If people with disabilities. Start in science

People with disabilities constitute a special social group of the population, heterogeneous in composition and differentiated by age, gender and social status, occupying a significant place in the socio-demographic structure of society. A feature of this social group is the inability to independently realize their constitutional rights to health care, rehabilitation, work and independent life. Despite the equal rights guaranteed by the Constitution to all people of Russia, the possibility of realizing these rights is limited to people with disabilities.

The implementation of rights guaranteed by the state and the satisfaction of basic needs, as well as the further inclusion of people with disabilities into society, are carried out by the family, school, medical and rehabilitation institutions, and society as a whole.

In connection with socio-economic transformations and the transition to market relations in all spheres of life of Russian society, there is a worsening of old ones and the emergence of new ones. social problems problems associated with the socialization of children with disabilities, the solution of which requires new differentiated approaches that take into account the specifics of this population group, especially in the regions. Political, economic, sociocultural transformations in Russia have led to an aggravation of demographic situation, deterioration ecological environment, stratification of the population by income level and quality of life, transition to paid medical and educational services, devaluation of the family as a social institution, increase in the number of single-parent families, increase in the number of street children and disabled children, marginalization of the population, change moral standards and values ​​in society. All these circumstances contribute to the emergence of many social problems for children with disabilities.

The main social problems of people with disabilities are barriers to the exercise of their rights to health care and social adaptation, education, and employment. The transition to paid medical services, paid education, the unadaptability of the architectural and construction environment to the special needs of people with disabilities in public infrastructure buildings (hospitals, schools, secondary and higher educational institutions), state funding of the social sphere on a residual basis complicate the processes of socialization and their inclusion in society.

A particularly significant social problem for people with disabilities is the lack of special laws and regulations establishing the responsibility of public authorities and management, officials institutions and organizations for the realization of the rights of disabled children to health care and social rehabilitation and independent existence. The solution to social problems of people with disabilities related to their inclusion in society can only be comprehensive, with the participation of government bodies social protection population, economy, healthcare, culture, education, transport, construction and architecture, as well as in the development of a unified, holistic system of social rehabilitation. With the integrated interaction of various departments of the rehabilitation center, it is possible to achieve such a level of adaptation of people with disabilities that they will be able to work in the future and make their contribution to the development of the country’s economy.

Specialists working with people with disabilities have identified the following problems (barriers faced by a family with a disabled child and the child himself in our country):

• 1) social, territorial and economic dependence of a disabled person on parents and guardians;
• 2) at the birth of a child with peculiarities of psychophysiological development, the family either breaks up or takes intense care of the child, preventing him from developing;
• 3) the weak professional training of such children is highlighted;
• 4) difficulties when moving around the city (there are no conditions for movement in architectural structures, transport, etc.), which leads to isolation of the disabled person;
• 5) lack of sufficient legal support (imperfection legislative framework in relation to children with disabilities);
• 6) the formation of negative public opinion towards people with disabilities (the existence of the stereotype “a disabled person is useless”, etc.);
• 7) the lack of an information center and a network of comprehensive centers for socio-psychological rehabilitation, as well as the weakness of state policy.

Unfortunately, the barriers mentioned above are only small part problems that people with disabilities encounter on a daily basis.

So, disability is a limitation in capabilities caused by physical, psychological, sensory abnormalities. As a result, social, legislative and other barriers arise that do not allow a person with a disability to be integrated into society and take part in the life of the family or society on the same basis as other members of society. Society has a responsibility to adapt its standards to the special needs of people with disabilities so that they can live independent lives.

Pathological processes developing in persons with disabilities, on the one hand, destroy the integrity and natural functioning of the body, on the other hand, they cause mental inferiority complexes characterized by anxiety, loss of self-confidence, passivity, isolation or, conversely, egocentrism, aggressiveness, and sometimes and antisocial attitudes.

The most common deviations in the emotional-volitional sphere in persons with disabilities include:

• a) emotional lethargy,
• b) apathy,
• c) dependence on caregivers,
• d) low motivation for independent activities, including those aimed at correcting one’s own painful condition,
• e) low adaptive potential.

To some extent, these traits are components of the psychoorganic syndrome, and partly - a consequence of overprotection of a sick child in a socially prosperous family.

From point of view life situation, persons with disabilities are characterized by alienation, isolation from the life of society, dissatisfaction with their position, which is associated primarily with loneliness, with the problem of adapting to their position and the need to overcome psychological discomfort. It is difficult for them to find employment, participate in public life, and create their own family. Even disabled people who work (and who are not homeworkers) practically do not participate in the life of society; they often experience a wary and even hostile attitude towards themselves from the administration and healthy colleagues.

Family problems.

All families with a child with disabilities can be differentiated into four main groups.

The first group consists of parents with a pronounced expansion of the sphere of parental feelings. Their characteristic style of education is hyperprotection, when the child is the center of all life activities of the family, and therefore communication ties with the environment are deformed. Parents have inadequate ideas about the potential capabilities of their child; mothers have an exaggerated sense of anxiety and neuropsychic tension. The behavior style of adult family members, especially mothers and grandmothers, is characterized by an over-caring attitude towards the child, dairy regulation of the family’s lifestyle depending on the child’s well-being, and limitation of social contacts. This style of parenting has a negative impact on the formation of the child’s personality, which is manifested in egocentrism, increased dependence, lack of activity, and decreased self-esteem of the child.

The second group of families is characterized by a style of cold communication - hypoprotection, a decrease in the emotional contacts of parents with the child, a projection onto the child by both parents or one of them of their own undesirable qualities. Parents pay excessive attention to the child’s treatment, making excessive demands on medical personnel, trying to compensate for their own mental discomfort by emotionally rejecting the child. It is in such families that cases of hidden parental alcoholism are most common.

The third group of families is characterized by a style of cooperation - a constructive and flexible form of mutually responsible relations between parents and child in joint activities. In these families, there is a stable cognitive interest of parents in organizing the socio-pedagogical process, daily cooperation in choosing goals and programs for joint activities with the child, and encouraging children's independence. The parents of this group of families have the highest educational level. The style of such family education contributes to the development in the child of a sense of security, self-confidence, and the need to actively establish interpersonal relationships in the family and outside the home.

