Tomorrow we will be traveling to Bokonbayevo to document the Scientific Technology and Language Institutes’ (STLI) work with children who have disabilities.
A chalkboard in a school for children with disabilities. Education is key for the development and social acceptance of the disabled community.
According to OECD’s 2009 publication, “Students with Special Needs and Those with Disabilities,” 1% of the child population in the Kyrgyz Republic is disabled. Such under-representation of children with disabilities (international standard is 2.5 percent) shows the challenges the Kyrgyz Republic must face to meet the needs of these children.
“Clearly, many of them are not, at present, being served or even identified by the education system,” the publication states.
STLI’s mission in Bokonbayevo, and throughout the Issyk-Kul oblast, is to improve the health and general well being of rural children with disabilities. They do this by maintaining three centers, which have the resources to improve the children’s health, create an inclusive social environment and provide an education.
We will be meeting with Beth Harden, a physical therapist who helps children and families by giving a proper diagnosis, information on educational opportunities and developing physical and mental abilities.
Many disabled children, and adults, are shunned throughout Central Asia. Though the Kyrgyz government has passed numerous laws calling for the equal treatment of the disabled, these laws seem to only exist on paper.
The overall goal of STLI and the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia, which helps various civil society organizations with similar missions, is to spread awareness of the rights and potential of these children and the disabled community as a whole.
