Social and child protection services are not available, nor are they accessible to people with disabilities throughout Montenegro, it was announced at the conference of the Association of the Blind of Montenegro (SSCG), reports the PR center.
The conference "Are social and child protection services available to persons with disabilities in Montenegro" was organized within the project "Equality to a dignified life of PWDs in Montenegro".
The executive director of the Alliance, Goran Macanović, emphasized in his opening speech that all institutions of the system should undertake activities and measures in order to create conditions for the inclusion of PWDs in all areas of life on the basis of equality and principles of dignified life.
"In order to succeed in this, the institutions should work on removing various obstacles and barriers that, together with the state and society, impose on PWDs in their daily functioning," he said.
Macanović emphasized that it is necessary to apply an individual approach to PWDs, which implies that all PWDs are individuals in their own right. Everyone has their own different wishes, goals, abilities, and society, institutions and the state are obliged to respect these different preferences and wishes.
"In order for them to be able to implement their decisions independently, it does not mean that they should do everything by themselves, it is necessary that they have some support through support services," said Macanović.
Although it was planned, the representative of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare did not participate in the introductory part.
Project assistant of the Association of the Blind of Montenegro, Anđela Dragović, presented the key findings of the Analysis and program of providing the service of a sighted companion.
"In order for visually impaired people to have the opportunity to live according to the principles of an independent life, it is necessary for the state to introduce new support services, recognized precisely through "other services", among which is the Sighted Companion service implemented by the Association of the Blind", said Dragović.
According to her, visually impaired people do not have the prerequisites for independent movement due to the absence of a training program for the use of a white cane, the absence of experts, peripathologists, who would carry out the training, and the presence of a large number of obstacles and barriers in the environment that discourages them from using a white cane as self-taught stick, the PR center reports.
The analysis showed that many services recognized by the Law on Social and Child Protection, namely in the domain of support for life in the community, have not taken root in practice, such as: housing with support, drop-in centers, interpretation and translation into sign language.
Dragović said that PWDs have an equal right to an independent life, inclusion in the community, regardless of other characteristics, and the right to choose where and with whom they want to live.
Within the panel "Availability of social and child protection services for persons with disabilities in Montenegro", representatives of three local non-governmental organizations of persons with disabilities highlighted the unavailability of social and child protection services that are necessary on a daily basis, emphasizing the following services: personal assistance, help at home , psychosocial support, support for family life.
Executive director of the NGO Youth Initiative Boka, Miroslava Mima Ivanović, speaking about the necessity of a personal assistant, assessed that there are a number of obstacles in realizing that right. "I need personal assistance, but it is very difficult for me to finance my personal assistant all the time, I can only do it for about 10 to 12 hours a day," said Ivanovic.
According to her, there are a number of problems that the competent institutions are not solving, which affect the PWD and their everyday life. "I have to go through the evaluation procedure again," she said
Ivanovic added that PWDs have to pay more money for a personal assistant than their income.
"Then why our struggle, if the Ministry is of the opinion that 800 euros is enough for us. They don't know what it means, nor are they interested," Ivanovic pointed out.
Assistant on the project and executive director of the Association for Support of Persons with Disabilities in Bijelo Polje, Samir Guberinić, answering the question whether services for PWDs are available in that city, said that the situation is not at an enviable level.
"There are certain services within the larger organizations in Bijelo Polje, but there is no system solution," said Guberinić.
He pointed to a series of problems that PWDs face on a daily basis, but also to the passivity of those responsible for solving them. "It's very difficult, but somehow we manage," said Guberinić.
The executive director of the NGO Mozaik from Nikšić, Blagoje Šturanović, said that even in that city, the situation regarding the availability of services for the disabled is not satisfactory.
"As someone who is young and has used a wheelchair all his life, I was too little informed about the rights of PWDs. I notice that there is not much empathy on the part of the employees of the Center for Social Work, and I can freely say that they are not doing their job as they should", said Šturanović.
During the panel, it was assessed that the necessary services have not been developed, that they are not available, and when they are available, they are not affordable or sustainable, and that most services are implemented by the NGO sector. All of the above leads to the social exclusion of PWDs and prevents the active and purposeful participation of PWDs in all areas of life.
In the final part, Ivanovic reminded that they have the right to free legal aid.
"Get in touch as much as possible, because the more requests we make, the institutions will have to respond," said Ivanovic.
According to her, they have been fighting for their own for 20 years and "I don't want to teach anyone their business".
Guberinić said that it is difficult to do anything.
"I don't want to say anything to the authorities, because they don't hear anything," Guberinić pointed out.
Šturanović told PWDs to get involved in local organizations, in order to jointly continue the started struggle.
"I hope that we will not have to go to Germany or Sweden and that we will succeed in creating a welfare state," Šturanović said.
He called on the authorities to include PWDs in their work.
The conference is realized within the framework of the project "Equality to a dignified life of PWDs in Montenegro", which is implemented by the Association of the Blind of Montenegro in partnership with the Association for Support of Persons with Disabilities Bijelo Polje, and is financed by the European Union through support for civil society (CSF) and the Ministry of Public administration, digital society and media of Montenegro.
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