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Human Rights in Ukraine - 2005: XVIII. Observance of the Rights of People with Impaired Physical Possibilities

19.06.2006   

1. GENERAL OVERVIEW

Social support for people with physical and mental impairments is seen as one of the humanitarian tasks for all countries of the international community, and is reflected in the most important international legal documents.

According to UN figures there are approximate 450 million people in the world today with impaired mental or physical development, this being close to 1/10 of the world population. In Ukraine, as indeed throughout the world, the number of people with physical disabilities is rising. In 2005 the figure reached 3 million.

Disability caused by impairments in development result in serious limitations in people’s everyday lives, and can lead to social difficulties, complicate the process of looking after themselves, education and gaining professional skills. Ensuring that disabled people gain social experience and are included in the existing system of social relations requires additional effort from society, means and measures (the drawing up of special programs and creation of rehabilitation centres, the adaptation of educational facilities to the needs of young disabled people, etc).

During Ukraine’s period of economic and social transformation, the attitude of the state and of society to children with disabilities is changing, and new ways are being sought of integrating these children into society. In his studies, the psychologist A. G. Asmolov suggests that our society is at the very beginning of a long path of transition from a culture of self-interest to a culture of dignity. In a culture based on dignity, the key value is that of the individual, whether or not any personal gain can be gleaned from this individual.

At the state level a fair number of normative legal acts aimed at improving the standard of living of people with physical impairments have been adopted. For example, in 2005, the following Laws were passed:

-  “On introducing amendments to some legislative acts of Ukraine regarding vocational rehabilitation and employment of disabled people” from 1 December 2005;

“On the rehabilitation of disabled people in Ukraine from 6 October 2005”;

“On introducing amendments to some laws of Ukraine in connection with the passing of the Law of Ukraine “On state social assistance to individuals without the right to a pension, and those who are disabled” from 31 May 2005;

““On introducing amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the basic principles of social protection for the disabled in Ukraine” from 31 May 2005;

“On introducing amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On state social assistance to those who have been disabled since childhood and children with disabilities” from 3 March 2005;

as well as many other laws on ensuring the rights of people with physical disabilities.

2.   DISABILITY PENSIONS

The procedure involved in organizing a pension for people with disability status is extremely complicated for any person, let alone for people with disabilities who often lack a sufficiently high level of education.  Such a complicated system is hardly warranted either from the point of view of the needs of the individuals involved, or in terms of convenience in applying such legislation by executive bodies.

It would seem that the legislators did not have an integrated and systematic concept for social provisions for people with disabilities, and therefore in piecemeal fashion from time to time establish legal norms on isolated issues. Even an experienced lawyer would have difficulty in wading through the dozens of subordinate legislative acts..

Unfortunately, at the present time the main means of existence for people with disabilities remains pensions, and various forms of assistance, rather than their own work. Taking this aspect into account, the state should increase such pensions to a level where they are at least possible to live on. The state however, at present, is not fulfilling its duties in this area, although one should acknowledge that there has been significant progress in the raising of these pensions over the last three years.

In accordance with Article 33 of the Law of Ukraine “On mandatory state social insurance”, disability pensions are assigned, depending on the disability category in the following proportions: first group disability status – 100%, second group – 90% and third group – 50% of the old age pension for the period of the disability status.

In order to improve the level of social protection for disabled people and to provide them with the option if they so choose of having their disability pension assigned at the level of the old age pension, on 4 November 2004 the Verkhovna Rada adopted the Law of Ukraine “On introducing amendments to Article 30 of the Law of Ukraine “On mandatory state social insurance” № 2153-IV (in effect from 24.11.04).  The Law stipulates that where disabled people in disability status groups II and III are not working, but have, in the case of men – 25 years of social security payments, and in the case of women – 20 years, they can choose to have their disability pension assigned at the level of the old age pension, calculated in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On statutory social security”.  This norm was extended to cover disabled people who began receiving a pension before the Law came into effect.