The fourth group of families has a repressive style of family communication, which is characterized by a parental orientation to an authoritarian leadership position (usually paternal). In these families, the child is required to strictly carry out all tasks and orders, without taking into account his intellectual capabilities. For refusal or failure to comply with these requirements, physical punishment is resorted to. With this style of behavior, children experience affective-aggressive behavior, tearfulness, irritability, and increased excitability. This further complicates their physical and mental condition.

An important indicator of people's health is the standard of living and social status of the family. The presence of a disabled child in the family can be considered as a factor not conducive to maintaining a complete family. At the same time, the loss of a father undoubtedly worsens not only the social status, but also the financial situation of the family and the child himself.

This clear trend of changes in the social structure of families indicates the need to strengthen social support for families with disabled children in order to strengthen such a family, to protect the vital interests of the family itself and all its members - adults and children.

Unfortunately, at present, support from society for a family with a disabled child is insufficient to preserve the family itself - the main support of children. The main economic and social problem of many families with disabled children is poverty. Opportunities for child development are very limited.

Material, financial, and housing problems increase with the appearance of a child with disabilities. Housing is usually not suitable for a disabled child, every 3rd family has about 6 m of usable space per family member, rarely a separate room or special devices for the child.

In such families, problems arise related to the purchase of food, clothing and shoes, the simplest furniture, and household appliances: a refrigerator, a TV. Families do not have what is absolutely necessary to care for a child: transport, summer cottages, garden plots, telephone.

Services for people with disabilities in such families are predominantly paid (treatment, expensive medicines, medical procedures, massage, tours sanatorium type, necessary devices and apparatus, training, surgical interventions, orthopedic shoes, glasses, hearing aids, wheelchairs, beds, etc.). All this requires great Money, and the income in these families consists of the father’s earnings and child disability benefits.

The father in a family with a sick child is the only breadwinner. Having a specialty and education, due to the need to earn more money, he becomes a worker, seeks secondary income and has practically no time to take care of his child.

The large-scale involvement of family members in the processes of caring for people with disabilities is associated with the undeveloped social infrastructure for serving people with disabilities, the lack of established practices of social patronage and pedagogical support, the imperfection of the social education system for people with disabilities, and the lack of a “barrier-free environment.” Treatment, care, education and rehabilitation of children occur with the direct participation of relatives and require a lot of time. In every second family, the unpaid work of mothers in caring for disabled children is equivalent in time to average duration working day (from 5 to 10 hours).

A special role in the forced release of mothers of disabled children from paid employment is played by the lack of mechanisms for implementing legislative norms regulating the rights of workers with disabled children. Labor benefits (part-time work with job retention, flexible working hours, frequent use sick leave for care or leave without pay) are used by less than 15% of workers. Restrictions on the provision of these benefits arise when they complicate the production process, organization of production, and lead to loss of profit for the enterprise.

The transition of mothers of disabled children to the status of housewives is also facilitated by the lack of special programs that would ensure the retraining of parents, allow them to use home work, and organize paid employment that involves combining work with caring for disabled children.

Unemployed parents caring for children today have virtually no compensation for their work (the legally established payment of 60% of the minimum wage, which covers only one tenth of a person’s primary needs, can hardly be considered real compensation). In the absence of adequate social support For non-working parents, the state increases the dependency burden in families; single-parent families find themselves in a particularly difficult situation. In this regard, maintaining the employment of parents of disabled children (men and women equally) and maintaining their economic activity could become an important resource and condition for overcoming poverty in families with disabled children and their successful socio-economic adaptation.

Caring for a child takes up all of a mother's time. Therefore, caring for the child falls on the mother, who, having made a choice in favor of a sick child, finds herself completely dependent on hospitals, sanatoriums, and frequent exacerbations of illnesses. She pushes herself into such a distant place that she finds herself left behind in life. If treatment and rehabilitation are futile, then constant anxiety and psycho-emotional stress can lead the mother to irritation and a state of depression. Often older children, rarely grandmothers, and other relatives help the mother in caring. The situation is more difficult if there are two children with disabilities in the family.

Having a disabled child negatively affects other people in the family. They receive less attention, opportunities for cultural leisure are reduced, they study worse, and get sick more often due to parental neglect.

Psychological tension in such families is supported by psychological oppression of people due to the negative attitude of others towards their family; they rarely communicate with people from other families. Not all people are able to correctly appreciate and understand the attention of parents to a sick person, their constant fatigue in an oppressed, constantly anxious family climate.

Often such a family experiences a negative attitude from others, especially neighbors who are irritated by the uncomfortable living conditions nearby (disturbance of peace and quiet, especially if the child is a disabled child with mental retardation or his behavior negatively affects the health of the child’s environment). People around them often shy away from communication, and children with disabilities have virtually no opportunity for full social contacts or a sufficient circle of friends, especially with healthy peers. Existing social deprivation can lead to personality disorders (for example, emotional-volitional sphere, etc.), intellectual retardation, especially if the child is poorly adapted to life’s difficulties, social maladjustment, even greater isolation, developmental deficiencies, including communication disorders opportunities, which creates an inadequate understanding of the world around us. This has a particularly difficult impact on children with disabilities brought up in boarding schools.

Society does not always correctly understand the problems of such families, and only a small percentage of them feel the support of others. In this regard, parents do not take children with disabilities to the theater, cinema, entertainment events, etc., thereby dooming them from birth to complete isolation from society. IN Lately Parents with similar problems establish contacts with each other.

Parents try to raise their child, avoiding his neuroticism, egocentrism, social and mental infantilism, giving him appropriate training and career guidance for subsequent work. This depends on the availability of pedagogical, psychological, and medical knowledge of the parents, since in order to identify and evaluate the child’s inclinations, his attitude towards his defect, his reaction to the attitude of others, to help him adapt socially, to achieve maximum self-realization, special knowledge is needed. Most parents note their inadequacy in raising a child with disabilities; there is a lack of accessible literature, sufficient information, and medical and social workers. Almost all families have no information about the professional restrictions associated with the child’s illness, or about the choice of profession recommended for a patient with such a pathology. Children with disabilities are educated in regular schools, at home, and in specialized boarding schools according to various programs ( secondary school, specialized, recommended for a given disease, auxiliary), but they all require an individual approach.

