Crisis in Ukraine
Did you know many disabled people, elderly disabled people, and even D/Deaf people living in Ukraine or unaware of the number than New Zealand? Yes, it isn’t apparent on the actual population of Ukrainians D/deaf people plus D/deaf with disabilities people. There are approximately 7.2 million disabled people, including D/Deaf people facing the brink of war by their neighbour country-Russia. There are about 400,000 and 450,000 D/deaf people and D/deaf with disabilities in Ukraine, according to DeafBridge. The other article stated about 45,000 D/deaf people or less than 40,000 D/deaf people because they do not belong to their Deaf Organisation in Ukraine. (These figures record back in 2015 through Widipeaka.)
The history is repeating – war.
Our mother’s great-grandparents came from Prussia-Germany, and they came to New Zealand via Hamburg and England in the 1870s as a new fresh life. Our second great-grandfather and his son were soldiers fighting their country – Prussia. Moving on, one Deaf with CP and speech impaired man’s parents came out from Germany via Poland to New Zealand as a new life. His father does not talk about the war to anyone here. One of my formerly deaf older ladies – Mary, with her husband and the only daughter, came out to live in New Zealand from Kent, England. Her husband was an airforce, and a two-times POW in Vietnam and another country during World War 2. Her husband went through terrible times. Mary always tells me her experience living through the Blitz in Kent, London and other parts of the region, but she spent more time in Kent than London. Her husband tells me his experience in the POW camps and always thinks of his deaf wife, Mary, to wonder how she can manage daily life with her deafness. He said he had enough of war when he saw or read articles about fighting, war on television and newspapers. He gets furious about repeating the war history that affected people’s lives. I was a deaf Health carer to Mary for five years until I left for my BA in Arts. Their stories remained in my mind as I tried to put words here and most of their stories were unbearable to describe to you here, such as tortures, starving, air raids, shortage of foods and no powers, and the list go on.
Let’s go back to the people marching out of their homeland, ‘Ukraine’ with no future; where is their hope – ceasefire or end the war by the Russians. It has been day thirteen since the first bombing, and there is no sign of truce or end the war.
The critical problem is the communication – “The deaf don’t have access to communication about what’s happening and what they need to do, and they’re taking things day by day,” Chris said.”
Here is another detail – “There’s an armed group of deaf men that is helping to get the deaf out of the villages and towns and to the borders,” Chris said Sunday. “They called Pavlo and said they’re out of food, and they don’t know where to go. I had a connection with the German government and they have a special asylum waiting for deaf people as well. Their biggest goal is to get that communication and coordination to the deaf population.” https://www.weatherforddemocrat.com/news/weatherford-couple-on-a-mission-to-help-ukraines-deaf-population/article_af8d4c58-98ec-11ec-93fc-83b130786a73.html
Arkady Belozovsky reported daily information through his Facebook, allowing audiences to know what happened, any updates, urgent needs, and other issues.
There is an excellent website which I use a lot, it is called ‘Off the Grid Missions. Here is the link –https://www.offthegridmissions.org/ukraine
Unable to access this newspaper due to joining in and paying if staying on by starting a free trial to read this newspaper. It is not worth it for me, perhaps anyone who can access this article from Telegraph.co.uk, it would be great to send to me…. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/03/07/cant-hear-going-feel-shaking-reality-war-ukraines-deaf-children/
How about this one? “From inaccessible evacuation centers to a lack of information in accessible formats such as braille or sign language, the lack of proper resources for people with disabilities has had devastating consequences. “There are people [with disabilities] trapped, there are people dying; we have been left behind,” Yuliia Sachuk, the chairperson for Fight for Right, a prominent national Ukrainian organization that supports persons with disabilities, said in a statement shared by the Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies, a U.S organization devoted to inclusive disaster relief.” https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/ukraine-s-most-vulnerable-refugees-are-against-more-just-russia-n1291106
Want to donate to the right organisations????
Best to: – World Federation for Deaf People https://wfdeaf.org/donate/
: European Union of the Deaf https://www.eud.eu/news/european-union-deaf-eud-stands-solidarity-ukrainian-society-deaf-usd/
: DeafBridge https://www.deafbridge.com
: Off-the-Grid Missions https://www.offthegridmissions.org
