The moral health of a society can be assessed by how it relates to the least protected part of it - the elderly, children and the disabled. Today, relatively favorable conditions have begun to be created for disabled people by state bodies, but are people themselves ready to accept this category of citizens as equal members of society?
Who remembers the good old fairy tale by Valentin Kataev "Seven-colored flower"? The girl Zhenya spent six magic petals on fulfilling her own whims when she met the boy Vitya. Vitya was disabled and could not play with other children, so he was sad and lonely. Zhenya made a seven-color flower for Vitya to become healthy.
Disabled person and society
Kataev's fairy tale, which at first glance is kind and positive, involuntarily reflects the attitude of society towards this category of the population: a disabled person cannot be completely happy in his condition. As cynical as it sounds, in the days of the Soviet Union, this was exactly how the attitude towards disabled people was. They were not discredited, they were not limited in their rights, but they were shy.
And the disguise of latent discrimination was the exaltation of the "real Soviet man", whose existence was impossible to hide - Maresyev, Nikolai Ostrovsky. The official position of the state was to deny the existence of persons with disabilities as a phenomenon.
An absurdity, and not the only one in the history of the Soviet Union. But it was precisely this policy that led to the fact that the disabled became a non-existent category - they exist, but they seem to be not there. Therefore, the attitude towards them on the territory of the post-Soviet space, primarily on the part of society, is very different from the attitude of the world community towards people with disabilities.
Situation of disabled people in the Russian Federation
The state has finally recognized the existence of the problem, and a whole program has been developed for the legal and socio-economic rehabilitation of disabled people. But it will be more difficult to overcome the attitude of society that has developed over decades.
Squeamish-pitiful-sympathetic - approximately these words can describe the attitude towards disabled people of the average man in the street.
Limited opportunities
A person with disabilities - this is how a disabled person is positioned today. Although, logically, where the limit of possibility is, it is rather difficult to determine. It can hardly be called limited opportunities for the Paralympians, when a slalom skier with a missing limb passes a track that a healthy person cannot pass.
How to deal with people with disabilities
Limited physical capabilities do not mean a limitation in intelligence, responsiveness, talent.
Naturally, the first impression of a disabled person's appearance can be anything, up to a stupor. But, firstly, an intelligent person will be able to pull himself together and not demonstrate his feelings, and secondly, disabled people, as a rule, are already prepared by life for such a perception.
So the next stage may be just communication, during which it will be found out whether people can become friends or the meeting will turn into a simple acquaintance. After all, even among people with "unlimited opportunities" not all relationships develop into friendship.