The deterioration of the socio-economic situation adversely affects the health of children. The problem of disability is relevant and requires urgent measures aimed at improving the level of children's health, the quality of psychological, pedagogical and medical measures that ensure adequate social adaptation of children with disabilities. On the agenda is a differentiated approach to organizing educational work and developing integrated system health improvement for disabled children.

It is also necessary to strengthen the medical activity of parents in the prevention of chronic disease in children and their disability. Despite the high educational qualifications of parents, only a few of them receive information about the health status of their children from lectures, conversations of medical workers, or use special medical literature. For most parents, the main information is information from friends and relatives. It is also necessary to develop protocols for assessing the low activity of parents with a sick child, and recommendations for individual work with parents in order to improve their medical literacy regarding the prevention of chronic diseases in children,

Taking care of the psychological and physical health of a sick child is an immutable law both for health care and for all state and public organizations, but it is necessary to ensure conditions under which a disabled child (and his parents) would take responsibility for his health, and with his behavior help the body and doctors cope with the illness. It is important to have interdepartmental cooperation in organizing a single rehabilitation space for children with disabilities, combining the efforts of health care authorities, committees on family issues, mothers and children, and scientists from leading scientific medical institutions.

A wide range of social problems are associated with disability.

One of the most important social problems of persons with disabilities is the problem of their social rehabilitation and integration.

There are different approaches to defining the concept of rehabilitation (the term “rehabilitation” itself comes from the Latin “ability” - ability, “rehabilitation” - restoration of ability), especially among medical specialists. Thus, in neurology, therapy, cardiology rehabilitation means first of all various procedures(massage, psychotherapy, physiotherapy etc.), in traumatology and orthopedics - prosthetics, in physiotherapy - physical treatment, in psychiatry - psycho- and occupational therapy.

The Russian Encyclopedia of Social Rehabilitation is defined as “a set of medical, pedagogical and social measures aimed at restoring (or compensating) impaired body functions, as well as social functions and the ability to work of sick and disabled people." Rehabilitation thus understood includes functional restoration or compensation for what cannot be restored, adaptation to Everyday life and inclusion of a sick or disabled person in the labor process. In accordance with this, there are three main types of rehabilitation: medical, social (domestic) and professional (work).

When interpreting the concept of “rehabilitation”, we also proceed from its characteristics in official documents of well-known international organizations.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the essence of rehabilitation is to restore the health of persons with limited physical and mental abilities to achieve maximum physical, mental, social and professional usefulness.

According to the decision of the International Symposium of Former Socialist Countries on Rehabilitation (1964), rehabilitation should be understood as the joint activities of medical workers, teachers (in the field physical culture), economists, heads of public organizations, aimed at restoring the health and working ability of people with disabilities.

The 2nd report of the WHO (World Health Organization) Expert Committee on Rehabilitation (1969) states that rehabilitation is the coordinated use of medical, social, educational and vocational activities to train or retrain people with disabilities so that they achieve the highest possible high level functional activity.

A broad and comprehensive definition of rehabilitation was given at the IX Meeting of Ministers of Health and Social Welfare of Socialist Countries (Prague, 1967). This definition, which we rely on in our study, after some correction looks like this: rehabilitation in modern society is a system of state and public, socio-economic, medical, professional, pedagogical, psychological, legal and other measures aimed at restoring impaired body functions, social activity and working ability of sick and disabled people.

As WHO materials emphasize, rehabilitation of disabled people is not limited to the narrow framework of restoring individual mental and physical functions. It involves a set of measures to ensure that people with disabilities have the opportunity to return, or get as close as possible to a full-fledged social life.

The ultimate goal of rehabilitation of disabled people is social integration, ensuring their active participation in the main activities and life of society, “inclusion” in social structures associated with various spheres of human life - educational, labor, leisure, etc. - and intended for healthy people. Integration of a disabled person into a certain social group or society as a whole presupposes the emergence of a sense of community and equality with other members of this group (society) and the possibility of cooperation with them as equal partners.

The problem of social rehabilitation and integration of persons with disabilities is a complex, multifaceted problem that has various aspects: medical, psychological, socio-pedagogical, socio-economic, legal, organizational, etc.

Ultimate objectives medical and social rehabilitation are: ensuring that persons with special needs have the opportunity to lead as age-appropriate a lifestyle as possible; their maximum adaptation to the environment and society by teaching self-service skills, accumulating knowledge, acquiring professional experience, participating in socially useful work, etc., and from a psychological point of view - creating a positive self-image, adequate self-esteem, feelings of security and psychological comfort.

The socio-economic aspect of this problem is related to the standard of living of disabled people. The results of a number of studies conducted in our country [11] indicate that in this regard, people with disabilities represent a special social group that differs from the average population in terms of level and quality of life, in terms of active participation in social processes. Their average wages, level of consumption of goods, and level of education are lower. Many disabled people have an unfulfilled desire to engage in work, and their social activity is below the population average. They differ in marital status and a number of other indicators.

So, persons with disabilities are a special social group of people that has socially significant characteristics and requires a special social policy towards them.

It's no secret that in the modern world there is a certain “standard of beauty”. And if you want to succeed, to become famous, be kind enough to meet this standard. However, it is very pleasant that from time to time people appear who say to hell with all these standards and conventions and simply go towards their goal no matter what. Such people deserve respect.

Winnie Harlow

A professional model originally from Canada, who suffers from vitiligo, a skin pigmentation disorder associated with a lack of melanin. This disease is expressed almost only in external effects and has almost no cure. Vinny dreamed of becoming a model since childhood and persistently pursued her goal. As a result, she became the first girl in the serious modeling business with this disease.

Peter Dinklage

He is best known for his role as Tyrion Lannister in the series Game of Thrones. Dinklage was born with hereditary disease- achondroplasia, leading to dwarfism. His height is 134 cm. Despite the fact that both his parents are of average height, as is his brother Jonathan.

