People with Disabilities in Ukraine

Tetiana Maidaniuk

BEFORE YOU READ:
1. Ukraine has been in the news a lot lately. Share what you have heard.
2. Find Ukraine on a map. Notice what countries are nearby. Share what you know about the area.

Discrimination Makes Things Very Hard for People with Disabilities
In Ukraine, my home country, there is discrimination against people with disabilities. My country does not have accessible buildings or proper medicine or support. Due to the war, there are now even more people with disabilities.

If you live in Ukraine, and you are in a wheelchair, it may be very hard for you to leave your home. You may be put in an institution where you will not get adequate care.

Children with physical disabilities in Ukraine do not have equal opportunities to study at school with other children. There are only a few schools in Ukraine that are equipped with special wheelchair access. Also, in most schools there is no special transport or staff.

Due to the inaccessibility of schools, parents of such children often have no personal life and do not go to work because they are the only people available to take care of their children. There is no other support for their families. I worked in a hospital in Ukraine, and I saw many families struggle with this lack of support for people with disabilities.

This Is What We Need
Ukrainian society must take steps towards positive changes. Disabled people should be able to live full and comfortable lives. Ukraine should have:

• barrier-free infrastructure
• adaptive vehicles
• specialized services, specifically schools for people with disabilities
• technological solutions, like the ability to get medical devices such as wheelchairs
• social support

War Makes It Worse
Of course, the war makes it hard for the society to focus on anything else. But the war also makes it essential for Ukraine to address these issues because many more people now have physical and mental disabilities.

AFTER YOU READ:
1. Discuss discrimination and equal opportunities in the context of this article. In what ways is discrimination against people with disabilities evident in Ukraine? According to the author, what should be done about it?
2. How does war affect disabled people?

Tetiana Maidaniuk is a student at Plainville Adult and Continuing Education in Plainville, Connecticut. She is married and has two sons, one in high school and one in middle school. She works as a caregiver to the elderly who speak Ukrainian and Polish. Her dream is to learn the English language.

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PTSD from the Iraq War

Blanca Carolina Bernasconi

BEFORE YOU READ:
1. PTSD stands for post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is a mental health condition. If you experience or witness an extremely stressful or terrifying event, you might have PTSD.
2. What do you know about the Iraq war? What does it mean to be deployed?
3. When you use a as a prefix, it means the ab-sence of. Apnea means the absence of breathing. Other examples: atheist, arrythmia, amorphous.

Deployed to Iraq Six Times
My friend Joe has a disability. He has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He got PTSD from his time in the military.

Joe joined the army when he was 18 years old. He was a truck driver. He transported soldiers, weapons, food, and other supplies.

He was deployed to Iraq six times from 2002 to 2007. He would go to Iraq for six months and then come home for six months. He started having trouble sleeping.

Now a Retired, Disabled Veteran
After his last deployment, he was diagnosed with PTSD. He also has sleep apnea and back problems. He retired from the Army as a disabled veteran.

Joe is married to my friend Crystal. They have three children and two grandkids. He has a beautiful family. Joe continues to be a good friend. I am happy because even though Joe suffers from PTSD, he is surrounded by loving people.

AFTER YOU READ:
1. Write a one-sentence summary of this article.
2. Learn more about prefixes (e.g., post and a). Learning prefixes helps you learn vocabulary!

Blanca Carolina Bernasconi was a student at Ysleta Community Learning Center in El Paso, Texas.

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The U.S. Does a Good Job, But There Is Room for Improvement

Celeste Yauli

BEFORE YOU READ:
1. What does “room for improvement” mean? Have you ever used this phrase? Or heard it used?
2. Read the title, subtitle, and the headings. What do you think this article will be about?
3. For more on polio, see the article on pp. 18-19.

In Peru, He Felt Like a Burden
My father-in-law has a physical disability. He can’t walk. He doesn’t want to be treated as a burden, but he likes to feel special. My father-in-law developed polio when he was four years old. He was born in Peru in 1951.

Due to the disease, he lost the ability to move his legs. He was sent to a rehabilitation clinic in Lima, Peru. His father passed away when he was a baby, and his mother didn’t have money to take care of him, so he stayed at the clinic for his whole childhood.

It was hard for him to be in the clinic without his mother and siblings for all those years. Imagine a four-year-old boy waking up every day away from home, just waiting for his family’s next visit. He missed home every day, but the clinic started to feel like home.

In the clinic he had food, education, and medical attention, and he was surrounded by people with all kinds of physical disabilities. Inside the clinic, they looked after him. He was no different than the others, and he had the same opportunities.

But outside the clinic, he was considered a burden. Something so simple as trying to ride the public bus reminded him that Peruvian public services were not ready to accommodate his needs. At the bus stops, the bus drivers wouldn’t let him ride. They would make comments such as, “We are in a hurry. Wait for the next bus.” Or they said, “There is not enough space for you.”

He would try to go on his wheelchair for short distances to avoid the difficulty of taking a bus, but even that was not easy. Peruvian streets were not accessible for his wheelchair because there were not many ramps and when there were, they were damaged, or blocked by cars.

My father-in-law didn’t know that he had the right to receive the same opportunities as everyone else until he came to the U.S. where he felt not different, but special. American society has made many successful adaptations to their public services and infrastructure to accommodate the needs of people with physical disabilities.

In the U.S., He Was Treated with Respect
When my father-in-law came to the U.S., he discovered he could ride a public bus in his wheelchair without problems. There is a system here that ensures he can ride the bus safely.

Another public service benefit he received was when we visited the Grand Canyon National Park, and he was given free access. And at the main gate, they gave him a special card that meant he could park in the handicap spaces. My father-in-law was so happy and felt very special. That made him realize how U.S. society respects his disability and provides him with extra benefits to make him feel not only equal, but important. He always talks about that day with pride.

