DISABLED RUSSIANS FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHTS Yesterday on Pushkin Square there was a demonstration for equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities. It took place as part of a program called the Decade of Disability, which has been going on in Russia since 1993. The demonstration was organized by a number of disability organizations, including Perspektiva, Preodoleniye, Katarzhina, and the Center for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Children. Several dozen disabled activists, most of them young, gathered in the center of Moscow, across from McDonalds. This spot was chosen specifically to attract the attention of as many people as possible; after all, the problems that disabled people face are, more than anything else, problems with society as a whole. The demonstrators hope to encourage the removal of the physical barriers which prevent them from going to school, holding a job, and attending cultural events as other people can. Specifically, their demands are: legislation requiring that public places be accessible to disabled people, participation of non-governmental disability organizations in the process of creating such legislation, and adaptation of public transportation, apartments and public buildings to make them accessible to people with mobility impairments and other disabilities. Financial support for the demonstration came from the British Know-How Foundation. According to Olga Drozdovaya of Perspektiva, these types of projects are usually financed by foreign institutions, such as the Know-How Foundation, the British Foundation for Human and Civil Rights, Geore Soros Open Society Institute, and others. At 3 in the afternoon, the demonstrators headed to the offices of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov in order to present him with their demands and with petitions signed by many members of Moscows disabled population. Four more copies of their demands will be sent to different offices within Moscows government. Marina Landa |