RJ Mitt

He is best known for his role as Walter White Jr. in the television series Breaking Bad. Like his character in Breaking Bad, Mitt suffers from childhood cerebral palsy. Due to cerebral palsy, signals reach the brain more slowly, since at birth his brain was damaged due to lack of oxygen. As a result, his musculoskeletal system and ability to control his muscles were impaired. For example, the hand twitches uncontrollably. However, this does not in the least prevent the 23-year-old guy from acting in films and producing films.

Henry Samuel

Better known under the pseudonym Seal. British singer and songwriter, winner of three Grammy music awards and several Brit Awards. The scars on his face are the result skin disease, known as discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE). He suffered from this disease as a teenager and suffered greatly due to the scars that appeared on his face. Now the singer is sure that they give him a certain charm.

Forest Whitaker

American actor, director, producer. Winner of Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Emmy awards. He became the fourth African American to win an Oscar for Best Actor. Forest suffers from ptosis in his left eye - congenital disease oculomotor nerve. However, many critics and viewers often note that this gives it a certain mystery and charm. At the same time, the actor himself is considering the possibility of corrective surgery. True, according to his statement, the purpose of the operation is not cosmetic at all, but purely medical - ptosis worsens the field of vision and contributes to the degradation of vision itself.

Jamel Debbouze

French actor, producer, showman of Moroccan origin. In January 1990 (that is, at the age of 14), Jamel injured his hand while playing railway tracks in the Paris metro. As a result, the arm has stopped developing and he cannot use it. Since then, he almost always keeps his right hand in his pocket. However, this does not in the least prevent him from remaining one of the most sought-after actors in France to this day.

Donald Joseph Qualls

Better known as DJ Qualls, he is an American actor and producer. Qualls' most popular role is considered to be the title role in Edward Decter's Tough Guy. Many who see him in films cannot help but notice Qualls' unusual thinness. The reason for this is cancer. At the age of 14, Qualls was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphogranulomatosis (a malignant neoplasm of lymphoid tissue). The treatment turned out to be quite successful, and after two years of fighting the disease, remission occurred. This episode in his life served as the beginning of DJ’s activities to support the foundation, which is fighting this disease.

Zinovy ​​Gerdt

A magnificent Soviet and Russian theater and film actor, People's Artist of the USSR. In addition to his acting career, Zinovy ​​Efimovich, like many in those days, had to engage in other, not so peaceful activities; he was a participant in the Great Patriotic War. On February 12, 1943, on the approaches to Kharkov, while clearing enemy minefields for the passage of Soviet tanks, he was seriously wounded in the leg by a fragment of a tank shell. After eleven operations, Gerdt was spared his damaged leg, which has since been 8 centimeters shorter than the healthy one and forced the artist to limp heavily. It was difficult for him to even just walk, but the actor did not slack and did not spare himself on the set.

Sylvester Stallone

A striking example of the fact that any disadvantage, if desired, can be turned into an advantage. At Sylvester's birth, doctors used obstetric forceps to injure him, damaging his facial nerves. The result is partial paralysis of the lower left side of the face and slurred speech. It would seem that you can forget about an acting career with such problems. However, Sly still managed to break through, choosing the role of a brutal guy who doesn’t need to talk much on camera, his muscles will do everything for him.

Nick Vujicic

Nick was born into a family of Serbian immigrants. From birth I had a rare genetic pathology- tetraamelia: the boy was missing full limbs - both arms and both legs. Partially there was one foot with two fused toes. As a result, it is this foot after surgical intervention and separation of fingers, allowed Nick to learn to walk, swim, skateboard, surf, play on a computer and write. After worrying about his disability as a child, he learned to live with his disability, sharing his experiences with others and becoming a world-renowned motivational speaker. His speeches are mainly addressed to children and youth (including those with disabilities), in the hope of intensifying their search for the meaning of life and developing their abilities.

• Why do people become disabled?
• What kind of help do they need?
• What can people with disabilities achieve?

Disabled people

People with disabilities, people with disabilities, are everywhere. According to United Nations (UN) estimates, almost every tenth person on the planet is disabled.

Disabled people - people with spinal injuries, lower limb amputations, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, people with visual impairments, hearing impairments, mental illness and etc.

It is not a person’s fault that he was born or became this way. It is not his fault that he cannot always work and provide for himself. The way of life of disabled people is to take daily medications that help maintain the body’s vital functions, but do not cure diseases.

Causes of disability

Disability is not always a congenital condition or heredity. Most often, the cause is an accident: in countries where there has recently been a war, children are maimed by mines left in the ground. Failure to comply with safety regulations at work causes injuries. It happens that people fall and break their legs.

Thus, daily actions and work activity can cause ill health and even disability.

Interesting Facts
International Day of Persons with Disabilities is celebrated annually on December 3rd.

Disabled people are the same as all people, although with their own characteristics. Who doesn't have them?! It is necessary that people with disabilities study and work together with ordinary people. They need understanding and equality.

What difficulties do people with disabilities face in everyday life? What helps you overcome them?

Help for people with disabilities

We must help people with disabilities.

The state helps people with disabilities as best it can. For example, in a number of cities there are special buses with yellow-green stripes on the sides that transport disabled people of groups 1 and 2 for free. The state provides medical assistance to disabled people. All regions of the country are trying to provide education for disabled children who need home schooling.

In our country there are many enterprises that produce high-quality products and employ people with disabilities.

Further Reading
People who are blind from birth are well oriented in space. They will never bump into a tree or fall off the sidewalk. But those who suddenly become blind sit at home for years, going out only when accompanied by their relatives. They cannot buy bread and cross the road on their own - there are few audible traffic lights in the country.
With certain training, which all visually impaired people receive in schools and in special courses, they can move around quite freely and independently, travel on public transport, shop in a store, solve everyday problems and generally be no different from other people. There are a number of devices in the world that help you not to be dependent on others: from a banknote detector and a water level detector in a glass to a minicomputer that allows you to freely navigate the area. In addition, after special training and acquisition of skills, a person can independently navigate the terrain with the help of a cane or a guide dog.

What problems do visually impaired people face in everyday life? What devices help overcome them? How can you help visually impaired people solve their problems?

According to official statistics, about 10 million people with disabilities live in Russia. There are about 12 thousand deaf-blind children, that is, both blind and deaf at the same time, in Russia. Among children studying in schools for the blind, about 80% are visually impaired from birth, about 1% have lost their sight as a result of accidents, and the rest are visually impaired.