In addition, the public infrastructure in the U.S. allows him to go out in his wheelchair with no trouble. The sidewalks have ramps, and they are not blocked by cars. Furthermore, he can go to a public pool and swim since they have a special system for people with physical disabilities to get in and out of the water. Being able to go for a walk and go swimming makes him feel no different than everybody else.

Room for Improvement in the U.S.
U.S. society may have good infrastructure for people with physical disabilities, however, it needs a lot of work when it comes to disabilities that you cannot see, like mental disorders. Mental disabilities can be invisible. It is critical for our society to invite people with mental disabilities to express their needs, struggles, and expectations from everyone else. In response, we should be receptive and respond to their needs without judgement.

In some ways, the U.S. is a good example for other countries. There is decent public infrastructure for people with physical disabilities. However, we could do better when it comes to accommodating people with invisible disabilities. We need to improve access for people with mental health issues, so we can get closer to an all-inclusive society where everyone feels valued and supported.

AFTER YOU READ:
Make a chart with two columns. In the first column, put a heading that says, “Celeste’s father-in-law’s experience in Peru.” In the second column, put a heading that says “Celestes’ father-in-law’s experience in the U.S.” Underneath each heading, write notes about his experiences in the two places. Your notes should include a mix of paraphrasing of the text and quotes from the text. (Make sure to use quotation marks for direct quotes.) After you take notes, write a couple of paragraphs on the topic.

Celeste is from Perú and lives with her husband, children, and parents in Windsor, California. She is part of the Business Management program at Santa Rosa Junior College. She is taking college classes while working, so she can continue improving herself. She is very proud of her three boys and wants to set an example for them that it is never too late for learning and that honest and hard work always pays off.

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An Unheard Life: The Story of My Father

Elizabeth Saenz Ortega

BEFORE YOU READ:
1. In this article, someone dies by suicide. Please read with care and support. If you need to talk to someone, call 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org/. Help is available in English or Spanish and for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
2. Read about alcoholism in the box on the next page. Why is it important to understand that alcoholism is a disease?
3. In English, the prefix un means “not, or the opposite of.” An unheard life is a life that no on has heard about. Use un with other words.

First, He Got More and More Isolated
In 1974, my parents and their eight daughters moved to Ciudad Juarez. My father stopped working because my older sisters asked him to. They wanted him to rest and enjoy being with the family. My sisters took over the household finances.

My parents stayed home while we studied and worked. My father gradually lost his hearing. He refused to use hearing aids, so he had very little interaction with family or friends. He isolated himself in his bedroom, which he no longer shared with my mother. He spent all his time listening to the radio or TV at high volume and drinking alcohol.

He Was Suffering More than We Knew
I’m sorry to say we felt ashamed of him. When he was drunk, we were disgusted by him. We didn’t realize that his isolation and loneliness were causing him to become deeply depressed. Over time, we all went our separate ways. We sold our family home. My mother went to live with one sister, and my father went to live with another sister.

One Sunday, in June 1991, my father committed suicide. He went to my sister’s house. While she was preparing breakfast, my father went out to the yard. Minutes later, my sister went to look for him. She found him hanging from a tree with a noose around his neck.

It was a terrible experience. He had often said that he was suffering, but we didn’t believe him. We thought he was trying to manipulate us. It wasn’t until later that we understood that his alcoholism was a disease. His deafness made him isolated. These two conditions made him severely depressed. They led him to end his life.

We Live with Regret
Now we wish we had shown more love and understanding. Maybe if we understood his illness, we could have done more. Our regrets have kept open the wound caused by his death.

AFTER YOU READ:
1. What happened to Elizabeth’s father that contributed to his isolation? Be specific.
2. With this story, the author has changed her father’s story to one that is no longer unheard. Why do you think she wanted to do this?
3. Write a letter to the author. Respond to some of the details she shares in her story. What would you say to her about her regrets?

Elizabeth Saenz Ortega is a student at Ysleta Community Learning Center in El Paso, Texas. She worked as a nurse in Mexico for more than 30 years. In 2018, she came to the United States and worked as a care provider. Later, she became a certified phlebotomist. In 2024, she became a U.S. citizen.

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Emmanuel

Cristina I. Guerrero

BEFORE YOU READ:
1. What is unconditional love? Have you ever observed it between children? If so, describe it.
2. As you read, underline the ways that Emmanuel was integral to the community.

Accepted and Supported at School
When my son was in middle school, he had a friend named Emmanuel. He was born blind, but his disability did not stop him from learning or playing.

At school, his classmates and teacher helped him. In the morning, when his parents dropped him off, his teacher was there to meet him. During the day, his friends helped him go to his classes. They guided him. Emmanuel was always attentive in class and willing to learn. All the students knew about his disability. They helped him without judging him. I think he felt accepted and supported.

Playing and Having Fun at Home
My son and his friends sometimes visited Emmanuel at his house. My son told me that when Emmanuel was at home, he did not need to be guided. He moved around his house as if he could see everything. The kids would play, run, dance, and have fun.

What I Learned from Emmanuel
They were in school for several years until they graduated and each took different paths. Emmanuel and my son taught me something important. They taught me the value of friendship.

Friendship between children can be a form of unconditional love. They can teach us something about community and respect and helping others in need.

AFTER YOU READ:
1. What did the author learn by observing her son’s relationship with Emmanuel?
2. Read the article on p. 24, “That Boy.” What is different and what is similar about these stories?

Cristina I. Guerrero is a student at Ysleta Community Learning Center in El Paso, Texas. She is trying to learn English but it is hard because all her life she has only spoken Spanish. However, she has set her mind to learn it because she has seen how important it is for getting a job or having a conversation with other people.

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