From December 2-5, many events were organized in honor of the
handicapped in Armenia. Celebrations, seminars and other events took
place in different regions of Armenia. The mass media prepared some
reports and just left. It turned out that we only remember the
handicapped once a year along with the help of international
organizations. Those organizations don’t do anything at all, the city
is not accommodated for the handicapped and society does not know how
to treat them There is discrimination between handicapped and
non-handicapped people.
The whole world has come to the conclusion that each society is
considered civilized if the welfare of the poor, the handicapped, the
elderly and the children is secured. There are flaws seen everywhere in
our country, but when we talk strictly about handicaps we see that they
are the only ones who are treated poorly. From December 3-5, the AXELS
organization’s Armenian branch took the initiative and organized a
three day program entitled “International Education and American
counsel” dedicated to the problems facing handicaps in Armenia.
Usually, these programs are good in that the foreign organizations
observe them and then make comparisons and draw conclusions, stating
that not everything is “ideal and favorable” in our country, no matter
how much that is talked about. Perhaps education is the only field
which needs improvements. The Armenian handicapped children feel that
they are equivalent to non-handicapped children (today the educational
program is set for ten schools of which five are schools providing
general education). According to owner of the AXELS Armenian branch
Elizabeth L.Winship, Armenia, along with the Ministry of Education, is
trying to provide the handicapped children with education. “There are
some programs, but that is not enough. There must be more work put in.
For example, if we consider the children in wheelchairs we see that
they are insecure. Armenian schools do not help out these children.
After all, a lot of money was spent on remodeling these schools,
however, nobody thought about providing the handicapped children with
good conditions.”
A bundle of bad conditions
Our city is not fit for the handicapped. During the past two years,
there has been construction going on sidewalks for people with
wheelchairs, but what kind of sidewalks are they? They are above the
asphalt so that the wheelchair can make a noise as it crosses the
street. What about the traffic lights? Some traffic lights change so
fast that even the young, energetic, non-handicapped person can not
make it to the other side in time (for example the street in front of
the “Nairi” cinema). The third flaw is transportation. Today
transportation in Yerevan has turned into a kamikaze. The minibus
foreseen for 15 people transports 20-22 people who sit in different
positions. The minibus is dangerous for non-handicaps too. All that is
left is the bus, the metro and the trolleybus. “None of the three are
suitable for the handicaps,” says L. Winship. Executive Director of the
“Winson” organization Armen Alaverdyan, who also uses a wheelchair,
says that Armenian handicaps are even deprived of the right to go out
to celebrations, movies, etc. “There are so many buildings and
restaurants opening up, yet nobody cares about us,” he says. “Almost
all the places for leisure are on the first floor, meaning that the
owners can not pay another $100 to make it possible for the handicaps
to enter. All we need is some kind of law which will persuade or force
them to do that.” A. Alaverdyan also claims that Armenians find it
strange to see the British council build a $10,000 elevator for two of
their handicapped workers. “They say that that money could have been
spent on buying other things for the handicaps. But the representative
of the British Council said that is the way it is, it is a law and
there is no alternative. I dream for the day when we will have no
“alternative” and do that. They can at least build it just to say they
did it and then we will use that elevator. The government needs to
think about this, plan out projects and make demands.”
If you are handicapped, can’t you work?
Unemployment is a major problem in Armenia, but it is a bigger problem
for handicaps. Many handicaps are enable to work but they are forced to
stay home and rely on the 3,500 dram pension (the government has
promised to raise that up to 4,000 dram) due to the fact that they are
not allowed to work. Besides that, our society is intolerant and does
not wish to work with handicaps. “The big problem is how the people
treat the handicaps. We must do everything we can to change that
attitude,” says L. Winship. The handicaps that work in different
organizations around the world do not pay any taxes. It turns out that
Armenia has had that kind of law way back in 1993 which has many flaws
and does not function. “That law only referred to organizations where
only handicaps work, meaning that a handicap could not work at the
“Coca-Cola” factory or somewhere else. This is absurd. If I am
physically unable to do work, does that mean I can’t do mental work in
any brand name organization?” says A. Alaverdyan. “They said that that
law is not applied anymore, they took advantage of us, pretending to
avoid paying 50% of taxes because of the handicaps. However, it turned
out that they had not passed such a law. Now a couple of organizations,
including us, raised this issue. We tried our best, but the bill did
not pass at the National Assembly.”