Blagica Dimitrovska from Inkluziva, at the panel discussion “Ramp – (un)acceptance of people with disabilities” said that it is difficult to explain to people about the difficulties these people face, because they cannot be seen or noticed. In the past several election cycles, they monitored the elections, during which they had noticed that most of the polling stations don’t have access for people with disabilities to be able to reach the ballot box.

“The disability is not within the people, not within the people with disabilities, but in the surrounding… I will start with the first challenge when the disability occurs, which does not occur only at birth, but also later in life, and we are all potential beneficiaries of disability, with the aging of the body, especially the vision, hearing, ability to move. It bothers me when they say that a privilege is made, only for persons with disabilities, which actually the state authorities and local governments should know that they are doing for them, for the citizens and for the future generations”, stressed Dimitrovska.

Dimitrovska also reflected on the labeling and stereotypes in the education, instead of inclusiveness, which is something new with the changing of the Law on primary education. Also, she outlined the physical access for people with disabilities in educational facilities.

“The last election monitoring of the presidential elections showed that 76% of the voting facilities are physically inaccessible. We are all aware that voting takes place in educational institutions. This fact affects children and people with disabilities greatly. 48% of these facilities have ramps. But of these 48%, 80% of the ramps are not built according to standards for accessibility. Inside these facilities there are stairs, thresholds, narrow doors… Still, there are obstacles among the teaching staff. There is resistance towards this category. Children give the least resistance”, explains Dimitrovska.

Dimitrovska stressed that the education process and its inclusiveness also influence the further development and socialization of people with disabilities, especially when it comes to employment, and also greatly influences the political process.

“In order for someone to be an MP, mayor, advisor, they need to be educated. That is why we consider that the state should now invest the most in education. And I don’t want to hear the words people with disabilities, people with special needs – they are citizens with the same rights. On this day I would like to support all people, associations working on this issue, because we still see that in the eyes of the institutions, the municipalities, they see us as rivals. No, we are not an extended arm. Our hand is extended for the inclusion of this category of citizens equally as others, without labelling”, said Dimitrovska.

The panel discussion “Ramp” included the participation of the Mayor of the City of Skopje, Petre Silegov, Sandra Pesevska Dimitrovska, activist for rights of people with disabilities, Vangel Trkaljanov and Dusan Tomsic from the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and Xhabir Deralla, CIVIL.

text editing: B. Jordanovska

camera: Atanas Petrovski

editing: Arian Mehmeti

photography: Kiril Mihailov 

Translation: Natasa Cvetkovska