Is it easy to be disabled in Azerbaijan?

This date is also marked in our country, to which various events are timed. The main goal of this day is to attract the attention of the state and society to people's problems, due to circumstances limited by freedom of movement, access to education, active rest, career. People who do not have health problems do not realize what a person in a wheelchair feels, deprived of joy to go to a concert, sit with friends in a cafe, swim in the sea. The UN's goal is to make disabled people full members of society with equal opportunities, and hence rights.

According to Muslimov, most disabled people in the country are people who were injured in the course of the Karabakh conflict. A set of measures is being implemented to protect the rights of people with reduced physical needs. Ramps for people with disabilities will be installed at all crossings in the center of Baku. There is an installation of 421 ramps meeting European standards.

Individual facts and statements from the minister's report on public care about people with disabilities (DP) published in media caused an ambiguous reaction in society. Discussions in social networks reflect the real situation in this sphere. Here are some posts.

"More than ten years have passed since I became a second group invalid and I was given a pension, with which you can hardly survive. Therefore, I found a feasible job, supplementing the pension, which gives me the opportunity to stay afloat. Why is it that in our country a normal disabled person (not the Karabakh disabled people) cannot receive a normal pension, only because his social record of contributions is not big enough? I tried to contact the Social Security Center to review the pension, but I received an answer that my pension cannot be increased, since the accumulated capital is very small," Yusif shared with Facebook.

"I do not want to go into rhetoric, where taxpayers' money goes. I just want to add to the famous Russian proverb "There is no fence against ill fortune" the words "... as well as disability." However, if this happens to someone from the powers, they still cannot understand us. After all, they already managed to grab a comfortable life for themselves! ", writes the man under the name of the Optimist.

"Go to any medical institution and you will see an updated interior, new furniture and handicapped people and old people leaning on their sticks and crutches hanging against the walls, because they can sit on the low sofas in front of the offices, but can stand up without strangers there is no help," Javid said.

Sahib Mammadov, chairman of the League for the Protection of Labor Rights of Citizens, notes that it is quite difficult for disabled people in Azerbaijan to find a job. Employers within the quota are required to hire people with disabilities. Refusal to this person is a direct violation of the country's legislation. However, the facts of violations of the law are found very often. The reason?

"Studies have shown that the problem of finding employment with the DP is based on the reluctance of employers to hire them, since it is simply not profitable for them. The fact is that a healthy person gets 21 days of leave, while DP, regardless of the degree of disability, has 42 days of paid leave. In addition, the employer is obliged at the enterprise to create the appropriate infrastructure for such employees - ramps, special elevators, specials, etc. "

According to Mammadov, the country has about 570,000 people with disabilities, of which about 350,000 are of working age. This is a big figure. Only about 60 thousand DP work. And it's not just jobs, it's also taxes, social deductions, pension contributions. In the developed countries, about 40% of the working age disabled earners have a job. In Azerbaijan, only 11-12% of DP are employed. The business environment is not very conducive to such citizens for a number of objective reasons. The way out could be the creation of specialized enterprises, which, unfortunately, are not available in the country.

According to the head of the Public Association for Assistance to Disabled Children "Mushvig" Valida Abbasova, there is some progress in the issue of creating an infrastructure for citizens with disabilities in Baku, but there are still many shortcomings.

"Not all buses are adapted to carry disabled people. There are modern buses that can carry citizens in wheelchairs, but the problem is that they cannot always drive up to a stop, since all entrances are occupied by taxies.

Of course, in Baku it is necessary to continue improving the infrastructure for people with disabilities, because it is not yet in the best condition," Abbasova said.

A special theme is disabled children. It is about the inclusive education of children with disabled children. Only in four capital schools the system of inclusive education operates. This is the school N202 in Narimanov district, school N220 in Nizami district, school N138 in Khatai district, and school-lyceum N252 in Sabunchu district of Baku.

According to statistics, today there are about 65,000 disabled children with disabilities in the country, but only 288 children are covered by an inclusive system. This, of course, is an insignificant number. Some children with disabilities study at home, some in specialized boarding schools, but not all 65,000 children are enrolled in education. In fact, about 30 thousand of these children are involved in studies.

Another important point is the training of disabled teenagers in higher education institutions. Higher educational institutions in Baku and regions are not adapted for inclusive education. Therefore, among university students, it is extremely rare to find a wheelchair student, or blind, hearing-impaired students. For them special auditoriums equipped with special equipment should be created. Rectors of universities do not go to such expenses.

Creation of a barrier-free environment, both in training, vocational training, and ensuring free movement of disabled in Azerbaijan is still a big dream. This set of measures implies the technical equipping of educational and administrative buildings, the development of special training courses for teachers and other students aimed at developing their interaction with people with disabilities. All this requires funds, which for some reason do not exist in the budget.