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A Very Personal Reason I Wish For A Ukraine Whole, At Peace and An EU Member [1]

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Date: 2022-12-20

I was in Prague on the night of April 30, 2004. As midnight struck there were huge expressions of joy. The Czech Republic had acceeded as a full member of the EU. The symbolism was profound.

The country had rejoined the European family of nations with shared histories and principles. For the second time in 8 decades its border with Germany would become irrelevant. The first time was through invasion and war. This time was by treaty in the pursuit of Peace among the nations of Europe. With Slovakia also becoming Members at the same moment, the “Velvet Divorcees” expressed their continued friendship and closeness, despite political differences.

For me there was a further reason to rejoice.

Eligibility for EU Membership is not, as is often thought on a trade basis. A country must comply with a whole host of conditions including good governance, cutting coruption, independent judiciary and compliance with what is usually referred to as the acqui. On Accession not all may be fully completed but substantial and sustained progress has to be shown. Significant for me were the provisions for the treatment of children and the disabled.

Many years before I had seen a documentary on the Czechoslovak system they had inherited from Soviet times. In many instances parents of even mildly disabled were persuaded through encouragement or lack of services to place their child in an “orphanage”. A euphemism for what might more properly be called a human warehouse.

In the course of my work I had visited two very different “special schools” and had been shown round. I have seen the joy at one when a teacher revealed a severely affected child had learnt to use a spoon. In the other, there was obvious pride that a teacher had recognised the extraordinary drawing talents of a child on the autism spectrum who had gone on to be an internationally famous artist. I was left with deep admiration for the teachers and support staff for their dedication to the children and a very new outlook at the range of experiences that give the child a fulfilled life. Any such dedication to and ambition for these children was beaten out by the ethos and practice of the Soviet system.

So for me that midnight bell also meant the country had turned its back on the Soviet system and no more children would suffer its horrors. Ukraine has had to show progress towards the acqui even to get Candidate status.

I have seen a number of reports on this. The country has made considerable progress for the others abused, those without physical or other disabilities. They had been moved from Dickensian dormitory orphanages to family grouping homes. Adoption was being encouraged.

At the start of 2022, the ethos of how the rights of the disabled should be complied with had been accepted. A lot of treatment in the community had been started. You may remember the tragic case of the little girl with Down’s syndrome who was killed and her mother severly injured by a Russian attack. They were on their way to a therapy appointment. Plans to move those in the “orphanages” to more suitable accommodation to better provide therapies were in progress. These stopped in February and conditions even got worse as facilities had to be evacuated in the face of the attack.

The BBC has just told the story of one young man who was evacuated to modern facilities in Poland. Roman Kyrychenko and his family fled Kyiv because of his condition. His parents had been pestered to put him in an “orphanage” when he was young. They fought against this and kept looking after him at home. In Poland he has gone to a school for people with disabilities for the first time.

Now they have a terrible, bittersweet dilema to face. Do they remain in Poland so Roman can continue his amazing progress? Or do they return to their beloved homeland they yearn for where such provision will not be given?

Nine months later, they are just some of the 1.4m refugees living in small apartments, rooms and shelters across Poland. This means that their eldest son Roman, who has cerebral palsy and learning disabilities, has been given the chance to go to school for the first time. He is 20 years old. "Back in Ukraine we were told he was unteachable, that there was no school for him," his mum Olga says as she makes packed lunches in the family's small kitchen. For many disabled children and young people in Ukraine, access to education is rare. Before the war, fewer than 3% were enrolled in mainstream school. Roman needs support to walk, and communicates through sounds and facial expressions. While he spent most of his life stuck at home, his younger sister, Sofia, was in full-time education. Now, in Poland, they both leave the house for school.



I want Roman and Olga but go home where they both have the best chance of fulfilling their potentials and ambitions. I want every Ukrainian child to live in their country and know that they will have this as a right. I know Ukraine has a long way to even start rebuilding provision.

I also know that when in some years I watch news coverage of a midnight bell chiming over Kiyv to signal Ukraine’s EU Accession, it will have added meaning for me. Ukrainian people with disabilities will have been freed from the assumptions and abuses of the Soviet “orphanage” and adult warehousing systems. A repeat feeling I hope to live to see.

Before that I want to see the return of the children kidnapped and dispersed to become Good Russians. This is a breach of two aspects of the Internationa Crime of Genocide. In addition, the assault on the rights of people with disabilities will only stop when the last Russian boot has left the last square metre of Ukraine.

I am not delusional that in the current circumstances this will involve many deaths among the men and women of Ukraine and other countries, I also remember that they are giving their Todays for Ukrainian children’s Tomorrows with full human rights including people with disabilities.

It seems every week there are rumours of a “Black Swan” event that could lead to an armistice and the complete withdrawal of Russia and its proxies. Until that unlikely event the effort to provide Ukraine with every assistance it needs must be maintained and enhanced. I am all too well aware of the terrible economic and social costs the citizens of the Russian Federation will bear for decades to come.

That dear friends is another of the very profoundly personal reasons I have for supporting the Ukrainian people in their struggles for freedom and reconstruction.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/20/2143010/-A-Very-Personal-Reason-I-Wish-For-A-Ukraine-Whole-At-Peace-and-An-EU-Member

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