Rustem Khamitov: We can and have to revise our attitude to people with disabilities

The problems of people with disabilities were under discussion yesterday. The President of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov has held a meeting with the heads of invalids’ public organizations in the Republic House on Thursday, October 14, and problems of their employment, education, social adaptation, rehabilitation and integration were raised there.

The head of the region has mentioned they have to revise the attitude to the people with disabilities, forming favorable environment for such category of citizens in our society. “I think we can and have to do it” – Rustem Khamitov underscored.

Employment remains one of the key problems for such people.

“The Soviet Union possessed the system of invalids’ rehabilitation, the specialized boarding school, the specialized enterprise of the all-Russian Blinds’ Society and the college, which trained the masseurs” – the chairman of the Bashkir division of the all-Russian Public Blinds’ Society Uri Akshentsov said – “At present time the production base of the society is found in a half-ruined state. After finishing the special school the blinds in Ufa can enter only the Bashkir medical college, which trains the future masseurs, and other chances are simply absent. We’d like to have a training center in the Republic, supplied with the special equipment for blind people and people with poor eyesight”.

The chairman of the Bashkir division of the all-Russian public society of invalids Rinat Manurov has mentioned that for today this organization unites 22678 people. Only 15 of earlier active 192 enterprises before 2002 are left for today and in his opinion it is explained by the abolition of the tax concessions. Today only 180 able-bodied people with disabilities of two thousand and more have jobs.

“We understand the returning of the tax concessions is impossible but we’d like to find another mechanism and if taking about our enterprises, I think it would be enough to have stable public contracts even at the municipal level” – Manurov said.

Summing up the results of the meeting Rustem Khamitov has promised the authority will pay closer attention to the problem of state support for the people with disabilities. “Such meetings should become regular and this is just a beginning of a serious work” - he mentioned.