site.btaRound Table under President's Auspices Discusses Ways to Achieve Full Integration of Disabled People
NW 12:13:31 10-07-2018
LN1213NW.107
107 POLITICS - DISABLED PEOPLE - EMPLOYMENT - FORUM
Round Table under President's Auspices
Discusses Ways to Achieve Full
Integration of Disabled People
Sofia, July 10 (BTA) - A round table in Sofia under the auspices of President Rumen Radev looked at ways to achieve full integration of disabled people. In his remarks the President said the measure of full integration is the employment of people with disabilities.
According to official statistics, some 445,000 Bulgarians draw pensions for lasting disability and very few of them are employed, said the President. "The specialized businesses for disabled people are barely existing, are faced with a myriad of problems and cover only a fraction of the disabled. The rest are outside the labour market - with all consequences for the Bulgarian society."
The President believes that this situation is the result of problems with how the rest of society perceives these people and how they are treated by the education system and businesses, and psychological barriers among some disabled people.
He argues that the society owes these people more than providing a pension or welfare for them. "We have a moral obligation to build a society in which disabled people can live a full life, work and feel full members of this society. Only then can we say that Bulgaria is a truly civilized country," he said.
Lots of measures need to be taken to achieve this, said the President mentioning specialized and vocational education and training, social entrepreneurship, social assistance and opportunities for employment on the primary labour market.
Radev mentioned that the timing of the forum coincided with ongoing protests of mothers of disabled children, who call for overhauling the entire system of social assistance. He said that fully agrees with the mothers and that the entire society should understand them and call for fast and just legislative solutions and financing.
"The aim of this forum is to raise the wider issue of the full integration of all disabled people in Bulgaria. We will achieve such integration when we overcome our mental barriers and when we build an environment in which disabled children, except for those with really severe disabilities, be admitted to kindergarten on a par with the other kids and when they go to school and university, and have a career on a par with the rest," Radev said.
He recalled that he promised to hold such a forum when he met last year with disabled people. LN/
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LN1213NW.107
107 POLITICS - DISABLED PEOPLE - EMPLOYMENT - FORUM
Round Table under President's Auspices
Discusses Ways to Achieve Full
Integration of Disabled People
Sofia, July 10 (BTA) - A round table in Sofia under the auspices of President Rumen Radev looked at ways to achieve full integration of disabled people. In his remarks the President said the measure of full integration is the employment of people with disabilities.
According to official statistics, some 445,000 Bulgarians draw pensions for lasting disability and very few of them are employed, said the President. "The specialized businesses for disabled people are barely existing, are faced with a myriad of problems and cover only a fraction of the disabled. The rest are outside the labour market - with all consequences for the Bulgarian society."
The President believes that this situation is the result of problems with how the rest of society perceives these people and how they are treated by the education system and businesses, and psychological barriers among some disabled people.
He argues that the society owes these people more than providing a pension or welfare for them. "We have a moral obligation to build a society in which disabled people can live a full life, work and feel full members of this society. Only then can we say that Bulgaria is a truly civilized country," he said.
Lots of measures need to be taken to achieve this, said the President mentioning specialized and vocational education and training, social entrepreneurship, social assistance and opportunities for employment on the primary labour market.
Radev mentioned that the timing of the forum coincided with ongoing protests of mothers of disabled children, who call for overhauling the entire system of social assistance. He said that fully agrees with the mothers and that the entire society should understand them and call for fast and just legislative solutions and financing.
"The aim of this forum is to raise the wider issue of the full integration of all disabled people in Bulgaria. We will achieve such integration when we overcome our mental barriers and when we build an environment in which disabled children, except for those with really severe disabilities, be admitted to kindergarten on a par with the other kids and when they go to school and university, and have a career on a par with the rest," Radev said.
He recalled that he promised to hold such a forum when he met last year with disabled people. LN/
//
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