A man who is hard to reach

No pathos, please. And don't make a hero out of me. I cringe when I hear that heroism is attached to people with disabilities. We are like everyone else, the man from Nikšić advises me with a smile Blagoje Šturanović.

I accept the advice with a smile. That's why I won't write about Blagoj the hero, because heroism has long since become "worn out" in a country where people often need to be reminded of Marko Miljanov and "Examples of courage and heroism". There won't be any pathos either, because we "pathetize" all day anyway, so it's hard to listen to us.

I will write about a man who disarms you with a charming smile, who sometimes needs to be warned to slow down in order not to "write a sentence" because his ideas, wishes and desires are faster than the environment in which he lives. About the man who enabled people with disabilities to walk and take a ride on the catwalk, who introduced the people of Nikšić, through the mural, to Judy Human and reminded them of Frida Kahlo, who, with the help of the local government and UNDP, opened the first club for people with different types of disabilities "Adapt" and decided to adapt the community to them, and not them to the community. And he succeeds. It's just that sometimes it's hard to reach - not because of the cart, but because of will, strength and creativity.

Predestined Plan "B"

Who is Blagoje Šturanović? Director of the non-governmental organization "Mozaik" from Nikšić, which gathers people with disabilities and all together, brick by brick, build a collage of diversity called life. But he is also a young man who always has a plan "B" up his sleeve.

"I am 27 years old and an only child. I live with my parents, and my disability is caused by spinal muscular atrophy, one of the rare diseases. Even though we are not mature as a society, even though we still have a lot to learn, the community where I grew up, and the schools where I studied, were much more mature and advanced than society as it is today."

By chance, as he says, his parents enrolled him in Elementary School "Mileva Lajović Lalatović", and not in the school that was closest to him. The regional department from Rubež was temporarily located in that school, and Blagoje, by chance, ended up in that department.

"The teacher did a great job with the students, before I started, because I was a month late in enrolling, so that everyone accepted me nicely and I never felt like I was different from them. After all, I'm not. When, after a month, they returned to Rubeža, I also went with them, although it is quite far from me, because I live in the city. I didn't want to change the good team I started with. I never felt like I was a burden to them, despite the fact that we didn't have accessible cabinets and everything, but that wasn't a problem for them. I think they learned a lot then. They are all great, wonderful people with whom I am still in contact".

When he transferred to his home school in the sixth grade, he was again greeted by great people, exceptional teaching staff and... the inaccessibility of classrooms and offices, so his parents had to carry him up the stairs until he finished elementary school.

He says with a smile that he thinks that sometimes the teachers "saw through his fingers", although they never wanted to admit it, that he never wanted to use his disability in elementary school to have some privileges, except for one - he was a real little talker and for that he only received harmless warnings.

He wanted to enroll in the Vocational Secondary School, but due to its inaccessibility, he had to resort to plan "B" and enroll in the Economic and Hospitality Secondary School, legal-administrative major. As he says, luckily his plan "A" didn't work out.

"Somehow, all my life I wanted to do one, but by chance I did the other, and every time it turned out that the second option was better. It was the same with high school. It was the first generation of the legal-administrative course and it was really phenomenal there. It is one of the most beautiful periods in my life. A great team, and there were also students with whom I finished elementary school, so I have been friends with some of them for 20 years".

Although he graduated from high school in 2015, it is still the only high school in Nikšić that is accessible to people with wheelchairs.

"Until recently, we had most of the primary schools that were inaccessible. It's really an absurdity. Primary education is mandatory, but you don't get the opportunity to complete it".

And for college admissions, plan "B" was better than plan "A". He wanted to enroll in information technology, but because of the trip to Podgorica, he enrolled in sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Nikšić. He has six exams left before receiving his bachelor's degree, but due to his work, he cannot finish the university. The salary, the possibility to work and earn money, and later the establishment of "Mozaik", drew him away from sociology. Until when, he does not know. Maybe until the new plan "B".

The invisible became visible

"As a high school student, I was involved in the non-governmental sector. I became active because I wanted to try to change everything that was bothering me. Every day I encountered some obstacle that I hadn't thought about before, and I started looking for a way to solve them somehow. I educated myself and others, learned about human rights, about the rights I have like any other citizen. I joined the Association of Disabled Youth of Montenegro, met people with disabilities who were active, who fought for a good status in society. At that time, it was a concept for me to see someone driving his car, or living independently. All this motivated me to start working in order to be financially independent".

