Self-Employment for Selfrespect
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The status of persons with special needs in Bosnia and Herzegovina deteriorates with every passing day. The legislation adopted to improve their status are not observed, the disabled persons can't get a job, their education is hard... The state, on the other hand, doesn't sanction such violations of human rights. We discussed the living conditions and problems met by persons with special needs with Nada Jovanovic, the President of the Association of Dystrophic Persons from Doboj.
How would you estimate the current status of persons with special needs in B&H? First of all, I would mention the various terms used lately for the persons with disabilities, for instance, persons with special needs. In my opinion, we, persons with disabilities don't have any „special“ needs, aur needs are the same the other people have. The real question is, how much did the society provide for the persons with disabilities to be able to satisfy their needs just as all the other citizens. The position of the majority of citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina in general is difficult enough, and it is especially true for the disabled persons who live in border-line poverty and many of their rights are restricted. Do the persons with special needs have adequate education? Unfortunately, the majority of disabled persons can't get education in „regular“ schools. In the majority of cases, they can't go to school because the schools are not architecturally adapted to their needs, as well as the traffick problems. I can give the example of Doboj, my hometown, where the elmentary schools are partly adapted, while secondary and higher education institutions are not accessible to the disabled persons, from the architectural point of view.
It would take a little goodwill from the society to make it available to these children to remain with their families and get educatio nin their hometown. The development of personal assistance services, which have vans adapted for transportation of persons with special needs, as well as minor changes in the public transport vehicles, would enable the disabled children to go to regular schools. Only when we provide equal access to the pre-school and schooling institutions to all children, regardless of their disabilities, we could speak of the process of integration of disabled persons in the society. Does the state provide assistance or stimulation for employment of this category of citizens? It is hard to even talk about the problem of employment of disabled persons, to say nothing of trying to solve it. Even in the better, from economic and social point of wiew, times before the war, the people with disabilities found it hard to get a job. Psychological, architectural, transportation and other barriers made it difficult, as they still do, to access the working place. The situation is today made worse by the fact that the number of disabled persons was, lamentably increased by the war. It is necessary for the disabled persons to earn their own income, for it changes the negative attitudes in the family and the community in genegar towards their disabilities and personality. By earning their own income, they could find their disability easier. In addition to providing for our existence, we raise our selfrespect levels and the overall level of satisfaction with our lives. In November 2004, the Law on Professional Rehabilitation, Training and Employment of Disabled Persons entered into force in the Republic of Srpska, but its implementation is yet to start. Under the provisions of this Law, the public enterprises and administrative bodies are obligated to subcontract 20% of their needs for certain products to enterprises that employ disabled persons. Alas, nobody observes that provision. The Printing Company of the Association of Persons with Distrophia in Doboj, where I work, employs 13 people, eight of them disabled. The situation gets more difficult with every passing day and we invest a lot of effort to pressure the authorities to start respecting the Law. Are there prejuduces related to persons with special needs in our society, and how do they deal with them? I remember the efforts I had to make to prove that, in spite of the fact that my physical abilities weakened, my needs, wishes, plans, emotions didn't just disappear or were reduced. To the contrary, in those days, they were even more prominent. The problem lies in the fact that a disabled person is constantly reminded about his/her disability by the society, i.e. the way physically healthy people look at us. Due to the negative attitudes of the society and the environment, the majority of disabled persons become beneficiaries, and not contributors to the society. The process of self-help is very important to reach autonomy. Learning how to live with our disabilities, directing our energy and effort to improve the quality of our lives and be satisfied with them is the first step towards integration. What is the role that NGO play in the improvement of status for this population? The only possibility for more serious action is through the association. The role of the association is great. However, the way in which we are organized still reflects the medical model of approaching the problems of the disabled persons. We are associated depending on our respective medical conditions: persons with muscular dystrophia have their own association; the paraplegics their own, and so on... In reality, we all act on individual association basis. The effects would be much greater if we all united in a movement of disabled persons, so that we could join our forces and act with joint programmes on both local and national level. What does your association offer to this cagegory of population? The Association of Persons with Dystrophia works on the promotion of abilities and opportunities for persons with dystrophia and related neuro-muscular conditions in a positive way. It promotes the principles of equal opportunities designed to return the dignity of persons with muscular dystrophia in society, but also of other persons with disabilities. We promote the social approach to the persons with muscular dystrophia, to give them the right to decide how to organize their own lives. Also, we lobby for adoption of positive legislation in the fields of health care ans social security, education, employment, and other rights of the persons with muscular dystrophia, to secure their ability to earn their living. On of the projects is the printing company of „DMP“ association, a non-profit enterprise for professional training and employment of persons with disabilities. The association plans to get the local community more involved in the programmes for rehabilitation, through development of community services, such as employment and acquirement of new skills that would provide an opportunity to the persons with muscular dystrophia to find employment (for example, computer and IT skills that would provide vocation even to the most serious cases of disabilities. |
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