People with disabilities in Armenia

On the 3rd of December the world celebrated International Day of People with Disabilities, established by the United Nations. The position of disabled people in Armenia is far from ideal.

The earthquake of 1988 in Armenia left 17,100 of the 180,000 residents of the area with disabilities. However, despite such a large number of disabled people in Armenia, they face a lot of problems. The general disregard by society of disabled people leads to a reluctance to hire them for jobs. The Armenian government, along with more than 25 community organizations, is trying to improve the situation. At present they are working on solving the issue of the low employment  rate among people with disabilities. The programme provides tax benefits to businesses employing people with disabilities.

Rehabilitation and medical services for persons with disabilities in Armenia is free. However, according to the head of the ‘Unison’ organization, Armen Alaverdyan, the quality of these services is very low.

Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan, exclusively for ‘Vestnik Kavkaza'