In addition, on 3 November 2005 the Verkhovna Rada passed the Law of Ukraine “On introducing amendments to Article 32 of the Law of Ukraine “On mandatory state social insurance”, which allows for the granting of the right to a disability pension given the required period of social security payments at the time when the disability began, or when the application for a pension was made. This norms consolidates disabled people’s social protection since after becoming disabled, the person may still increase their period of social security payments, and later have a pension assigned in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On mandatory state social insurance”

As of 1 October 2005, the average size of the disability pension was 347.89 UH, which was 51.47 UH more than at the beginning of the year. The average size of pensions for the same period of time being 318.01 UH, an increase of 266.23 UH.

The Law of Ukraine “On state social assistance to individuals without the right to a pension, and those who are disabled” came into effect on 1 January 2005. In accordance with this Law, state social assistance is allocated to some categories of citizens who are not entitled to a pension on the basis of the Law of Ukraine “On mandatory state social insurance”, including individuals from the categories of disability status (those in the first group – 100% of the minimum subsistence level for people who are unable to work, those in the second group – 80%, and in the third group – 60%).  In addition, the same Law allows for low-income disabled people on their own from groups II and III, who in the opinion of a medical consultation commission need a carer, to be assigned, on top of their pension, state social assistance for such care ranging from 15 to 50% of the minimum subsistence level  for people who are unable to work”

The Law of Ukraine “On the Ukrainian State Budget for 2005” establishes the minimum subsistence level (the guaranteed minimum) for assigning assistance in accordance with the Law  “On state social assistance to individuals without the right to a pension, and those who are disabled” from 1 January 2005 for those able to work at 80 UH, people unable to work – 120 UH, and people with disabilities 130 UH, then from 1 April 2005 for people able to work the figure used to 100 UH, for those unable to work – 140 UH and for those with disabilities – 150 UH. This level was established also for assigning in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On state social assistance to low-income families”.

As well as pensions, Ukrainian legislation sets down a number of other social benefits. It seems to us, however, that such a system is too complex and not needed. It would be more sensible to establish particular factors as grounds for raising the pension. One argument for this is that the benefits mentioned can be changed virtually by hand, especially when the state budget is being considered. If it was all a definite pension, then the social payments for those with disabilities would be much better protected.

Another law regulating issue around assigning state social assistance instead of a pension to certain types of disabled people is the Law of Ukraine “On state social assistance to those who have been disabled since childhood and children with disabilities”. In accordance with this Law, the amounts of such assistance are determined as follows: Those who have had group 1 disability status from childhood – 100% of the minimum subsistence level for people who are unable to work, those with group II disability from childhood – 70%, while those in group III are entitled to 50%.  Disabled children up to the age of 18 are allocated 70%.  The Law also allows for supplementary payments to be allocated for carers of a person with group 1 disability status from childhood (50% of the minimum subsistence level), for a disabled children up to the age of 6 (50% of the minimum subsistence level for children up to that age) and for children from 6 to 18 also 50%, but of the minimum for children between those ages. The supplements for care, except in the case of those with group 1 disability status from childhood and solo mothers (fathers), of a child with disabilities may be allocated to one of the parents, adoptive parents, guardian or carer who are not otherwise employed and are effectively providing such care for conditions equal to that of the average monthly entire income for a family bringing up a child with disabilities (without taking supplements for care into account) has not over the previous six months exceeded the minimum subsistence level for a family.

At present the monthly size of state social assistance for people with disabilities in accordance with the Law “On state social assistance to those who have been disabled since childhood and children with disabilities” is as follows: those with group 1 disability status from childhood, including supplements for a carer – 543.5 UH (in the second quarter of 2005 this was 516 UH, in the third quarter – 522 UH);  : those with group II disability status from childhood, including supplements for a carer – 232,4 UH (in the second quarter of 2005 – 219,1 UH while in the third quarter – 223,1 UH); : those with group III disability status from childhood, including supplements for a carer – 166 UH (in the second quarter of 2005 – 156,5 UH while in the third quarter – 159,5 UH);  disabled children (depending on age and with extra benefits for care taken into account) – from 420 to 466 UH  (in the second quarter of 2005 – from 400 to 449, and in the third quarter – from 404 to 453 UH).  The size of state social assistance without the supplement was from 1 October 2005 232,4 UH (with the figure in the second quarter of 2005 having been 219,1 UH and in the third – 223,1 UH).