Outstanding Achievements

There are many examples of how disabled people have achieved outstanding results that ordinary citizens are incapable of.

Suffice it to recall the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven, who became deaf in the prime of his creative powers and, overcoming incredible difficulties and making titanic efforts, composed brilliant symphonies.

Nikolai Ostrovsky, who lost his sight, wrote the novel “How the Steel Was Tempered,” which tells about outstanding courage and encourages people not to give up in the face of circumstances.

Pilot Alexey Maresyev during the Great Patriotic War Patriotic War 1941 - 1945 he was seriously wounded, as a result of which his legs were amputated to the knees. Despite his disability, he still returned to the regiment and flew with prosthetics. Before being wounded he shot down four German planes, and after being wounded seven more.

The Russian Paralympic sports team consistently takes first place and performs better than the main Olympic team. (The Paralympics - sports competitions for the disabled - are held after the main Olympic Games.)

What do you think is the reason for the achievements of people with disabilities?

Perhaps this - the application of extreme efforts - is the reason for the outstanding success of disabled people. They just need a little help.

Start small - smile at them, say hello, or help them cross the street.

Interesting Facts
In Veliky Novgorod, for almost 30 years, there has been a unique theater “Gesture”, which unites actors who are hearing impaired and wheelchair users. The unusual troupe includes people aged 7 years and older. The unique Novgorod theater has repeatedly become a laureate of international, all-Russian and regional festivals, and has been awarded several prestigious awards.

Let's sum it up
Disability is not always heredity or an innate trait. The cause of disability can be a person's daily activities and work activities. It is very important in our daily life to be attentive to the problems of people with disabilities.

Basic terms and concepts
Disabled person, disability.

Test your knowledge

1. Explain the meaning of the words “disabled”, “disability”.
2. Name the causes of disability.
3. If disabled people are people with disabilities, then how can they set Olympic records?
4. If you were the leaders of the state, what measures would you propose to improve the lives of people with disabilities?

Workshop

1. The magazine "Big City" organized an event in 2009, during which wheelchair users and healthy people(including several celebrities) walked in wheelchairs from the Kutuzovskaya metro station to the Kievskaya metro station. They tried to do the usual things: go to a store, a pharmacy, sit in a cafe to understand whether this area of ​​​​Moscow is suitable for the life of disabled people.
   How this happened and what came of it, you need to find out on your own by collecting the necessary material on the Internet and preparing an oral report.
2. Go around the surrounding houses and streets to see what is suitable for disabled people and what is not. How would you redesign awkward spaces? Formulate your proposals.
3. Are there people with disabilities in your environment? What can you tell us about their lives? What kind of help could you personally provide to people with disabilities?
4. Collect information about our contemporaries who were not prevented by their disability from achieving success in life. Make a computer presentation.
5. What assistance is provided to people with disabilities in our country? And in foreign countries? When preparing, use materials from newspapers, magazines, and the Internet.

The view and attitude of society towards a special category of the population, which are people with disabilities, has changed over many centuries, going from categorical non-recognition to sympathy, support and loyalty. In essence, this is an indicator, a decisive factor determining the degree of moral maturity and economic viability of a harmonious civil society.

Treatment of persons with special needs over the centuries

The literal meaning of the term “disabled” is identified with words such as “unfit”, “defective”. During the era of reforms by Peter I, former military personnel, people with disabilities who were injured or sick during hostilities, began to be called disabled. At the same time, the general definition of such a group of individuals, i.e., all persons with physical, mental or other disabilities that impede normal, full-fledged life activities, appeared in the post-war period - in the middle of the twentieth century.

A significant breakthrough in the difficult path of disabled people to acquire their own rights was the adoption of an important document at the international level. Refers to the Declaration of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, signed in 1975 by UN member states. According to this multilateral treaty, the concept of “disabled person” began to mean the following: this is any person who, due to congenital or acquired physical or mental limitations, is unable to realize his own needs without outside help (full or partial).

System for supporting the socialization of people with disabilities

In accordance with the law Russian Federation, today absolutely all people with disabilities can be called disabled. To establish the appropriate group, MSEC is scheduled to be carried out by a specialized civil service.

Over the past few centuries, attitudes towards such people have changed dramatically. If just two hundred years ago everything was limited to routine care, today things are different. An entire functioning system has been created, which includes a complex of organizations designed for the specific care of disabled people, rehabilitation centers and much more.

It is impossible not to mention the well-established performance of educational institutions in which disabled children can receive a decent education, as well as institutions whose graduates are ready to devote their lives to helping people with disabilities. It covers not only physical, but also psychological and moral aspects.

Labor market problems

It is also important to highlight such an important point as work for people with disabilities. Modern labor markets for people with disabilities are a separate spectrum in the state economy, depending on special factors and patterns. It is impossible to resolve this issue without the help of government governing bodies. Citizens who do not have sufficient competitiveness are in dire need of government assistance in finding appropriate work.

Determine at what level in society people with disabilities are physical capabilities, it is possible by taking into account a number of objective and subjective points:

• financial income and level of material support;
• availability of education or possible potential for obtaining it;
• satisfaction with social guarantees provided by the state.

Lack of permanent employment and unemployment among people with disabilities is quite acute problem throughout the country due to the scale of the likely negative consequences.

Why are disabled people not successful people?

Often low status in society, occupied by disabled people is easily explained by the lack of proper psychological rehabilitation. In particular, this applies not only to persons who have been injured already in mature age, but also disabled children. As a result, such people do not pursue clear life goals and do not have specific attitudes due to missing professional skills, knowledge and abilities.

The current situation is significantly aggravated by the fact that most entrepreneurs, to put it mildly, are not ready to provide positions for disabled people. Employers are reluctant to hire such people, since providing them with jobs equipped to suit their needs and a full package of preferential conditions is extremely unprofitable. After all, you will have to reduce working hours and productivity requirements in accordance with Russian legislation, and this is fraught with losses for businessmen. Despite the large number of existing regulations governing job quotas at enterprises and the employment mechanism, current managers of firms, organizations, and companies, as a rule, find good reasons to refuse to hire people with disabilities. In general, we can highlight unified system, consisting of several factors that determine the specifics of employment of persons with physical disabilities.

