INTERVIEW: Violeta Dimovska, “Message”
 

Let’s take out the people with intellectual disability from the institutions 

In our opinion, people with intellectual disability should not be placed in some big residential institutions, but alternative services should be developed, in order to start the process of de-institutionalization and inclusion within the society. We have proved that the early treatment, from pre-school age, is possible and key

Marijana Ivanova
 

December, the month where the day dedicated to the handicapped is marked, is this year announcing the Year of the Handicapped People. Next year is going to be dedicated to the people with various kinds of handicap and it might be a turning point in a positive direction, towards improving their living conditions and better inclusion in the social activities and events.

All this, as well as the won 13 November award for 2002, has been the reason to talk to Mrs. Violeta Dimovska, general secretary of the Republic Centre for help of people with mental handicap “Message”, whose basic activity is to represent the interests of over 20,000 people with intellectual disability in Macedonia.

Mrs. Dimovska is a special education teacher – speech therapist and she has been active in “Message” since 1980.

 

C.W. – How did you start working this noble, but also hard social activity?
V.D. – Before I started working actively for Message, I had been employed in the Institute for Hearing, Speaking and Voice in Skopje. I was motivated to choose this job and education of family reasons. The decision to leave the position in the Institute and to start working for Message was a turning point for me. Since 1984 I was lucky to work with Mr. Aloise Pippan, who was the president of Message. He was also a manager of the present Republic bureau for promoting social activities and he should be thanked for the first big steps that turned Message into a successful organization. The daily centres, which operate today, were also his initiative in 1984. Although he is deceased, his idea and work still live.

 

C.W. – How do the daily centres operate?
V.D. – By the initiative of Message, 10 special groups have been formed in the kindergartens, for children with intellectual disability of pre-school age and five-day centres for adolescents, over the age of 18. For school children there is a space to use their potential and to improve their condition – in our opinion they should not be separated from other children and we work a lot on overcoming this discriminatory attitude towards them and people’s prejudices.

The project for setting up special groups for children with intellectual disability started in 1998 and was supported by the PHARE – LIAN program. It lasted two years and after it had ended, it continued on voluntary basis, with striving of 20 mothers who have been trained to work within these groups, in 10 municipalities in the Republic of Macedonia. We have very good relations with parents who were lucky to have children with no intellectual disability, as well as with the personnel in the kindergartens. Three children have been included in the regular education and for us it is a great success and a proof that early treatment is possible and key.

Adolescents are a bigger problem. They are not able to be included in life. We have four daily centres for this age in Skopje, Sveti Nikole, Kochani and Ohrid and the centre in Radovish is going to start in January. They are a kind of social clubs whose objective is to help the families, a part of the day (from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.) these children to be taken care of, under expert supervision and program objectives and tasks, so that their parents could work, improve the standard and at the same time these children to be off the streets and not to worry about their placing in institutions, as well as acquiring some self-living skills – independently.

 

C.W. – What kind of support did you have from the organs of power and the institutions in the country while implementing these projects?
V.D. – Well, when we were starting the project supported by PHARE – LIAN, we had to provide support from the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. We got the support and the Ministry obliged itself to continue the project. But in our country these kinds of support are usually given and we do not think what further, when the project ends. If the country accepts us as partners, we will be able to implement the next steps, which are taking out the people with intellectual disability from the institutions. If they have parents, we will help them get involved in the families of the families themselves. If their parents are passed away, we will provide their independent living in the urban areas where we have volunteers who can work with them. In Message there are professional resources for these activities, but it is important to provide sustainability of such services, to be financially supported by the country.

 

C.W. – Which are, according to you, the biggest problems which people with intellectual disability and their families face in our country?
V.D. – This was discussed at the Conference for improving the human rights of the people with intellectual disability in the civic society, held in June this year in Skopje, co-financed by EIDHR (European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights). There, we concluded that these people and their families do not get the necessary support for complete and active participation in the civic society life. In the legal and sub-legal acts, their rights are represented declaratively, but not applied in practice. It was also concluded that the country should take into consideration the competence of the non-governmental organizations and to prepare criteria for providing a partner relation with the organizations of public interest which represent these people’s rights. In our opinion, their place is not in some big residential institutions, but alternative services should be developed, in order to start the process of de-institutionalisation. At this conference we also adopted a Declaration for the rights of people with intellectual disability, where we give our views on the problems and proposals how to overcome them.

 

C.W. – Your personal efforts, as well as of Message as an organization, have been socially recognized. What does the 13 November award mean to you?
V.D. – It was the first time this award to be given to someone who works in this field, in the group of problems of the handicapped. I am glad to have broken the ice and I hope that the society will continue to appreciate and support the efforts of the activists in this field. I hope that this award means that the society will pay more attention to the handicapped people’s rights. For me, this is not only an award, but also a bigger obligation.
 

National report and guide for the local power 

Last year Message prepared the National report on the human rights of the people with intellectual disability, on the basis of revision of the legal regulation and interview with parents, people self-representatives, local authorities and inquiring random citizens. Eight countries from the region have prepared such reports, within the project supported by the European inclusion. The Macedonian report was evaluated to be the best prepared.

Message has also translated the material “Agenda 22”, prepared by the Swedish Cooperation Body of organizations of people with disability. It is a manual for the local power while planning the policy for the people with this problem.

These documents, as well as the Declaration, (which is in full published in this issue of Civic World, in the column Choice) can be obtained in Message at the following address: Orce Nikolov 122, Skopje. The phone number is 296-960 and the e-mail is: poraka@mol.com.mk.