In accordance with Article 59 of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2005, from 1 April 2005, the Pension Fund of Ukraine using state funding has been paying people with disabilities from childhood, as well as disabled children, the shortfall in the amount of state social assistance to those with disabilities from childhood and children with disabilities, established on the basis of that Article, with the state pension (social pension). By 1 October 2005 80,938 people with disabilities from childhood and children with disabilities had received this difference.

During the year various types of social benefits to those who care for disabled people were added to the existing benefits assigned on the basis of the Rules and Procedure.  The latter allocate monthly financial assistance to a person on a low income living together with a disabled person with Group I or II disability status as a result of mental impairments who, according to a committee of doctors from a medical institution, needs a carer. Payment for this care had been approved by Resolution No. 1192 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine from 02.08.2000, and by Point 2 of Resolution No. 832 of the Cabinet of Ministers from 26.07.1996 “On increasing the amount of state assistance to certain categories of citizens”.  Compensation has now been introduced for individuals who provide social services, with the rules for assigning and paying this approved by Resolution No. 558 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine from 29.04.2004.  Compensation is assigned on the basis of the minimum subsistence level as follows: 15 percent for individuals providing social services to people with group I disability status; 10 percent – for those providing analogous help to those in group II, and 7 percent for those assisting people with group II disability status.

There remains also the not entirely explained position of the legislators which effectively differentiates between people born with a disability and those who became disabled at, for example, the age of 2. It is also not clear why there is assistance up to 18 since there is no normative justification for this. Yet all these factors influence the size of the pensions and benefits, and whether the relevant concessions are awarded.

It would seem highly expedient to simplify this system of social provisions. For a law-based state which must ensure that people do not die of hunger, minimum social standards need to be established for all people with disabilities, regardless of their age. In this it should be possible to take into consideration only whether a person is able to work or not. At the present time there are examples where a person, due to the existing system of differentiation, does not receive concessions or receives considerably less assistance despite having identical physical or mental disabilities.

3. Employment and social adaptation

As mentioned above, pensions and benefits remain at present the main means of existence for people with disabilities. Although it would be better for the people themselves, as well as for the state, if they could live off their own earnings.

In 2005 a kind of revolution took place on the employment market. Parliament passed amendments to a number of laws on compulsory employment of people with disabilities. A mandatory quota of people with disabilities exists in all business, in institutions and organizations regardless of the form of property, this coming into effect as soon as there are more than eight members of staff.

In accordance with Article 19 of the Law of Ukraine “On the basic principles of social protection of disabled people in Ukraine”, business enterprises (associations), institutions and organizations, regardless of their form of ownership and economic management, are obliged to provide jobs for people with disabilities, with the number of such places constituting four percent of the general number of members of staff in the year, and one working place if there are between 8 and 25 members of staff

Article 188-1 § 2 of the Ukrainian Code of Administrative Offences imposes administrative liability for the infringement of these norms or for not providing information in the form of a fine from ten to twenty times the minimum monthly wage before tax.

At the same time one should also note that in the current year the Verkhovna Rada supported the initiative of the Cabinet of Ministers in introducing amendments to Article 19 of the Law of Ukraine “On the basic principles of social protection of disabled people in Ukraine”. These amendments ensure that the rules for providing jobs for people with disabilities are stipulated exclusively in accordance with the Law “On the basic principles of social protection of disabled people in Ukraine”.  If any other laws establish quotas for providing such jobs for the disabled which differ from that law, they shall not be applied  In addition, Article 20 of the Law was supplemented with a part stipulating that the infringement of payment time limits on fines shall result in penalties accruing on the amount owned in payment of the fine comprising 120 percent of the annual rate of the National Bank of Ukraine for each calendar day that the payment is delayed, including the day on which it should have been paid.

