AFTERMATH
OF THE WORLD BLIND VISIT
(By Hysni
Recica)
Hello and welcome to UNMIK
on air with Sputnik Kilambi and Martin Redi
The World Blind Union, a
body representing around 180 million blind people across the world, paid a
four-day visit to Kosovo earlier this month. The goal of the visit, a first in
Kosovo’s history, was to get acquainted with the blind people here and make a
first hand assessment of the challenges and problems faced by Kosovo’s visually
impaired.
The delegation was led by Kicki
Nordstrom, the president of the World Blind Union. Mrs. Nordstrom was born
blind, but her disability did not prevent her from acquiring a good education
and being successful in life. She studied social anthropology, though she never
practiced her profession. She is happily married and is a mother of five
children, two girls and three boys.
Because of the advanced technology
available in her country, she says, the blind in Sweden can study and work
alongside ordinary people without the slightest problem. Even the need for
special schools for the blind is being questioned.
No comparison at all to the
situation in Kosovo, but Kicki Nordstrom says she was impressed by the way
people here coped with their difficulties.
Kicki Nordstrom: The main
and the tragic thing is that there is a lot of poverty, this is striking, and
all the kinds of materials, there are no white canes, there are no means to
teach here people Braille so that they can communicate, no tape recorders,
hardly any computers, everything is lacking.
Of particular concern, she
adds, is the fact that the unemployment rate of the blind runs at over 90
percent. There is good will among the local institutions, she adds, but the
onus is clearly on the internationals.
Kicki Nordstrom: The
officials, the ministers I met, and the mayor of Prishtina, they are very
positive, they have very little money to use, and I understand this. There must
be some income to the country before they can give out any money to people. I
think that first of all we have to be in support from other countries to the
blind in Kosovo, there must be some kind of sharing of what we have here, send
it over to Kosovo and help people to help themselves. And later on we need to
give information, knowledge and tools how to work towards governments and other
officials to let them understand that there is a need to direct some funds to
the blind people and to people with disabilities.
Ejup
Rashica: After the war
we managed to employ only 5 persons, a very symbolic number, though there is a
considerable number of qualified persons. A blind person cannot be a pilot or a
driver, but he can do almost anything else. He can do anything if he enjoys the
support by the institutions.
Another concern
highlighted in the report is the fact that many families prefer to keep
relatives with certain disabilities out of sight. This kind of attitude must change, says Kicki Nordstrom.
Kicki Nordstrom: This is very, very sad, because parents think that
they protect their children by hiding them, but that does not serve any good
for the child, overprotection will not make the child an independent person
later on life. All persons have to make their mistakes to make sure that this
is not what we should do again, you have to fall, you have to hurt yourself
sometimes, not very badly, but a little, to know that hot is hot, you cannot
protect a child, a blind person from this, they have to learn this under the
protection of the parents or the rehab teachers.
It’s not just the immediate family though – the society at large also needs to be sensitized to the problems faced by people with disabilities. The Kosovan society, says Ejup Rashika, is simply unaware of the difficulties blind people have to cope with.
Ejup Rashika:
There are some people who do not want to inform us about their family
members, we have cases when we make field visits, families who have a blind
member do not let us know. We think that our people and our institutions have
not done enough in this respect. If we had more means we would make a campaign
to raise awareness. For as long as we do not consider our blind family members
equal to others, there will be consequences for that family, for that person,
and for the society as a whole. If a blind person is registered in time, there
are ways for him to be educated and professionally active.
But the problem also lies
with the way the blind are organized in Kosovo, says Kicki Nordstrom - there
are too many associations, unions, leagues, and individuals saying they
represent the blind in Kosovo. They cannot make their voice heard unless they
sing from the same songbook. On the other hand, she adds, it is not unusual for
the stage Kosovo is at currently.
Kicki Nordstrom: I think
that what it is needed right now is that all the blind people need to come
together under one national organization. I hope and I beg everyone to realize
that the only way to become strong is to be united, also for Kosovo as
such….there is a good saying; “United we stand, divided we fall”
A dictum that holds good in other
situations as well – and that does it for this edition of UNMIK ON AIR. Thanks
for listening.