer to the standards of a law-governed state. And now our citizenship must be confirmed by the Ukrainian state and Ukrainian society.

At any time and in any society, there are people who are different from others. They are the disabled. Interaction with such people, in fact, reflects the level of development of society. Numerous charitable foundations, special institutions, hospitals, or begging for someone's disability speaks volumes about a society and its «healthy» people, much better than all the economic or military achievements.

In 1952, many disabled war veterans were brought to Valaam Island from all over the Soviet Union. The camp for disabled war and labor veterans was a death camp where people who had given their health and lives to their homeland had to live in isolation so as not to defile the appearance of Soviet cities with their disabilities. Balaam is a crime, a complete disregard for the rights of a person who, due to certain physical disabilities, is unable to be a cog in a cannibalistic rink. But doesn't our current situation, in which disabled people are deprived of the opportunity to move freely, work where they want, earn their own money, walk the streets, visit cafes, participate in public life, resemble Valaam's isolation in a milder form?

Ukrainian society will still have to «free» the streets of its villages and cities from the disabled. Either it will choose the European way of building a barrier-free public space of equal opportunities, where there are simply no disabled people, or the Stalinist-Soviet way of living in isolation. It is up to us, Ukrainians, to choose which path Ukraine will take. And the first step on this path can be a manifestation of solidarity with Ukrainian people with disabilities during the Peace March. If «healthy» Ukrainians march alongside them as equals, it will demonstrate that Ukrainians do not want the country to be divided anymore between people with disabilities and those who prefer to ignore their limitations until they affect them personally.

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