• Українська
  • Русский
  • English
Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Ukraine now has over 152,000 handicapped children

7 September, 1999 - 00:00

Ministry of Health statistics cite 152,210 crippled children
in Ukraine, 80% of whom live with their families. The structure of juvenile
invalidism has changed noticeably: while children with congenital development
disorders prevailed in 1998, today nervous and sensory malfunctions prevail
(33.1%), followed by congenital anomalies (19.7%), and mental disorders
(12.7%). A falling total birth rate and mounting rate of birth defects
result in the accumulation of grave chronic diseases, causing an even further
drop in the birth rate. Is this a closed circle?

«There are certain stereotypes prevalent in this society
with regard to handicapped children. In part, they are believed to originate
from alcohol and drug-abusing families. Our studies, however, prove that
most their parents are people with a post-secondary education, and that
one of their biggest problems is isolation, being ill-adapted to life,»
The Day 's Oleksandr FANDEYEV was told by Iryna Ivanova, Candidate
of Science (Medicine), head of the Center for Social Work with Handicapped
Children in the Ukrainian Institute for Social Research.

«Quite often parents consciously restrict their handicapped
children's abilities,» states Tetiana Kutsenko, a center psychologist.
«I worked with a 7-year-old boy who could not speak. Now he is enrolled
in a special school. Children like him are extremely sensitive and show
adult wisdom; they have a very deep inner world and humanness.»

These children live among us. They wish and can be full-fledged
members of our society. But do we really want this? I mean all of us so-called
healthy individuals, meaning that we are even more responsible for them.
Can we satisfy their so very just desire?

Rubric: