22 March 2022 15:46
“We lived through two weeks of horror. I am in Kiev, in the capital, together with my daughter, who is autistic and suffering from behavioral disorders. We cannot leave the city ”. Yulia Klepets, a woman who is part of Vgo – a coalition of 118 non-governmental organizations representing about 14,000 families in which there is a person with a cognitive disability – thus begins her testimony in the context of the online press conference War in Ukraine: which situation for people with disabilities, promoted on 10 March 2022 by the organizations European association of service provider for persons with disabilities (Easpd), European disability forum (Edf) and Inclusion Europe.
“We can’t leave our apartment because my 82-year-old mother lives with us and she can’t move. Our house is on the seventh floor and we can’t go down to the air-raid shelter. We are not the only ones in this situation. Many of us are in the same condition, in Kiev and throughout Ukraine. Especially those with elderly parents ”.
According to EDF data there are 2.7 million Ukrainians with disabilities and for them the impact of Russian bombing, which does not even spare civilians, is even more devastating.
Air-raid shelters are often inaccessible to people with motor disabilities. Those with movement difficulties risk being trapped in the house during the bombing. Deaf people cannot hear the sound of alarm sirens, and information about the state of emergency is not provided in accessible formats, such as easy to read for people with cognitive disabilities, Braille or sign language.
“There is a lack of support for escape and the ability to access information and emergency shelters,” said Yannis Vardakastanis, president of the International Disability Alliance and EDF during the press conference.
Impossible escape
According to the NGO Inclusion Europe, refugees with disabilities are only 10% of those who manage to flee.
“In this situation, I can say with certainty that, of the three million Ukrainians who have already left, only a few are people with disabilities: most of them are unable to leave their homes and find adequate means of transport” , adds Valeriy Sushkevych, Paralympic athlete at the head of the Ukrainian National Assembly of People with Disabilities. “Yes, there are evacuation trains and, on these, people with disabilities should have priority. But imagine the situation: a mass of people aboard the train, no tickets and all you can do is escape, because they are bombing. Getting on a normal train, for a person with a disability, for example a blind person or in a wheelchair, becomes impossible. So they give up and risk ending up under missiles in their home ”.
Some family members of people with severe or elderly disabilities, on the other hand, often choose to stay in Ukraine. Their loved ones would not be able to leave the country.
Crossing the border is not easy for another reason as well: “Some men with disabilities who want to flee are ordered to stay and join the army, despite being exempted from military service due to their condition”, declares Anna Landre , of the US organization The Partnership, interviewed by Liz Plank.
Who leaves and who stays
Among Ukrainians with disabilities there are about 261 thousand people with cognitive problems, some live with families and others in institutions.
“People with cognitive disabilities often have behavioral problems,” explains Raisa Kravchencho, another component of Vgo. “They cannot understand what is happening and this total confusion, this violence, the concern of their parents causes further difficulties. I have a 36-year-old son with behavioral problems and I have to dedicate myself totally to him because he is aggressive and self-defeating and I have to manage his emotions and gestures “.
When they live in a family, their care is now entirely on the shoulders of the parents and relatives. “The activity of the day and rehabilitation centers has stopped. So, if my son or Yulia’s daughter used to go to the day care center, now they stay at home all day and are worried, upset. We need assistance for our kids ”. Kravchencho continues: “One of the leaders of our NGO has a son with autism and she cannot leave him alone for more than an hour. Which means that she cannot queue at the pharmacy, supermarket, ATM and therefore she cannot get the drugs, the food, the money she needs. You also need help with basic needs “.
Many people have also lost their jobs and therefore no longer have a salary.
The activities of local NGOs working in the field of assistance to people with disabilities has been stopped. The commitment of the volunteers remains which, however, by its nature, cannot be continuous and the organizations do not have sufficient economic resources to hire paid professionals.
Another major critical issue, especially for people with cognitive disabilities or psychosocial discomfort, is the lack of drugs and, specifically, psychotropic drugs and antiepileptics. “These medicines can only be bought with a prescription. The government has not found an effective way to solve the problem. They told us we can go to the general practitioner but you have to wait at least a week for an appointment! “.
There are those who, under the bombs, die. “A 20-year-old boy with cerebral palsy who lived on the outskirts of Kiev was injured by a bomb and, having received no medical treatment, died after two days. He was buried in his garden, ”says Raisa Kravchencho with a cracked voice.
Ukrainians with disabilities living in institutions are also at risk of being forgotten.
According to a recent UN report, 40,801 adults with disabilities lived in the 282 public residential facilities in the country, but guests of psychiatric hospitals and private residential facilities are not included in the number, because the related data are not available.
In addition, orphanages and boarding schools host at least 82 thousand disabled children (for comparison, in Italy there are 3,147). “We believe the official numbers are low. They could be double what is officially recognized, ”says Eric Rosenthal, director of the NGO Disability rights international. “Data tracking is very poor and no one has ever tracked the exact numbers. Furthermore, this figure does not include the disappearances probably due to the trafficking of minors ”.
“We know that institutions have run out of basic resources such as food, water, essential medicines and cooking gas,” adds Vardakastanis. “We were told that, in some cases, the staff fled, leaving the residences unattended.”
Organize relief efforts
The difficulties do not end even if you manage to cross the border. “People with disabilities who manage to escape on their own are not sufficiently assisted when they arrive in neighboring countries. The reception centers are overburdened and disabled refugees are unable to access aid, ”Vardanastakis continued in the press conference. “Much of the response comes from the activism of people with disabilities, not from governments or humanitarian organizations. It shouldn’t be. We want to be part of the solution but not the solution itself “. And he continues: “We ask the European Union to direct specific funding for humanitarian support to people with disabilities and their families. This is a crisis within a crisis ”.
“Edf is working together with the Ukrainian government”, assures Gunta Anca, EDF general secretary. “We want to equip three or four places for people with disabilities to stay overnight on their way to Lviv and a fully accessible refugee center. We are organizing a coordination system with organizations of people with disabilities from different countries, not only in neighboring ones such as Poland and Lithuania, but also those of countries that will be able to host these people, such as Italy with which we already have contacts. , helping them to take advantage of all kinds of services they need “.
Many organizations are launching appeals for the protection and safety of people with disabilities in Ukraine.
Some mention article 11 of the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities which establishes the duty to guarantee protection and safety to persons with disabilities (also) in situations of armed conflict.
But it is Yulia Klepets’ final prayer that stays in her head the longest: “Please don’t just observe us, because we feel like we are part of some gladiator fighting game in which you are just spectating. Europe can only get the worst of it if you stay silent. If you don’t ask your governments to help Ukraine, in two weeks, a month you will be tired and exasperated by our refugees, by our people with disabilities. You will say, ‘My god, we’re tired of you, go home. We don’t care about your war anymore. ‘ Please stop this killer! ”.