The Chairperson of the European University of Lefke (EUL) Department of Special Education Teaching Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Ataman made some statements on the occasion of “December 3rd International Day of People with Disability”.

Disabled Day should not be interpreted as a celebration

Ataman said that “Although The Day of Persons with Disabilities had been on the agenda since 1976, it is a day of awareness, which was officially announced in 1992 with the resolution 47/3 of the United Nations General Assembly and focused on the problems of individuals affected by the inadequacy of the public attention through the conference activities organized all over the world. This day should not be interpreted as a celebration” and stressed that the individual’s inadequacy and the disability which is actually created by the society should be considered as a day of serious questioning, not celebration.

Cases such as education, housing, lack of care services and economic inadequacy lead to an increase in the number of disabled people.

Pointing out that with the rapid increase of globalization, people have become more mobile and can move from one country to another, Ataman said that “Along with this natural disasters and regional wars, especially among children, lead to an increase in the number of people with disabilities, due to unhealthy nutrition, education, housing, lack of care and economic inadequacy”. Ataman stated that although medical developments have reached the level to prevent most of the congenital and hereditary causes, instead of decreasing the marginalization of the individuals who form the society against the individuals who are not similar to them, they are in the top ranks in the agenda with definite limits.

At all levels of education, the negative attitudes experienced by the families with disabled children are the most important problems to be overcome.

Ataman said that “Technological developments should be accelerated in order to prevent disabled people from becoming affected by postmodern society. Inventions make it possible for different developing individuals to harmoniously share the same environments with non-disabled individuals”. “However, at all levels of education, the negative attitudes experienced by the families with disabled children are the most important problems to be overcome” she said. Ataman also underlined that it is an important problem that a large percentage of teachers do not want children with disabilities in their classes since they require special education and added that teacher training programs unfortunately did not make enough arrangements in 2018 for the education of children with special needs.

There is no solution for the employment of disabled people, transition to adult life, independent living, marriage, right to have children

Ataman said that “Another issue that is not emphasized enough is that there is no solution for the employment of disabled people, transition to adult life, independent living, marriage, right to have children. The issue of how people with disabilities can benefit from all of their fundamental human rights remains a distant star” and added that the right to non-discrimination and equality, accessibility, right to life, equal recognition before the law, freedom of person and security, torture, inhuman degrading treatment or punishment in Article 50 of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are not realized sufficiently.