From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 713):
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the Lord is to be praised!
Psalm 113:3
This month, my students have been learning about blind people and people with visual impairments, looking for ways to serve them. When we had visitors from the ministry to the blind, they told us about the increasing number of blind people in Ukraine due to the war, especially those whose eyes were hurt during mine explosions.
Our first-graders have been learning about people with disabilities, especially those with prosthetic limbs. Recent estimates say there are about 25,000 people with amputations in Ukraine, and their number keeps on rising.
I’m glad that our children learn to be aware of different people and see beyond the disability. It’s something that wasn’t really taught at school when I was a child because of the Soviet mindset when the not-so-pretty aspects of life were covered up and spoken about in hushed voices, maintaining the pretty picture for the masses. That’s why we are still learning to be inclusive, trying to find ways to make our public places more accessible to people with disabilities. It will take a mental change on both sides, yet this change is inevitable if we want to have a healthy society.
That’s why I’m happy to see more and more social initiatives raising awareness in Ukraine. For example, the Ukrainian football (soccer) club “Shakhtar” forms a team for Ukrainian soldiers who have lost limbs due to combat injuries to create all the necessary conditions for Ukrainian veterans to return to an everyday and active life.
Voice of Ukraine 