Adygea: organizers of the first Forum of Sight-Impaired Youth plan to hold it annually

On July 27, the first Republic's Forum of Sight-Impaired Youth, organized by the Adyg Republic's Branch of the All-Russian Society for the Blind (ARSB), was held in the city of Maikop. The event attracted 18 persons, aged 18-40, who arrived in the capital of Adygea from all the municipalities.

"In total, we have 111 members of the ARSB of that age in the republic," said Raisa Tatamir, an expert of the regional branch of the ARSB, and continued: "Most of them are elderly invalids: 64 percent of sight-impaired persons in Adygea are over 55 years old. Our young people need to be encouraged; it is important also to attract unregistered sight-impaired persons."

"Ordinary schools have certain barriers to learning of disabled children; for example, the architectural inaccessibility of the buildings," stated the participants of the forum, "Children in need of specific education are often treated as 'unteachable', while school teachers and principals are often unaware of disability issues and are not ready to involve disabled children in the learning process in classrooms."

After the seminar the participants of the forum watched a film about sight-impaired persons, who managed to achieve great successes in various spheres of life, and discussed it.

"For us, the main objective of the forum was to identify ourselves, to show the authorities that we are willing to cooperate and participate in various programmes for youth support and that we also belong to the youth of the republic!" the participants have added.