Stereotypical barriers

People with disabilities are perceived stereotypically by employers. Most managers unconditionally believe that people with disabilities cannot have decent professional experience, they are not able to fulfill their job responsibilities in full, and they will not be able to build good relationships in the team. In addition, health problems are fraught with frequent sick leave, instability, and sometimes inappropriate behavior. All this, according to employers, indicates a person’s professional unsuitability, his insolvency.

The prevalence of such stereotypes has a large-scale impact on the attitude towards persons with disabilities, discriminating against them and depriving them of the chance to adapt in formal labor relations.

Choosing a profession that does not correspond to opportunities

A small percentage of disabled people can correctly build a personal strategy for professional growth. The first stage in this process is making the right decision about choosing a future specialty and its likely prospects. When entering universities to study their chosen specialties and areas, people with disabilities often commit main mistake. Not all disabled people are able to sensibly assess their abilities and physiological capabilities based on the severity of their health condition, accessibility, and study conditions. Guided by the principle “I can and I want,” without taking into account the realities of the current labor market, many of them do not think about where they will be able to find employment in the future.

Hence the need to develop an additional vector in the activities of employment services, which will give results during preventive measures to overcome unemployment of disabled people. It is important to teach such people to look at employment through the prism of their own potential.

Lack of working conditions for disabled people

An analysis of statistical data on the most in-demand and popular vacancies for people with disabilities has demonstrated that such people are mainly offered jobs that do not require a highly qualified approach. Such positions provide low wages, a simple monotonous work process (watchmen, operators, assemblers, seamstresses, etc.). Meanwhile, one cannot categorically state that this state of affairs is due only to the limitations of persons with special needs.

The underdevelopment of the labor market plays a significant role in creating necessary conditions for the activities of disabled people.

Fighting for the rights of persons with special needs

At the moment, many public, charitable and volunteer associations are implementing their activities, regularly advocating close attention to the difficult fate of people with disabilities. Their main task is to increase the level of social security of this category of the population. In addition, over the past few years, it is impossible not to notice a positive trend towards the widespread inclusion of people with disabilities in public life, using their limitless potential. Disabled communities have a difficult journey, breaking down barriers and destroying stereotypes.

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The above-mentioned Declaration of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is not the only document regulating the rights of such people. Several years ago, another international treaty acquired legal significance, in no way inferior in importance to the previous one. The 2008 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a kind of call to states to solve numerous problems in this social sphere as soon as possible. Creating a barrier-free environment - this is how this project can be informally called. People with disabilities must have full physical accessibility not only in the literal sense - to buildings, premises, cultural and memorial places, but also to information, television, places of employment, transport, etc.

The 2008 UN Convention outlines the rights of people with disabilities, which must be ensured at the state level in terms of healthcare, education, and important political decisions. An important point of the international document is that it affirms the fundamental principles of non-discrimination, independence and respect for such people. Russia was no exception among the countries that ratified the Convention, having taken this important step for the entire state back in 2009.

The significance of the adoption of this international document for our state is invaluable. The statistics are not reassuring: a tenth of Russians have a disability group. More than two-thirds of them are occupied by patients with cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Following them were carriers of diseases of the musculoskeletal system and the musculoskeletal system.

State activity in solving the problem

Over the past few years, the main areas of support for people with disabilities have been work on regulatory, financial, and organizational social security. The question of how to help raise incomes and improve the lives of people with disabilities deserves special attention. Considering that the implementation of social programs aimed at supporting people with disabilities continues, we can already draw an interim result:

• public organizations of disabled people receive government subsidies;
• disability pension has doubled in recent years;
• more than 200 created rehabilitation centers for the disabled and about 300 specialized institutions for children.

It cannot be said that all problems in this area have been solved. Their list is quite long. It is possible to single out a whole variety of them, namely: regular failures in the operation of the MSEC mechanism, difficulties arising during rehabilitation activities for disabled people, the presence of conflicts in regulations, indicating the rights of people with disabilities to sanatorium and resort treatment.

Conclusion

The only fact that evokes only a positive attitude is the realization that modern Russia the course and direction for the long-awaited transition from the current social system to new principles, according to which all obstacles and barriers must be eliminated, have been determined.

After all, human capabilities are not limited. And no one has the right to interfere with full effective participation in public life and make important decisions on an equal basis with others.

Neutral words suddenly became offensive: “old people”, “disabled”, “blind”... Why does this happen? Why and who needs cumbersome synonyms? How will the Russian language withstand politically correct innovations?

From Napoleon to the jungle

The first written mention of political correctness dates back to the beginning of the 19th century. Napoleon reached for a book on the top shelf. “Allow me, Your Majesty,” Marshal Augereau fussed. “I’m taller than you.” - "Higher?! - the emperor chuckled. - Longer!

This is, of course, a joke. The term “political correctness” (abbreviated PC) appeared in the United States in the 1970s through the efforts of the “new left”. The idea that words capable of offending them should be prohibited and punished quickly took hold of the masses, which, as is known from classical leftist literature (K. Marx), makes it a material force. Already in the mid-1980s, in some states, criminal legal acts appeared that toughened penalties for crimes against representatives of certain social groups with psychological, physiological or cultural characteristics (Hate Crime Laws). Now such legislation is in force in 45 states, a similar federal act was adopted in 1994, and dictionaries of politically correct words and expressions have appeared in universities and some other institutions in the United States. Other countries have adopted the experience. In the West, you can now pay for a phrase spoken in the heat of the moment with a position, reputation, money, or even freedom.

“Initially, political correctness had the best intentions - not to offend,” says Elena Shmeleva, candidate of philological sciences, senior researcher at the department of culture of Russian speech at the Institute of Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences, “and this is really important and necessary. But in America, the passion for political correctness has already reached a certain limit - according to the principle “make a fool pray to God.”

