At the Culture House in Sterlitamak people who became disabled in the Special Military Operation were taught to survive in the realities of indifference

For the International Day of People with Disabilities, the local administration decided to hold the We are Building Bridges inclusive festival in the city culture house.

Besides civilian disabled people, who were in the minority at the festival, people who became disabled in the  military operations were also invited – primarily militants of the so-called Special Military Operation, and disabled people of other imperial wars such as the Chechen or Afghan wars ended up at the event as a “trailer” to the main heroes of the occasion.

In general, there is nothing special: a more or less ordinary event for the disabled people, of whom there are many in different countries of the world. However, everything happened in a Soviet building, which was built without taking into account the existence of the people with disabilities, since in the Soviet Union disabled people were almost enemies of the people.

A few years ago, the hall was decorated a little with metal sheets on the outside quickly and cheaply (even without taking into account the Soviet decoration), but the inside remained the same as it was when it hosted a concert for the Day of the Withdrawal of Troops from Afghanistan.

The road in front of the cultural house is in terrible condition, it is not possible to use wheelchairs. There are no ramps either outside or inside. Before the concert, the audience has nowhere to sit and they should lean on the columns in the foyer. It is very cold in the hall. The toilets are in a terrible state of disrepair, while there are few of them and one has to wait in line. Not everyone with disabilities can wait. The doors to the toilets do not close, there are no hangers for things, the flush tanks are on a wire and not all of them operate. All this not to mention the fact that a person in a wheelchair will not find a special booth for the disabled people, but he will not even be able just to enter the toilet in a wheelchair, since it is too narrow.

In addition to this whole picture, there is a “job fair” in the hall – they will not offer any normal work, and they have nothing for the disabled people in general. They are looking for those who are willing to work hard for a bowl of rice.

Children also participated in the event and acted in front of the disabled people – there are no locker rooms for changing clothes, and they have to put their things on the windowsill.

For several consecutive years, covens of grandfathers on sticks bearers gathered in the same hall every May 9. But none of the veteran grandfathers came there for the same reason – no conditions for the elderly and disabled people. Pretentious show for the poor.

Did the terrorist veterans of the Chechen and Afghan wars think that their sons would, just like them, sit in this hall without limbs or with shell shock, etc., where no one would care about them just as much as about any soldier of the empire that can no longer fight and expand its borders, and therefore no one needs him?