Armenian MoL and NGOs insist that invalids shall be integrated into society

About 5 percent of Armenia's citizens are disabled. As of November 1 this year, the country had over 180,000 persons with disabilities registered; for them employment is a problem. This was stated by Jemma Bagdasaryan, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs (MoL); NGO activists agree.

According to Ms Bagdasaryan, who spoke on November 30 during the first regional video conference Armenia-Georgia-Iran on the eve of the International Day of Invalids, marked on December 3, the MoL had drafted amendments to the legislation, which ensure equal rights to persons with disabilities as compared with other citizens. It is planned to submit the amendments to the government by the end of the year.

She said that a number of programmes is underway aimed towards integrating disabled people into society. The most relevant is the programme of medical and social rehabilitation, which is supported in 2010 by 1.06 billion drams of budget money (currently, 1000 AMD = 2.7894 USD).

The programme provides disabled persons with required utensils: wheelchairs, artificial limbs and hearing aids. The funding in the 2011 budget will not be less.

The today's disability allowance in the country makes about 14,000 drams, or about 40 USD.

According to Jemma Bagdasaryan, "buildings and local public transport are not fit for persons with disabilities."

Armen Alaverdyan, head of the NGO "Unison", which unites people with disabilities, said with reference to official data, that out of the country's 180,000 invalids, 64 percent, or more than 114,700 persons, are of working age. However, only 8 percent of them have work.

Albert Abgaryan, chairman of the NGO of the blind named "Harmony", who is also an employee of the Armenian President's office, raised the problem of blind people. According to his story, currently some 5500-6000 people with certain vision problems live in Armenia; of them, 5-6 percent have job.

Lida Davtyan, mother of a 20-year-old deaf and dumb daughter named Naira, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that, despite some care by the state, people like her daughter are unable to equally compete with others. "Of course, because of problems with getting education, my daughter has to work as a servant. She hasn't become a full-fledged member of the society," said the woman.

According to Maria Airapetyan, 23, only a few people with disabilities can find employment, since discrimination exists, and employers avoid hiring them.