“Unity” during the war: how people with disabilities are helped in the Volyn region

15 Липня 2022 by Olga Zhurbenko

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The National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine (after this ‒ NAIU) within the framework of the project “Crisis in Ukraine: response and recovery are taking into account disability” tells about the experience of representatives of public organizations of people with disabilities (after this – GOI) ̶ members of NAIU, gained during the large-scale invasion of Russia on the territory of Ukraine.

From July 4 to 11, the camp for people with disabilities, ” Unity ” took place in the city of Kovel, Volyn region, and it was held for the fourteenth time. However, this year the event is unique, because the camp participants are people who suffered from military aggression by Russia and found a quiet and safe shelter in the west of Ukraine. How public activists in Volyn help people with disabilities, where and under what conditions in the region it is possible to learn sign language, and how the next “Unity” camp is being held this year, Yaroslav Kotylko, the head of the “Gesture of Help” public organization, told.

“Unity” for the sake of people with disabilities

Our public organization “GESTURE OF SUPPORT” (from the author – the organization is a member of NAIU) has been working in Volyn since 2017, helping people with disabilities of various categories: those with musculoskeletal, hearing and vision impairments. At one time, the NGO rose to meet the needs of the “Unity” camp, which we have been conducting since 2008, but over the years, we expanded our activities; in particular, we started organizing a school for those who want to learn sign language. After all, there are more than ten professional sign language interpreters in our organization who love to share their knowledge.

And since February 24, when a full-scale war began in Ukraine, we realized that this is the moment when we can use all our knowledge, experience and a large base of volunteers and quickly start helping people who suffer due to armed actions”, – said Yaroslav Kotylko, head of the organization.

Activists, as Kotylko further noted, organize a camp for people with disabilities every year so that they can relax in nature and socialize:

“From the very beginning, we held such annual events near the city of Novovolynsk, but in a few years, we managed to find a good area with a lake near Kovel, which has become our traditional venue for “Unity”. Thus, every year during the whole of July, people with disabilities who come to our camp have the opportunity to relax, get to know each other, share their successes and experiences, and listen to interesting speakers. As a rule, about 300 people with disabilities and the same number of volunteers and employees attend such a holiday. However, this year, due to the military operations in Ukraine, slightly fewer people visited Kovel than usual – about 250 people. “Unity” is a joy for all participants. Volunteers can serve people who really need it, do something good. And for people with disabilities, who in Ukraine, unfortunately, usually cannot even leave the house, the opportunity to spend a week and a half in nature, talk with other people, feel care for themselves, and even vent their regrets to someone is also quite an event.”

The head of the organization also said that this year the format of recreation for people with disabilities had changed somewhat, which was unexpectedly contributed to by the war in Ukraine:

“We received grant funds to involve not only volunteers, but also professional psychologists and lawyers in the organization of “Unity”. Therefore, the camp was transformed from a recreational camp, more focused on organizing the participants’ leisure time, to a slightly educational one. Thus, the participants had the opportunity to consult with a lawyer on all issues that interested them, and also took classes with a psychologist, which in the current conditions of war, when many people suffer from post-traumatic syndrome and other disorders, were more relevant than ever.”

War: how residents of the Volyn region help not only people with disabilities, but also the army

“Due to the start of a full-scale war, many people with disabilities who lived in the east of Ukraine lost their homes. Therefore, since we have been working with them for a long time, our volunteers began to evacuate people from the Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions from the first days of the war. Over time, because the whole world began to help Ukraine, we received significant international support in the form of food, wheelchairs, special beds and other equipment, which were given to those who needed them. So we started working in two directions: to the east, cars with our volunteers took food products, medicine and other necessary things, and back they took people fleeing from the war”, said Yaroslav Kotylko.

Volunteers from Volyn also worked in Kovel, meeting internally displaced persons at the railway and bus stations and helping them find housing or, if desired, go abroad: “In addition, together with the Polish organization “Migam” we organized online support for deaf people who were forced to move to Poland. Since it was complicated for them to understand each other on the other side of the border, our sign language interpreters translated from sign language into Ukrainian and our Polish colleagues from Ukrainian into Polish. And although the chain of this communication turned out to be quite long and complicated, it was worth it because more than one person managed to get along with the Poles in state institutions, banks or hospitals.”

“Separately, we received more than one request for help from our military, so a significant part of humanitarian aid was transferred to hospitals and local self-government bodies in the front-line areas, and we also managed to deliver several tens of tons of food products to military formations located near the front line “, – noted the head of the ” GESTURE OF SUPPORT ” organization.

Finally, the Volyn activist noted that even though the war with Russia has been going on in Ukraine for the fifth month, the work in the organization does not decrease: “It is difficult to work “full-time” for such a long time, it shows both physical, emotional, mental fatigue. However, requests from people who need help, especially from our defenders in the east, do not stop. So we are waiting for the next races of people with disabilities to “Unity” and continue to bring aid to the east. After all, if our soldiers are not tired of defending Ukraine, we in the rear also have no right to say “We can’t do it anymore.”

The material was prepared within the framework of the initiative “Promoting the social adaptation of people with disabilities in conditions of war”, which is implemented within the framework of the project “Crisis in Ukraine: response and recovery taking into account disability”, which is implemented by the GS “VGO “National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine” and the European People with Disabilities Forum (EDF).