From January to September 2005, 7.9 thousand people with disabilities used the services of the state employment service (the figure for the same period in 2004 was 6.6 thousand).  With the assistance of the state employment service, more than 3,1 thousand were able to find work (the figure for the same period the previous year was 2,7 thousand).  1983 people were found jobs under the official norms for providing places for people with limited opportunities which was 1,5 times higher than during the same months in the previous year.

On average throughout Ukraine every third person with disabilities found work, with the number in the Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Ternopil regions reaching two thirds, and in the Ivano-Frankivsk region over 80% of those people with limited mobility who approached the state employment office found jobs. In the database of vacancies as of 1 October 2005 there were almost 9 thousand vacancies and positions for disabled people. In 2004 8,3 thousand people with the same needs approached the state employment service, of whom 3,6 were helped to find work, this being 10,6 percent more than in 2003.

The majority of created work places were for the records[1]

The Social Protection Fund for the Disabled during 2004 and the first half of 2005 failed to adequately implement the budgetary program “Social, vocational and professional rehabilitation of people with disabilities”, and to effectively manage budgetary funds allocated for this purpose.  This led to a shortfall in income to the state budget of 34 million UH, losses through inefficiency of 32.9 million UH, and through infringements of current legislation – 5,3 million UH. This was the conclusion reached by the Board of the Accounting Chamber after reviewing the “Report on the results of the audit of the formation and use by the Social Protection Fund for the Disabled of state budgetary funding allocated for the rehabilitation of people with disabilities”. 

The check showed that the Ministry of Labour and the Fund had not fully carried out the tasks set down in the National Program for the Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of People with Limited mobility for 2001 – 2005, as regards creating jobs for that category of citizens, as well as through the creation of a single database of information on disability issues.

The fact that different bodies within the Ministry of Labour had their own lists of disabled people seeking work, and the lack of the above-mentioned database makes it impossible to either undertake any well-justified planning of expenditure for this purpose, or to properly monitor problems of professional rehabilitation and employment of people with disabilities.

The auditors found that the planning for spending on the rehabilitation of people with disabilities in 2004 – 2005 was unjustified, and based on underestimated amounts of income from fines received from businesses not observing regulations on creating jobs for the disabled, and on an unchanging number of people with disabilities in need of professional rehabilitation and hoping to find work.  This unchanged figure significantly exceeded the actual numbers registered by the Ministry of Labour and was not linked to the plan for creating jobs drawn up by the Fund for Implementation of the National Program.

From 2001 – 2004, and in the first half of 2005 8.7 thousand new jobs were created for people with disabilities (69,5 % of the number of jobs envisaged in the National Program).

The lack of allowance made by the Fund when distributing funding between its departments of the number of people with disabilities living in a given area causes substantial disproportion in the amounts of funding allocated to regions, and does not ensure that people with disabilities receive equal opportunities for exercising the state-guaranteed right to social protection, regardless of where they live. As a consequence, in 2004, with an average spending on each disabled person of 65.3 UH, the figures for specific regions ranged from 6,8 UH (the Volyn region) to 264,9 UH (Kyiv). 

The auditors concluded that the current system for creating jobs for people with disabilities through either financial assistance not needing to be paid back or purpose-linked loans was inadequate, with the mechanism assigned by the Fund for issuing such loans effectively leading to the wasting of budgetary funds and their ineffective use which did not resolve the employment problems of people with disabilities. As a result, the majority of jobs for the disabled created were for the records, since they were not certified, and required unqualified or hard physical work involving people who were either not able to undertake it, or else elderly disabled people (from 60 to 80) not able to work, or they were of a temporary nature and badly-paid. A third (18 million UH) of the overall amount of loans issued over the last ten years could be written off, while an analysis of the financial position of borrowers whose repayment had not yet due (25.8 million UH) suggested that these loans would also not be repaid.

