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Nothing changed for wheelchair users in last five years, activist says

Wheelchair users held a rally in a remote park in Minsk on May 5 to demand greater opportunities and rights and express protest against discrimination.

Some 100 people with disability attended the sanctioned rally, which took place in Peoples’ Friendship Park. Participants displayed signs “Our legs is a car,” “I want to visit my parents, but there are steps on my way,” and “My home is my prison.”

“The slogans on the signs that you are holding are the same as they used to be five years ago,” Yawhen Shawko, chairman of the Belarusian Association of Wheelchair Users, said at the rally. “Nothing has changed over the past five years.”

Syarhey Drazdowski, leader of the Office for the Rights of People with Disabilities, thanked the crowd for coming to the rally and openly discussing their woes. “Our placards reflect our thoughts. For some reason, it is we who feel shame for them.”

In his speech, he called on the Belarusian authorities to join the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which he noted 153 countries, including even Papua New Guinea, had signed. “Belarus has been pondering on whether it should join it for six years. Are we, Belarusian people with a disability, deserve less respect for our human dignity and rights than our neighbors -- Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Poles or Russians? I believe that we are not.”

The gathering adopted an appeal urging Alyaksandr Lukashenka to ensure that the constitutional rights of wheelchair users and bedridden people are respected. They also demanded that the government sign the UN Convention. //BelaPAN