People with disabilities who cannot see and those with musculoskeletal disorders have organized an information and counseling hub for those who lost their health due to injuries or trauma during the war.
Blind - for civilians and military with lost vision, and low mobility - for people who have suffered serious injuries to the motor system and even amputations.
This is the principle of the information and advisory hub organized by the public union Public Union “Modern View”. It has two divisions: the information cool center «EXPERIENCE TO HELP», which answers calls and emails from women and men who have suffered spinal cord injuries, lost upper or lower limbs due to trauma or gunshot wounds.
The second information center “Hub for blind” is for military and civilians who have suffered visual impairment as a result of injuries and trauma. The messengers of both information lines can be called by relatives, friends, colleagues, volunteers, in short, anyone who is interested in helping, or perhaps looking for a lifeline in the stormy ocean of life.
How can the volunteers of the Cool Centers help? Let me say right away: they do not provide financial assistance or humanitarian aid. They can only find out and suggest which social and humanitarian organizations are involved in this. The description of the Experiences to Help information hub reads: “Injuries to the human spine, amputation of a limb or part of it, resulting from destruction, explosions, bullet and mine injuries and wounds. The very fact of a spinal injury or amputation of a limb has a significant negative impact on the physical and psycho-emotional state of a man or woman.
Perhaps our simple tips will help you with your questions:
- how to avoid pressure sores and contractures;
- what personal care products exist and how to choose the right one;
- organization of everyday life and arrangement of premises for a person in a wheelchair;
- how to choose rehabilitation equipment, learn how to use it, and where to get it;
- where to get rehabilitation services and which organizations take care of people with back injuries and amputations.
And the summary of the online information space for military and civilians who have lost or are losing their eyesight in the war says: we ourselves are visually impaired.
We are here to help you regain your independence and live the life you have chosen. We are ready to discuss with you the topics that concern you. The operators of the Cool Center will tell you how gadgets with audio programs can improve the life of a blind person, how to arrange your own apartment more conveniently so as not to get a bump, how to start navigating the streets at least near your home, and how to communicate with your family so as not to fall under their hyper-protection.
The info hub also offers legal advice, including how to register a disability, how to get rehabilitation equipment from special government services that make life more comfortable for people with disabilities, and so on. In short, they are ready to listen to your story and work with you to achieve personal victories and change. A blind woman tells us Olesya Perepechenko-Ryabuha - Executive Director of the NGO «Modern View», before the full-scale Russian invasion, a typhlopedagogue who had already conducted rehabilitation and socialization camps for ATO veterans who lost their eyesight in combat, in the program #Forces_of_Good on Ukrainian Radio:
http://ukr.radio/schedule/play-archive.html…
Information and consultation hubs dedicated to helping blind people and people with musculoskeletal disorders who were disabled as a result of injuries during the Great War were created as part of the Disability-inclusive Response and Recovery project, led and coordinated by organizations of people with disabilities. The initiatives are being implemented thanks to National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine with the support of the European Disability Forum. Currently, the team continues to provide consultations exclusively on a volunteer basis. You can find the contacts of all the cool-center operators on the social networks of the NGO «Modern View» and the National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine.
You are not alone in your grief. There are people who have already gone through the difficult path of change, adjustment, adaptation and rehabilitation, and they are ready to share their knowledge with you! To give up is to play into the hands of the enemy. And to strive for victory is too important for all of us!
Vladimir Noskov for Ukrainian Radio.
Victory is achieved through joint efforts.