- Introducing new mechanisms for encouraging businesses to create jobs for disabled people and organizing home-based jobs instead of frittering away funds in 16 different directions which largely have only an indirect relation to the rehabilitation of people with disabilities would make it possible, using the present financial base, or fully meeting the employment needs of people with disabilities and would avoid the ineffective use of budgetary funding – Valentin Symonenko said in summary when addressing the Board of the Accounting Chamber.

The results of the Board of the Accounting Chamber Review were passed on to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Cabinet of Ministers.

The conclusion was sent to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine, the Social Protection Fund for the Disabled for them to take measures to rectify the problems identified.

Press-Service of the Accounting Chamber

Creating mechanisms for the social adaptation of people with disabilities is an important aspect in guaranteeing their rights. The first and foremost task is removing obstacles and barriers for their movement and travel.  This however also involves the development of networks of social rehabilitation and adaptation, access to professional training, the provision of housing and various social services. Unfortunately these issues, if partially resolved in Ukraine, then largely in regional centres or big cities. In small towns and especially in rural areas people with disabilities receive virtually no state attention.

On 1 June 2005 President Yushchenko signed Decree No. 900 “On priority measures for creating favourable conditions for living a normal life of people with limited mobility”. In accordance with this Decree, by 1 November the necessary conditions were supposed to be created to ensure that people with limited mobility had access to buildings and premises of central state executive bodies.

In order to follow progress in the regions on implementing the Program to ensure barrier free access for people with limited mobility to residential or public buildings, passed by Resolution No. 863 of the Cabinet of Ministers from 4 June 2003, the Ministry of Labour introduced permanent monitoring. In 5 regions particular programs for securing unhampered access did not exist at all, however regional measures had been passed on removing barriers. In some regions of Ukraine (the Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Odessa, Transcarpathian, Ivano-Frankivsk, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, and Chernivtsi regions) not only regional, but also city (in cities under the given region’s control) and district programs had been passed. However no such program and measures have yet been drawn up for the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea.  In almost all except the Kyiv, Kherson and Chernivtsi regions, as well as in Kyiv itself, representatives of regional employment and social protection agencies are on commissions for approving completed buildings and for reconstructing social purpose premises.

On the instruction of the Ministry of Employment, the vast majority of regional employment and social protection agencies took part in an inspection of social infrastructure institutions and offices. This resulted in a list of buildings requiring urgent adaptation to meet the needs of people with disabilities. This work has not yet been carried out in the Luhansk, Kharkiv and Ternopil regions, or in Kyiv.

In 2005 certain positive trends were seen in the regions, these involving measures directed at ensuring unimpeded access for people with limited mobility to residential or public buildings. In planning new residential or public buildings and facilities, and when carrying out reconstruction work to existing buildings, architectural planning must now take into consideration the need for a “barrier free”  architectural environment.  One will not receive building permission if these requirements have not been met.

At the same time, due to the lack of appropriate funding from local budgets, work is progressing very slowly on readapting existing residential buildings and public service premises, with the owners of these buildings having to contribute to the cost. Nor have the local bodies in all populated areas drawn up lists of buildings which need work done on providing means of access.  The appropriate efforts are not being made to involve civic organizations of people with disabilities in this process by creating “accessibility committees” at local level, as is envisaged by the Program.

In all during the year under review, work in the regions was carried out on adding supplementary facilities to 5596 social infrastructure premises. An overall figure of 4,5 million UH was allocated for this from regional and local budgets.

Even in the Kyiv metro there are virtually no stations which have special lifts for people with disabilities. At the recently built station there are such facilities, however they don’t work.

On 27 December 2005 President Yushchenko signed Decree No. 1845 “On measures for creating favourable conditions to ensure the social, medical and vocational rehabilitation of people with disabilities” which highlighted implementation of state policy on the rehabilitation of disabled people as one of the priorities for the state executive.