And plan B enters the scene again. He underwent training for aquaponic production as part of the "Artos" project, which was implemented by the Diocese of Budamiljansko-Niššić, was among the three best candidates and got the opportunity to get a job. But the condition was that he had a decision on the percentage of disability. Although, as he says, he submitted the request on time, the committee did not sit for more than six months, so another candidate got the job.

“And plan B again. Goran Macanović, my great friend, as part of a project founded the company 'Oganj', which was engaged in the production of souvenirs, and invited me to run the digital press. I spent two and a half nice years there and then we became colleagues Mirjana Spasojevic and I founded 'Mozaik'. We received the decision for the non-governmental organization in February 2020, and soon after that the corona started. In the beginning, we couldn't get too active. We entered the office on December 1, 2021 and began to 'import' people into 'Mosaic'. Now we have 50 to 100 members and volunteers, but not all of them are always active".

His first idea was to "get" people out of houses and apartments.

"We really got some people out of their houses who hadn't come out for five years. They say we 'brought them back to life'. Now it is completely normal to meet a large number of people in wheelchairs, with crutches, who have been accepted by the community as a part of themselves".

They became "visible". And that is what Blagoje wanted - to "turn on the light" and bring the invisible out of the darkness.

"You can become visible only if you are there, if others see you. That's why my first job was very important to me - not because of the salary, but because I showed my peers that I also get up every morning at seven o'clock, that I go to work in the snow and in the rain. I didn't have a car, so I walked to work. When it rains, the wind breaks my umbrella, it falls out of my hand, but I don't give up".

After peers, it was the local administration's turn. He also wanted to show them that they are hardworking, creative, and that they can and will be equal partners. They came across an open door, got the necessary help, a vehicle and a space for the club, and then Blagoje "swaggered" with ideas.

"When organizations write projects, they put two or three big activities. And I, seven or eight. And not just any kind".

He dreams of an equal society with equal opportunities

The fact that they organized the first fashion show for people with disabilities in Nikšić, when about thirty models "conquered" Nikšić's Trg slobode, and presented fellow citizens with a mural of Frida Kahlo, the Mexican painter without whom the story of painting in the last decades of the 20th century, speaks of what kind of ideas it is. unimaginable, and Judy Human, an internationally recognized advocate of the rights of persons with disabilities, who many consider the progenitor of the movement for PWDs. We are talking about women who had polio, but who are not talked about as disabled people, but as successful women.

Next week they will show a film they made about women with disabilities in Montenegro. That's just part of what they've done and are doing.

"I want us to progress day by day, to prove ourselves as much as possible, to develop new ideas and projects. I don't believe in a magic wand, but in knowledge, capacity and persistence. This is what adorns our members and is how we change the local community. We talk to them, introduce them to us and our activities, make jokes about our disability to make it easier for them to communicate with us. We want to get involved in all spheres of life, to be everywhere".

And they cannot be everywhere. They are not enabled to do so because many institutions and institutions are still inaccessible to them. Blagoje is 27 years old and although we are a country of eternal elections, he has not yet managed to exercise his right to vote, due to, as he says, the 150-euro assembly ramp.

The members of "Mozaik" continue to stack the dice - a new cycle of creative workshops, psycho-social support, legal counseling is starting, and by the end of the year they will organize the first Assembly of Persons with Disabilities in Nikšić.

"I dream of an equal society with equal opportunities, that everyone will be able to get regular education, to be in the regular employment process, to be able to achieve the most banal things - to get into a taxi, a store, a boutique. It's inclusion. We do not need to adapt to society, but society must adapt to the needs of its citizens. They don't have to include us in events. We can also include others, as we included people without disabilities, members of minority communities for the fashion show. I would tell all people with disabilities to leave the house despite all the problems they have, to be as visible as possible, to come to our club and try to solve their problems together. I know it's hard, I know it's sometimes unpleasant, we've all been through it, but if we want to change our lives, we have to go out, be part of the community".

And when you leave, there are Blagoje and the members of "Mozaik" waiting for you with open arms and a smile in Vardarska street.