ON DECEMBER 3 THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE HANDICAPPED WAS OBSERVED WITH NEW PROMISES

The Day of the Handicapped (or functionally-impaired or physically challenged, as they are known throughout the civilized world) is observed to draw the attention of governments and the public to the problems of this category of citizens. Each country resolves such problems in its own way. Everything depends both on the state’s welfare and on the extent to which society is prepared to render assistance to those in need.

Our society has a rather vague idea of the handicapped. Much blame for this must be put on the latter themselves. Their organizations are sluggish to widely publicize their activities. Very few know how they live, what they do, and what triumphs they have scored. Even today a thick curtain hangs over the handicapped, separating them from the rest of society. This isolation of the disabled is by no means conducive to their rehabilitation and integration in society. It has a negative effect on their cooperation with charities. The latter often spend sizable funds on less important things. The absence of adequate governmental control leads to a situation such that some organizations and commercial entities, supposedly helping the socially disadvantaged strata of the population, in fact come close to crime. Much to our regret, the disabled are also implicated in these abuses. The reader should remember a series of press and television reports about ten years ago, alleging that the blind refused to undergo medical treatment in order to keep intact their pensions and privileges. The reports were authored by very well-known people, such as writers, scientists, public figures, and even medical workers. The absurdity of this reasoning is all too clear but, alas, not for all, especially the common people.

We cannot but agree with the American Catling who wrote that what irritated him most was the need to fight constantly to be recognized as a normal human being, to combat personal discrimination. He saw as his chief problem not his blindness but society’s attitude toward him.

In Ukraine the plight of the handicapped is extremely unsatisfactory. But what is worse is the absence of any governmental program or at least basic approach to the solution of acute social problems. Ukrainian medico-social expert commissions determine an individual’s disability by the degree to which he/she lost the ability to work, while in the developed counties similar agencies think about how exactly to help such a person, so that he/she can work on a par with the able- bodied. Incidentally, the handicapped in those countries are entitled to pensions on the level of rather high minimum wages.