In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers in 2005, on the submission of the Ministry of Employment, passed the following resolutions:

-  No. 1060 from 5 November 2005: “On approving Rules and Procedure for spending funds from the state budget on purchasing accommodation for people with limited vision or hearing”;

-  № 966 from 24 September 2005: “On approving Rules and Procedure for spending funds from the state budget on installing telephones for people with Groups I and II disability”;

-  № 836 from 31 August 2005: “On approving Rules and Procedure for spending funds from the state budget on providing single payments of material assistance to people with disabilities;

-  № 577 from 13 July 2005 “On approving Rules and Procedure for spending funds from the state budget on providing financial support to nationwide civic organizations for the disabled and for war veterans”

However the vast majority of people with disabilities do not even know that they can receive housing with certain concessions despite the fact that already in 2005 some people did actually receive such housing 

At the same time, taking into consideration the experience of civic organizations for the disabled, in April 2005 the Ministry of Labour passed Order No. 114 “On creating working groups of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy”. This Order approved the members of four working groups (on financial support for civic organizations for the disabled; on improving current legislation; on enhancing the work of the Social Protection Fund for the Disabled; on interaction between regional executive bodies and civic organizations for the disabled). Under the Ministry a Public Board was also established with the aim of involving the public in the process of forming and implementing state policy in the social sphere.

There are substantial problems also in the area of medical services, in particular, the amount of free medical assistance and medicines. In general one can say that state support for people with physical impairments is not at the level it should be. This is how it was described by the Accounting Chamber in a response to a formal request for information from the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group:

“Documentation from the checks made on the use in 2003 and in the first half of 2004 of state budgetary funding intended for providing people with disabilities with compensation for petrol, repairs, technical servicing of cars and transportation services, as well as for installing telephones for people with groups I and II disability status, showed that the level of state support for the disabled as regards providing particular concessions and compensation was low.

Over nine months the amounts in compensation payments remained unchanged despite an increase in the price of fuel resulting in a decrease in the real amount of compensation for spending on petrol, repairs and car servicing at the beginning of 2004 in comparison with 1996 by 3.3 times and for transportation services by 2.7 times, this significantly worsening the level of social protection of people with disabilities. Unwarranted and irrational planning for spending on payment to people with disabilities of compensation for petrol, repairs, technical servicing of cars and transportation services led to the majority of these people receiving them with a delay of between one and seven months.

In 2003 and in the first half of 2004 compensation was not paid on time to 94.8 and 71.9 percent, respectively, of people with disabilities, while telephones were not installed on time over the entire period to 3.5 percent of those entitled to them. 4.5 million UH of budgetary funding was used inefficiently, and 7.4 million UH was used with infringements of current legislation, the losses to the state budget came to 1.4 million UH.

An audit into the use of state funding in 2004 to pay compensation and benefits to families with children who suffered as a result of the Chernobyl Disaster established that the present system of payment of compensation and benefits to families with children and food payments to citizens who suffered as a result of the accident at Chernobyl, does not comply with the Law of Ukraine “On the status and social protection of citizens who suffered as a result of the Chernobyl Disaster” and does not provide this part of the population with timely and full enjoyment of their constitutional right to social protection. The amounts of benefits and compensation for this category of citizens passed in Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in 1996 and 1997, despite rising prices, has not been reviewed once, this being a violation of Article 67 of the said Law. While various types of benefits have lost their social significance and expediency, and constitute from 1.6 to 2.6 UH per month”

4. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

At the present time in Ukraine certain issues remain unresolved for people with disabilities, making it impossible for them to feel like fully-valued members of our society.

1.  The lack of the needed number of special (corrective) rehabilitation institutions and qualified personnel means that children with disabilities are unable to receive the educational and rehabilitation services that they need (in Ukraine at present 152.2 thousand children are registered as having various physical or mental impairments).

