A man with a white cane stands in the junction. A youngster comes to this man and asks: - May I help you to cross the road, sir? - No, thanks. - But...you are an invalid, aren't you? - No, sir. I'm a human being with a disability, - answers the blind man and leaves. ...
It's a stereotype to call such people "инвалиды" ("handicapped persons"). But most of the people are wrong. Firstly, let me tell a few words about the problem. Every country has invalids. In Russia we don't see dozens of them walking or doing something. But invalids are among us. The problems are: 1) there are very few devices/appliances for invalids (such as rampant or special elevators); 2) the society doesn't want to understand that invalids are the same as we are. These two problems interrelated. People regard "invalids" not as "persons with disabilities" (social access), but as "handicapped persons" (medical access). I'll try to explain the difference between these two notions. The difference is in the attitude to such people. If we regard them as people who are ill, we try to isolate them from the society in order "to protect" "health" people from ... from whom, do you think? ... of course, from the "cripples". And this is wrong! Because people with disabilities are primarily human beings (social access). And they have the same rights as we have, but the society itself pinches their rights. Our cities are not adopted for such people. So they can't live in the society without any pinching. So, I don't want to discourse much about this issue. So, let me tell you some pieces of advice:
# If see a person with a disability don't try to help him immediately. Come to him and ask whether he/she needs your help. # If you help a blind man, for example, to take a tram don't push him before you, take his hand and put it on your shoulder. Than lead him into the tram. # If you are speaking with a deaf or partially-deaf person, look into his eyes and don't turn your head in order to give him an ability to read what you're telling him on you lips. # If you are talking with a person who has a wheelchair don't recline on the invalid carriage. The wheelchair is the personal space of the person with a disability. Reclining on it means reclining on the person's shoulder. # If you talking with a person in a wheelchair try to make a curtsey in order to be on the same level with your interlocutor. # Never call such people "handicapped people" ("инвалиды"). They call themselves "people with disabilities" ("люди с ограниченными возможностями").
I can't agree that if someone regards them as people who are ill, he/she definitely wants to isolate them from others. It's not virus, so where is the connection? Well, there are such people (who really want people with disabilities be isolated) but they are just ignorant, I think.
"By the way, did you hear smth about www.disability.ru - it is an Internet portal for "invalids"." Actually, I haven't heard anything about this site. As I see, it's a social serves for disabled people. I think it's very helpful.
MissJane, I suppose, not only government, but the whole society must be responsible, because such people need not only help, but the right attitude to their problem and life situation.
Asya, every shop, office, firm, edifice, hospital etc. must have all the necessary appliance for invalids, because it's a sign of a civilized state.
Actually, the problem of "invalids" is one of the most difficult problems in our country. Our government can't give much attention and help to them. But they are still alive. By the way, did you hear smth about www.disability.ru - it is an Internet portal for "invalids".
What does the phrase "Our government can't give much attention and help to them" mean? It is the government's responsibility and duty to take care of these people and provide them with necessary facilities.
Well... I suppose that our government should take care of handicapped people. But that doesn't mean that they should provide them with everything. I mean there should be shops where they could get (without stairs) and necessary medical treatment should be free.
Your speculations and conclusions can motivate a discussion on the level of humanitarism and on whether our civilization is a competent formation that has worked out social instincts and standards for a peaceful living and a universal acceptance of the human right to be different. My last word sounds rather politically incorrect. Why do we call "invalids" all those strange names? Handicapped, disadvantaged, alternatively built, mental explorers, challenged, disabled? These are semantic references to certain natural and social phenomena that have been registered and recongnized by society for it to learn how to treat these "phenomena of life". The phenomenon is determined - the meaning is coined - the attitude is defined - the mental picture of reality is enlarged - behaviours are changed - rules are established - life is reorganized and re-conceptualized in a new way.
