By Jan Świątek, HIA Fellow
Roma people, people with disabilities... are they really different from
“mainstream” society (if there even is such a thing)? Should we really treat Roma people as eternal
nomads? Are people with disabilities really either heroes or victims?
The 14th of June was the last day of the very demanding, intellectually
stimulating first portion of our program, which has prepared the fellows for an
even more intensive final two weeks. The day began with a session concerning
Roma/Sinti issues. Next, we participated in sessions concentrated on the second
topic of the day: people with disabilities in Poland. The day ended with a very
interesting fellow’s discussion, where the aim of fellows was to create a
social enterprise employing Roma and people with disabilities.
 |
| Dr. Andrzej Mirga listens to a question from an HIA Fellow Photo by Benjamin Overton |
Our first meeting was in the Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, where
we engaged in a discussion with Dr. Andrzej Mirga – one of first Roma people in
Poland who is engaged in politics and science. He is a Romani activist and
senior advisor for Romani issues.
The situation of Roma people used to be very unfavorable. Enormous rates
of unemployment, unacceptable living conditions, outstanding illiteracy and
discrimination acts have been the main features of the difficult life of these
communities in European societies. Thus, Poland adopted the National Program
for Roma People in 2004, and then the EU Law on Minorities in 2005. Now,
experts claim progress in some areas, for example better living conditions or
greater impact on the education of young members of society. However, in terms
of employment, there is still a lot of work to do. “Governments give money but
treat Roma people as passive participants of welfare – in effect they still
have no job,” suggested Dr. Mirga. The topic seemed to be very interesting based
on the number of questions posed by fellows, especially concerning the
stereotypes maintained in the minds of the Polish people. The sad conclusion is
that a lot of fatal stereotypes are still held in our society.
We had occasion to confirm this statement once again, this time talking
about the main subject of the day: people with disabilities. Our next session
was about the representation of people with disabilities in the Polish media.
This lecture was provided by Tomasz Przybyszewski, a journalist working with
and writing about people with disabilities. The main issue of the session was
presenting the dichotomy of images of people with disabilities: superheroes or
poor, helpless victims. This is what journalists usually need – a sensation, an
interesting story to show either so-called “superdisables” or victims of
society. Mr. Przybyszewski argued that these are harmful stereotypes and
presented us short clips, showing people with disabilities as “normal” people
who should be treated equally. One question from a fellow concerned education
in schools, which is still a dreadful problem: the director may refuse to
receive the child with disabilities (ex. blind or deaf) in “normal” schools. The
explanation is the lack of additional money, but in my opinion, the main driver
is a fear of someone different.
 |
| The "traditional" dichotomy of representations of people with disabilities as presented by Tomasz Przybyszewski Photo by Sarah Deal |
Our next session was provided by our program leaders: Magda Szarota and
Monika Mazur-Rafał. This lecture continued on the previous subject, but this
time we had an occasion to learn about the overall situation of people with
disabilities. We discussed if the disability is a social contract, and we tried
to deconstruct the disability into 3 aspects: law/prevailing ideology, quality
of life and status in society, and conceptualization and perception. Then, we
focused on 3 models: the medical model, the charitable model and the social
model. After short discussion in small groups on the models, the lecturers gave
some statistics and examples of discrimination in the past. The session ended
with the conclusion, that despite the adoption of the UN Treaty on the Rights
of Disable in 2012, we have still a lot of work to do – a fantastic motivation
to be active and do our best for human rights!
 |
| Monika Mazur-Rafał and Magda Szarota listen to a question from an HIA Fellow Photo by Sarah Deal |
The fellow’s discussion was the final of the day. HIA fellows, Ankur Doshi
and Elorm Avakame, asked the rest of the group to project a social enterprise,
which would employ the Roma and disable people. The ideas were excellent: For
Roma people enterprise of carpenters and craft courses, for people with
disabilities the bookstore and the union of drivers with disabilities providing
the groceries to houses. I think all the projects would work perfectly!
During the whole day we considered the stereotypes both concerning the
Roma people and people with disabilities. I believe that a number of harmful
stereotypes are still present in our society. In many cases these stereotypes
hinder the rights of some discriminated citizens, which in effect may cause a
lower quality of life.
Our exercise revealed that during only 30 minutes it is possible to
figure out many amazing ideas for action and activism. So, what are we waiting
for? It’s time to act against the stereotypes and fight for human rights!
No comments:
Post a Comment