2.  After undergoing a rehabilitation course in the Centres (with these Centres predominantly for those up to the age of 21) children and young people with serious physical or mental impairments are forced to stay at home all the time due to the lack at state level of social services for people with disabilities. Civic organizations are not able to provide these services due to lack of constant financing and because of difficulties in receiving the necessary licence.

3.  The irresponsible attitude of officials to people with disabilities and to their families results in these officials not fulfilling their duties.

4.  The lack of specialists – lawyers, psychologists, speech and other therapists, social educators and social workers with specific training for working with people with these difficulties, as well as of the appropriate rehabilitation institutions in district towns and villages make it impossible for those with disabilities in rural areas and small towns to receive social services where they live.

5.  There is no centralized network of transportation services for people in wheelchairs or with limited mobility, and this traps them in their homes, considerably hindering their studies, work and ability to lead an active life.

6.  There are also no adapters in a system of telephone networks for people with serious speech impediments who cannot use telephone connections.

7.  Cooperation and mutual understanding on issues of protection and safeguarding of the rights and needs of people with physical disabilities are lacking between the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry on the Family, Young People and Sport, as well as the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and this prevents children and young people with disabilities from being able to receive the education they need while living at home.

8.  The rights of access to information of people with vision or hearing impairments are infringed: the number of broadcasts with sign language is limited, and there are virtually no newspapers or journalists with pages in Braille.  In general libraries it is effectively impossible for people with such difficulties to obtain information.

9.  The secrecy of the ballot box is infringed during elections in the case of totally blind people since the majority of them cannot use special ballot papers, and whether their vote is cast as they wish depends on the conscience of the person accompanying them.

10.  Many violations are observed when it comes to determining that people with mental impairments are not able to look after themselves and to assigning guardians due to shortcomings in the Civil Code on these issues, as well as on the lack of control over such guardians.

11.  Employers are ready to pay people with disabilities a “salary” simply in order to not have to create jobs for them.

The following trends can be observed among people with disabilities in Ukraine:

1.  a low level of awareness about their own rights and those of their families;

2.  a user mentality among the majority of people with disabilities and of members of their families when it comes to the activities of state and civic organizations;

3  a lack of communication between children and young people with disabilities, and their families due to their living in rural areas;

4  a negative attitude among the public to families with members who have disabilities;

5  disillusionment with life;

6  the inability to assert and defend their rights in state structures at different levels.

From the above-mentioned problems one can conclude that people with disabilities and members of their families are restricted not only physically (it being difficult to reach the institutions required), but also in terms of information (with no wide access available to the needed information). The main problem is that

people with disabilities and their families are not sufficiently aware of their rights. We consider, therefore, that in order to resolve the problems of this group of the population, educational work is needed first and foremost aimed both at wider information and education not only of those with disabilities, but of society as a whole.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1  to work towards developing a positive opinion and attitude towards people with disabilities within the community;

2  to promote more active work from existing state and public services with a social direction, as well as openness and transparency in their activities;

3  to ensure that “disability pensions” are not viewed as the main means of existence for people with disabilities. People with all types of disabilities, and all categories of disability status regardless of their pension entitlements, should have the opportunity to work and to find self-fulfilment in society. The system of pensions should be significantly simplified and should not depend on a law being passed on the state budget;

4  to create and give comprehensive support to civic organizations and voluntary services;

5  to create barrier free access;

6  to introduce amendments to legislative acts which regulate the designation of disability status. The designation should be made on the basis of the state of health and the physical or mental impairment, and not on the level of adaptation or difficulties in adaptation of the given person, and should be designated in many cases for life or at least for many years, and not be reviewed every year;

7  to gradually change the direction of special education from institution-based to studying where one lives through classes attached or fully integrated into educational institutions at all levels;

7  to encourage the mass media to produce their publications and broadcasts taking into consideration people with vision or sight impairments.

