Celebrating National Day on Disability

On June 14, 2010, the National Day on Disability, the second exhibition-forum brought together 43 non-governmental, governmental and international organizations. The participant organizations presented the informational-educational materials and handicrafts created by the people with disabilities.

The event was launched with the presentations of photo materials, social commercials, articles, documentary films, TV reports, projects and other activities reflecting advocacy efforts.

In parallel to the exhibition the discussions were held on the following themes:

•          Healthcare, Employment and Social Protection
•          Education: Accessibility and Quality
•          Accessible/Inclusive Environment/Infrastructure
•          Self-actualization of the people with disabilities

The event was concluded with the award ceremony. The jury, comprised of the representatives from NGOs for Human Rights as well as governmental structures and art experts, revealed eleven winners in ten different nominations and announced their names at the ceremony:

•          Marika Kochiashvili, Nomination – “The best article” (“Initials instead of Children”, the magazine “Liberal”, March 31, 2010)
•          Sulkhan Turmanidze and Vasil Kartvelishvili, Nomination – “The best social video-clip”, (“Equal Rights – Equal Opportunities”, 2009, Tbilisi)
•          Giorgi Gvishiani and Levan Tetvadze, Nomination – “The best documentary film” (“How the wall is ruined”, 2010)
•          Beso Darchia, Nomination – “The best photo”, ( “Summer photo session”, Tbilisi, Turtle Lake, 2010)
•          The Coalition for Independent Life, Nomination – “The project implemented by the local NGO” (“Accessible Elections for equal rights”, 2010)
•          The Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection of Georgia, Nomination – “The best state program” (“The subprogram for supporting the employment of people with disabilities”).
•          The Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, Nomination – “The best state program” (“Development of Inclusive Education in nine regional public schools of Georgia”)
•          Ganmukhuri Public School, Nomination – “The best video-clip among public school pupils”.
•          Maia Lomidze, Nomination – “The best TV report” (for the TV report “Me – Ania”  in the program “Courier”, December 3)
•          Ana Goguadze, Nomination – “The best project implemented by the initiative group” (the project “Me – Ania”)
•          Irine Inasaridze, Nomination – “The Interests’ Protector of the Year” (for the tremendous contribution in supporting the integration of people with disabilities into society and protection their interests and rights).

The “Open Society – Georgia” foundation was also participating in the forum. Independently from the jury’s decision, the foundation assigned special awards to Nutsa Kopaliani, the journalist of the Internet TV, for the TV Report “People with Disabilities for Equal Rights”, dated by March 5, 2010 and Guram Kasrashvili, the pupil of Tkibuli 6^th Public School for the social video-clip “.. And still feeling needless”.

“The role of the media in supporting the engagement of the society and boosting public participation is huge. Besides, it is essential to raise public awareness in the regions and therefore we decided to encourage the people who try their best to raise the public awareness and involve the society. The way we talk about this issue or the method we choose for doing this, is extremely important in order to clearly show the real problems these people are facing and stress that they need support and not just compassion. We must prove that they are capable of working and in many cases might be of more benefit for the society than the so called “healthy” ones. We think that both works cover the issue in the right direction” – noted the representatives of the foundation.

Marika Kochiashvili, the magazine “Liberal” journalist, received an additional prize from the company “Zarapkhana” for raising the public awareness and for the photo “My Best Friend”; the World Institute on Disability (WID) awarded all the ten schools nominated for “the best video clip among pupils”. All the winners received additional prizes from the company “Geocell”.

The day for the protection of rights of people with disabilities was also marked within the project “Supporting the development of equal rights for the people with disabilities”, that is funded by the USAID and implemented by the organization “Save the Children” together with the two partner organizations – “Coalition for Independent Life” and “First Step Georgia”.

For more information on the exhibition-forum please visit the website of the “Coalition for Independent Life”.