“They are like under house arrest” – Oybek Isokov raises the issue of people with disabilities

Chairman of the Association of People with Disabilities of Uzbekistan Oybek Isokov noted that funds are being allocated for the purchase of equipment and products for people with disabilities, but adequate attention is not paid to their quality.

Chairman of the Association of People with Disabilities of Uzbekistan Oybek Isokov spoke about several problems in the sphere.

“The biggest problem for people with disabilities is that an accessible environment has not yet been created. In foreign countries, you can see many people with disabilities doing outdoor activities on the streets, but in our country you will not see a single person with a disability doing such things. They are all at home, as if they are under house arrest. Who is to blame? We are. We did not create an environment suitable for them. We have done nothing for over 20 years, but only talking,” Kun.uz correspondent quotes Oybek Isokov as saying.

Isokov noted that the association conducted monitoring, which revealed that the buildings are not adapted for people with disabilities. Even in Tashkent, only in 10 percent of the buildings people with disabilities may move freely.

Another problem mentioned by the chairman of the association is the problem of employment of persons with disabilities.

“At a meeting with the President in November 2019, it was said that 80 percent of people with disabilities may be employed. However, currently only 2 percent of them have a job. There is a 3 percent quota, but it does not work. No one raises this question,” Isokov said at a joint meeting of the Legislative Chamber Committee on Labor and Social Affairs and representatives of the People’s Democratic Party in the lower house on February 26.

He also mentioned the fact that the process of obtaining rehabilitation technical equipment and prosthetic and orthopedic products for people with disabilities is ongoing, but no one pays attention to their quality.

“For example, the state allocates 5 million soums for the purchase of one wheelchair, but for this amount they buy 2 of them from a low-standard Chinese company. They do not even give warranty. We chase quantity, but forget about quality. Why should we lie to each other; the purchased wheelchair will break down within two months?” he says.

According to Oybek Isokov, currently more than 10 ministries and committees are involved in the issues of people with disabilities.

“There is no actual ministry working in this sphere since 2000. Disability issues were referred to the Ministry of Labor, then to the Ministry of Health. They have enough problems of their own. The problem of people with disabilities is a secondary matter for them. It is necessary to create a Ministry of Social Protection. It exists in all countries of the world, except for Uzbekistan.

Why do we need a wheelchair if a person is not able to leave his house and go out to the street?

What does structural change mean? It is about ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We have not ratified it for 10 years, and no one can give proper reason for this.

If we do not ratify this convention, then there will be no systemic changes,” Isokov says.

According to him, among the CIS countries there are only 2 states that have not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. These are Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.