8  to establish by law positions of social worker – lawyer or official representative as an effective means of protecting people declared unable to look after themselves who have been assigned a guardian or carer;

9  to base the work of state authorites and local authorities on providing for the needs and observing the rights of people with disabilities on the principle: “Don’t do things for us without us”. There should be more active involvement of people with disabilities in resolving their own problems at all levels of power.

The number of people with disabilities who had received assistance as of 26 December 2005

No.

Region

KPKV 2507040 "Compensation payments to people with disabilities for petrol, technical servicing and transportation services” for 2006

 KPKV 2507050 "Sanatorium-resort health restoration” for 2006

KPKV 2507060 "Installation of telephones for or people with groups I and II disability status

KPKV 2507070 " single payments of material assistance to people with disabilities for 2006

Total from all the programs

for petrol for cars: no. of people

for petrol for motorized wheelchairs: no. of people

for transportation services: no. of people

Total

Individuals with group I and II disability status

Individuals with group III disability status

Total

Number of disabled people

Number of disabled people

1

AR Crimea

3 146

37

4 659

7 842

7 257

1306

8 563

1725

12977

31 107

2

 Vinnytsa

3 824

38

2 243

6 105

6 328

593

6 921

2216

8544

23 786

3

Volyn

1 087

14

690

1 791

1 990

424

2 414

555

4017

8 777

4

Dnipropetrovsk

3 439

51

1 232

4 722

4 721

554

5 275

1515

1491

13 003

5

Donetsk

4 195

70

1 916

6 181

10 592

2392

12 984

2220

5000

26 385

6

Zhytomyr

1 972

24

1 442

3 438

2 236

165

2 401

499

13500

19 838

7

Transcarpathian

892

22

383

1 297

808

209

1 017

790

3729

6 833

8

Zaporizhye

2 487

46

783

3 316

5 090

485

5 575

479

21102

30 472

9

Ivano-Frankivsk.

1 191

28

333

1 552

487

94

581

1128

8317

11 578

10

Kyiv

2 802

27

1 617

4 446

4 251

375

4 626

457

16266

25 795

11

Kirovohrad.

1 693

28

509

2 230

2 570

202

2 772

350

5011

10 363

12

Luhansk

2 836

63

771

3 670

6 273

980

7 253

1150

11055

23 128

13

Lviv

2 175

25

257

2 457

2 524

422

2 946

1836

28166

35 405

14

 Mykolaiv

762

6

348

1 116

2 680

265

2 945

655

18773

23 489

15

Odessa

1 918

12

1 550

3 480

6 750

380

7 130

785

26426

37 821

16

 Poltava

2 199

15

938

3 152

5 495

704

6 199

826

7872

18 049

17

 Rivne

923

15

584

1 522

1 172

272

1 444

458

24138

27 562

18

Sumy

1 339

27

715

2 081

5 776

735

6 511

718

8295

17 605

19

Ternopil

927

8

306

1 241

1 711

362

2 073

471

14229

18 014

20

Kharkiv

3 660

129

2 744

6 533

9 257

768

10 025

1600

25667

43 825

21

Kherson

1 250

16

423

1 689

2 670

340

3 010

615

29031

34 345

22

 Khmelnytsky

1 741

32

1 035

2 808

3 857

308

4 165

660

26848

34 481

23

Cherkasy

2 297

47

1 700

4 044

3 556

540

4 096

710

22695

31 545

24

Chernivtsi

922

8

278

1 208

3 001

412

3 413

420

2811

7 852

25

 Chernihiv

1 932

29

999

2 960

6 494

711

7 205

934

10400

21 499

26

the city of Kyiv

2 861

2

1 802

4 665

6 259

769

7 028

1000

8000

20 693

27

the city of Sevastopol

246

1

200

447

521

61

582

230

1467

2 726

In total

54 716

820

30 457

85 993

114 326

14 828

129 154

25 002

365 827

605 976


 



[1]  Reviewed by the Board of the Accounting Chamber on 22 November 2005. Available on the Internet at: http://ac-rada.gov.ua

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