table of contents - home page - text-only home page A Million Problems for A Million People By Nina Kostretsova Moscow Evening, December 8, 2000 Those who passed by Pushkin Square yesterday saw what at first seemed like a familiar sight - demonstrators dressed as Santa Clauses and Snowmaidens, wearing fur coats and hats, just as they should. But one Santa was in a wheelchair, and one was an amputee. In fact, none of the demonstrators quite fit the "fairy-tale norm." These demonstrators were 30 members of disability organizations trying to attract support for their cause. "Disabled people in our country cannot go out on the steet; they cannot go to museums or stores; they cannot go to the school of their choice," says Valentina Lupanova, who heads the project "Disabled youth for equal rights and opportunities." This project is designed to force the government to turn their attention to these problems. In Moscow there are an estimated one million disabled people, most of whom are more or less "imprisoned" in their apartments. Visually impaired people cannot cross the street without assistance. Wheelchair users cannot enter the Metro because they cannot use escalators. Buses and trams are equally inaccessible to wheelchair users. Those without their own cars can take a taxi, of course, but this an expensive luxury, moreover as the monthly pension of a disabled person is about 1000 rubles (35 US dollars). Our commentary: not long ago Russia's vice-primier Valentina Matvienko announced that the government is preparing a program of support for organizations of disabled people. Next year the funding for the Law on Disabled People will be increased by a factor of three - to 15 trillion rubles (600 million dollars). Introduction| Article 1 | Article 2| Article 3| Article 4 table of contents- home page - text-only home page