They began to cleanse the verbal ranks with representatives of non-white races, women and sodomites. Further - everywhere. The ranks of the potentially offended are multiplying every day: the elderly, the disabled, the ugly (“other appearance"), stupid ("those who think differently"), representatives of certain professions ("consultants" and not "salespeople", "restaurant specialists" and not "waiters"), the poor ("economically disadvantaged"), the unemployed ("not receiving salaries") and even criminals ("forced to endure difficulties due to the characteristics of their behavior"). There is even a special environmental political correctness that calls for calling a chop a “fried piece of animal muscle” and paper a “recycled corpse of a tree.” The word “jungle” was seen as having a negative emotional connotation and now it is “rain forest.”

Russian in general order

What about us? What is the situation with political correctness in the Russian language? We are actively adopting American-English tracing papers, inventing our own euphemisms, there are already PC phrasebooks for radio and television workers in Russia; their composition and the sanctions imposed on violators are determined by the management of the channels; general rules and a system of punishments for their violation do not yet exist.

A mechanical voice on the subway suggests giving up seats not to old people, but to “elderly people,” the computer emphasizes the word “negro” as non-existent, and even on a bag of cat food, instead of “for the picky,” the inscription “for animals especially sensitive to the taste of the product” appeared. . However, it is not so easy for the Russian language to keep up with its Western counterparts: its grammatical structure itself is not inclined to this. For example, a politically correct American today would call the same Napoleon vertically challenged. The translation of these two words is cumbersome and terrible: a man who overcomes difficulties because of his vertical proportions!

"On international conferences“I heard reports that the Russian language is terribly politically incorrect,” says Elena Shmeleva. - We have an unmarked masculine gender. “He” is a person in general, it doesn’t matter whether he is a man or a woman. A doctor, a professor, a manager... Political correctness does not allow such confusion.”

In one form or another, political correctness has always existed in the language. In another way, it can be called linguistic tact, sensitivity, attentiveness to other people's troubles and problems. E. Ya. Shmeleva points out the pairs available in the Russian language to denote bad human qualities: a softer, neutral word and a rougher one - “economical” and “greedy”, “narcissistic” and “proud”.

Language is a living organism. Many words change over time, they seem to acquire a thorny shell and, wounding those they relate to, suddenly begin to scratch the larynx of those uttering them. Such “mutants” leave the language naturally or forcibly. “This happened, for example, with the word “Jew,” says Elena Shmeleva. — Even in Dahl’s dictionary it was neutral, but by the beginning of the twentieth century it had already become unacceptable, abusive. This is connected with the Jewish pogroms. I think the main role in eradicating the word belonged to the publicists of that time, who began to replace it with “Jew” in their magazine articles. But this, of course, was dictated by their internal censorship, and not external.”

Professor Viktor Zaretsky, head of the laboratory of psychological and pedagogical problems continuing education children and youth with special needs and disabilities at the Institute of Problems of Integrative (Inclusive) Education, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, talks about how in the eighties he compiled a manual on ergonomics, which had to have a chapter about workplaces for people with disabilities: “We thought for a long time what to call these people. Being disabled is not good, we already instinctively understood this. As a result, the chapter “Organization of labor of persons with reduced working capacity” was obtained. How I suffered with it, how many times I rewrote it! I write - and everything works out, how to adapt this vital, natural marriage to the needs of society. And all the same, when I gave the manual to my semi-dissident friends to read, they were indignant: “It’s just like that in your text, how can you squeeze a tax out of them so that they don’t sit on the neck of the state!” But I edited and cleaned up so much.”

Of course, you always need to monitor your speech, remember with whom and about whom you are talking. Especially public people (and we are all public today to one degree or another thanks to the Internet), vested with power. Especially if we are talking about the weak, sick, unprotected, suffering... It is about correctness in relation to them that we will talk about, leaving feminists and blacks aside. Now, in this century information technologies, predicting how and, most importantly, where our word will resonate has become much more difficult.

“Political correctness appeared in the twentieth century also because,” says E. Ya. Shmeleva, “there was no such public speech before, there was no media. People saw the audience they were speaking to and could calculate it. Now any statement you make can be heard by millions of people, this must always be remembered.”

The thing is obvious. Medical jargon does not leave the walls of the resident’s room; for prying ears it will be unbearable, therefore it is taboo. Unfortunately, sometimes there are no barriers even for those who stand on the high podium. Victor Kirillovich Zaretsky remembers next case: “One famous person on the presidium of the Russian Academy of Education, after a report on the problems of children with disabilities, said: “They brought a girl, and we argued: is she an imbecile or should she be treated like a human being.” The audience gasped. After all, the speaker determined the policy in the education of children with disabilities!”

What is the old man's fault?

Sometimes the metamorphoses that occur with words seem strange, sometimes unjustified, sometimes premature. We resist, we are surprised. But why should we now say “blind” instead of “blind”, and “hard of hearing” instead of “deaf”? Why do good old “old people” and “alcoholics” need to be turned into “elderly people” and “alcoholics”? What is the difference between the words “blind” and “blind”?

Why these cumbersome phrases, what is the meaning of all these “with”, “alternatively”, “otherwise”, “experiencing difficulties”, “suffering”?.. All this only slows down speech! Let's try to figure it out.

“Many of these expressions are heavily influenced by American English,” explains Elena Shmeleva, “which is understandable and understandable. This is not a consequence of a global conspiracy; the euphemisms “people with disabilities”, “people with disabilities”, etc. were born in the depths of volunteer, charitable, human rights organizations, the forms and traditions of which came to us from the West. There was simply nothing like this in the USSR, there was no charity itself. It is no coincidence that the word “charity” in Soviet dictionaries was labeled “outdated.”

But what's wrong with the word "disabled"? In Russian it is neutral. In it, unlike French or English, the meaning “unfit”, “incapable” is not read, and “invalid from war” is generally an honor! “This is a social stigma,” says Victor Zaretsky. — If you call a person “sick” in a hospital, he will always feel sick. If you say to a child: “Hey, you fool, come here!”, he will be a fool.” By calling a person disabled (autistic, etc.), we, firstly, stop calling him a person, and secondly, we reduce him to his diagnosis, to his illness, to his disability.

The preposition “s” is the most politically correct part of speech in the Russian language. Another lifesaver is the word “suffering” (from alcoholism, schizophrenia, autism, etc.). But it’s not so simple anymore. The very word “suffering” can be offensive and sometimes harmful. “I said for quite a long time: “People suffering from cerebral palsy,” says Professor Zaretsky. “They corrected me: “We don’t suffer.” By eliminating this word, I really gradually learned to see a person not as suffering, but as someone whose life has simply been changed due to the fact that he has cerebral palsy.” At lectures on psychiatry and clinical psychology at Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, we students were taught to say “crazy” or “psychiatric”. Otherwise, it is actually very difficult to treat the patient humanely.

As for “those suffering from alcoholism/drug addiction,” there is a problem here. One of the signs of addiction is denial of the disease. The first step to healing is overcoming it. Without this, further movement towards a normal life is impossible.

According to E. Ya. Shmeleva, it is better to name people who have various diseases, avoiding names of diagnoses. A linguist is surprised, for example, by the attempt to hide something behind the awkward acronym PLWHA (people living with HIV/AIDS). “The word remains, the diagnosis is a stigma. But these people are shunned, shunned from them. If we are talking about protecting the feelings of AIDS patients, it would probably be worth inventing some other, more veiled term.”

It is unlikely that anyone will be surprised by psychiatric political correctness. The words “psychopath” and “hysterical” have not only become impolite, they have turned into curse words. Replacements: “personality disorders”, “character pathology”, “histrionic disorder”.

But why did the word “old man” suddenly become impolite? This is due to the general global trend - the cult of youth. “Old people are no longer the most respected people,” says Elena Yakovlevna. - Life has changed. Even the traditional form of knowledge transfer - from senior to junior - has been partially disrupted. Students often obtain information earlier than professors. Old age is associated, rather, not with wisdom, but with decrepitude, illness, and the inability to accomplish something. That’s why they try not to call active people old people.”

Understand someone else's pain

What about the disabled themselves? Are word games that important to them? “Call me a pot, just don’t put it in the stove,” jokes the deaf-blind-mute Professor Suvorov. “I wish I were normal,” sighs one of our freelance writers, “but I’m disabled.” We have to educate: “You can’t say that. You are a person with a disability." “Is there a difference,” he wonders. “Will this make me start running and jumping?”

“I’m an old man,” my father liked to repeat, but when they gave him a seat on the subway and added: “Sit down, grandfather,” he became upset and even angry.

“It is known that only representatives of the very group to which correctness extends have the right to speak about themselves in a politically incorrect way,” says Elena Shmeleva. “It’s very difficult to understand what is perceived as offensive without being in that person’s shoes.”

“When they say ‘blind’ about me, it seems to me as if I don’t exist,” one blind girl once admitted to me. “As if I don’t see you, the sighted, but you don’t see me.” Blind spot..."

The most vulnerable people in the world are mothers of sick children. The short words “daunenok” and “detsepeshka”, with their apparent affection, are like a blow from a whip for them. Why? Do we have the right to ask this question and dissect the pain of others? Isn’t it easier to just take it for granted: you can’t say that. Probably, a slight lengthening of verbal constructions will not be too big a sacrifice for all of us - even if it seems that there is no meaning, just inhibition of speech. After all, even in a hurry, an intelligent person holds the door without turning around - just in case. The possibility that there is someone behind whom the door might hit too hard is always there.

A journalist I know who survived the death of her little son from a rare genetic disease and who has devoted herself to this topic, diligently avoids even the names of diseases in her column, knowing that this too is painful. This is a stigma, this is a reason for idle speculation and cruel comments. She writes simply: “special children,” without unnecessary details. “A disabled child is inferior,” comments Elena Shmeleva, “this is the prevailing stereotype in society. Let’s call it “unusual”, “special” - and somehow support the parents. Their child is no worse than others, he’s just different.”

“It’s wonderful to destroy words.”

Political correctness is often compared to the Newspeak in Orwell's 1984. Newspeak is a language put into the service of a totalitarian regime, a language where words have the opposite meaning to their original meaning, a language whose vocabulary is not growing, but shrinking. In general, a portrait of political correctness, which is often called “linguistic fascism”, “social dementia”. But is the beast as terrible as it is painted?

Victor Zaretsky, for example, is convinced that political correctness is precisely one of the forms of the fight against totalitarian thinking: “In the deep layers of our mentality lies the idea that there is something unique, correct, and there are people who know how to create this correct thing.” . And everyone considers themselves precisely in this category of people. I believe that there is a connection between the totalitarianism of consciousness and the attitude towards disabled people (elderly people, etc.) as inferior members of society. Totalitarianism is inevitably associated with discrimination against people - according to the most different signs».

E. Ya. Shmeleva, in turn, is amazed at how little the Russian language has changed over the 70 years of the totalitarian regime, when new words were introduced by force and en masse. “Only some small fragments were changed; most of the new words were discarded. And most importantly, the system-linguistic picture of the world remained the same as it was at the end of the 19th century, in the era of Russian classical literature. No matter how much we were taught to inform on our neighbors, the word “informer” retained a negative connotation in all dictionaries, and it was not possible to “correct” it.”

Language knows how to resist what is imposed on it. When society once again begins to sound the alarm about its excessive clogging, or even imminent destruction, it is not specialists who are most active, but, so to speak, “ordinary users.” “Linguists at such moments act as psychotherapists,” says Elena Shmeleva, “because they know the history of language. And we, Russian scholars, are also aware of what an amazing, simply God-given power the Russian language is. He can handle everything, no matter what we throw at him.”

Today, Elena Yakovlevna sees the main problem for the language associated with political correctness in long clerical phrases such as “families with children with developmental disabilities”, “problems of the elderly and people with disabilities”... “It is useless to fight them,” says she, - but they will die, the tongue throws them out. These phrases will remain in official papers, but people will not use them. They themselves in the media, on the Internet, on forums, will begin to call themselves some short word, good. After all, there are already “special children” - a very successful euphemism. Children with Down syndrome are sometimes called “sunny children,” perhaps this will catch on. I have already seen the expression “happy age” - in the sense of advanced age. It is possible that some “wonderful people” will appear. What exact words these will be is unknown. This will take time.

In the meantime, we just have to use three golden rules:
1. Do not use words that may offend someone, even if they seem neutral to you, and their replacements seem cumbersome.
2. Calculate the audience, remember who you are currently addressing.
3. Remember that many more people can hear, read, and see you than you think, and these people are very different.