"I normally dream of going back to school. Now I am enrolled in the 10th grade but because of the access I am not going... I really miss going to school. I miss my friends, my girlfriends... I haven't been to the 10th grade yet because there is no access, I haven't been yet", Blerina Krasniqi confesses.
The eighteen-year-old girl from the village of Grashtica in Pristina is facing challenges and social barriers. He never blames others, even if he heard words that hurt him a lot.
"When I was younger, they told me 'we are going to overthrow Blerina' and different things, but normally I don't blame them for the fact that we were children in the second or third grade". continues Blerina's narration.
Movement is a fundamental right of every person in the world. However, Blerina did not continue her education after the end of the ninth grade due to the lack of grades in schools.
Not in regular education, but recently studying 10th grade only with class exams.
Over 212 students are enrolled in primary and lower secondary education in Kosovo.
According to the data of the Ministry of Education, only about 3700 children are disabled.
However, it is not known how many children are out of school.
According to the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, primary education is compulsory and free of charge.
"Public institutions ensure for each person equal opportunities to be educated, according to his/her special abilities and needs". it is stated in the Constitution.
"Women who have children with disabilities or even girls and boys with disabilities, the biggest challenge they face during their lives, means up to the age of 18, is physical access to schools. Many of them find it impossible to continue their education due to physical access, which unfortunately is missing in most of our schools. Also, another challenge is acceptance in society, the prejudices that occur in our society", says Blerina Bajrami Marevci from Handikos in Gjilan.
The sixth child of the Krasniqi family, who is diagnosed with cerebral palsy, aims to become an actress one day.
She receives a pension from the state, but the therapy recommended by the doctor exceeds this amount every time.
Ismail Krasniqi, Blerina's father
Krasniqi: 800-900 euros is not enough for expenses (Video)
"215 has a pension without an assistant, 450 gets it like this, medicines, drugs that he takes every month, he doesn't even cry without taking them. Like it or not, the exception was not counting the car trips or those lost days going there or what they eat and drink in the city, they were not counting. Even without counting the medications, the tests he has to do every two or three months, physiotherapy. Now the Handikos center cannot include all the children to receive physiotherapy, but it has to do the 20-30 euro session somewhere. Sessions with a psychologist cost 20 euros and a speech therapist is also needed and it costs. I personally calculate that 800-900 euros per month is not enough for me", declares Blerina's father.
The 50-year-old has not left the door without knocking for his daughter's recovery. He has spent a lot, but he has never been helped by the state.
"It's very difficult, it's not easy, but you can't explain it to anyone. Only those who have children like this at home know, who else can't explain it. Everyone can prejudge 'why aren't you doing this, why aren't you doing this', you can't do anything. In no way can you do anything except as God has written it." he says.
Not even Resmia, who is raising her daughter, Leandra, is living in better conditions. Since birth, the woman from Prizren had noticed that her child was not developing parallel to her peers.
"Unfortunately, Leandra was injured at birth and during that time, her illnesses started one after the other. He didn't walk until he was five and a half years old." Resmia confesses.
Leandra has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and also suffers from epilepsy. Five years after her birth, she underwent surgery in the hope that everything would improve...
"Today he suffers from both, he has cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Leandra is growing up... for Leandra I am my own mother, my own father. Leandra's father is dead and we are really at that point for someone to offer some help. Whether it's for Leandra's medicine or the equipment she might need for school. Any kind of help that anyone can offer is welcome... Leandra currently has a 150 euro disability pension. Something that even therapy cannot achieve. The incision of the head costs 160 euros, 20 euros for the controls, including the drugs that I also use 'tegretol', it is an unattainable amount because at the same time I use the syrup 'supermin' and it is the most expensive, it reaches the value of 88-90 euro per month", she declares.
In the mother's efforts to raise her child like others, she suffers greatly the difficulties that her 11-year-old daughter is experiencing with every step she takes up to the third floor of the school - unaccompanied by the assistant.
"I didn't want anything else, if it was necessary I would have given him my legs and arms, just to see him. I had taken all her burden and her pain as my own, only this should be like my friends". she says.
The Ministry of Education has previously said that some actions have been taken for the access of children with disabilities to schools, where 15 ramps were built last year, while this year the construction of 18 more is planned.
The impossibility of access to public spaces is considered a serious violation of human rights.
"At the local level and at the central level, standards are not respected in the case of granting construction permits for access by persons with disabilities, even in those cases where these standards are set in the consent and construction permits are not monitored and supervised sufficiently, the same it does not only happen in constructions from the private sector but also from the public sector that made the situation even more serious. It also happens in public spaces, in parks, on streets, on sidewalks and in other spaces... The first is the lack of sufficient measures from the state to guarantee you access to public spaces. And I think this is a serious violation of human rights." declares the People's Advocate, Naim Qelaj.
No institutional help, but recently dozens of cases have been visited by professional teams of the first mobile clinic in the country.
With the support of the European Union Office in Kosovo, the project "My history, my dignity" is being implemented by Handikos Gjilan, Inkluzioni, Handikos Ranillug and the Center for Innovations and Development in 12 municipalities of the region of Gjilan and Ferizaj, including the Municipality of Novobërda.
This project addresses gender-based discrimination and violence among women and girls with disabilities as well as single mothers of children with disabilities.
"We are in the field four times during the week, one day of the week remains for weekly work reporting. On the ground, we visit the cases in the region of Gjilan, Viti, Kamenica, Ranillug and also the Municipality of Novobërda. This project also includes the region of Ferizaj. The services offered by the mobile clinic are social services that assess needs. The first visits to the family are made, the needs are assessed, then the tasks are distributed depending on the needs of the family. Psychological services, nursing services and legal services are provided. The nursing services also include the provision of medicines prescribed by the doctor, which we provide free of charge, and hygiene tools when they are needed. announces Blerta Bajrami-Marevci, social worker in Handikos-Gjilan.
A large number of cases have been helped so far by different regions of Kosovo.
"So far, there are 150 women with disabilities involved in the project, 40 of them are self-supporting mothers of children with disabilities. These cases come from the Municipality of Gjilan, Kamenica, Novobërda, Ranillugi, Ferizaj, Kaqanik and Hani t Elez. 105 of them are from the Albanian community and 52 from the Serbian community", she adds.
Within this project, self-support groups have also been created, where women are helped with legal and psychosocial support.
"During the contact with them, during the visits to the mobile clinic, we have come to understand that in legal terms the biggest challenge is the lack of knowledge about their legal rights as well as the lack of knowledge about the legal processes that they can and should follow follow them in specific cases. For persons with disabilities, it is understandable that physical barriers and communication affect, hinder access to services. But, at the same time, these women psychologically, leaving aside the physical barrier, these groups, these women often feel discriminated against and fear stigmatization and feel without adequate support and often this makes them hesitate to seek justice for their rights. This is one of the main challenges they face. It is the lack of legal knowledge and the lack of knowledge of legal procedures", says Verona Maloku, legal officer at the organization "Inkluzion".
According to the World Health Organization, in developing countries like Kosovo, there are 7 to 10 percent of people with disabilities.
All public and private institutions, the law requires that every 50 employees have a person with disabilities.
The Ministry of Finance has not answered questions regarding the number of persons employed in this category, nor how many of them receive pensions from the state.
"Not respecting the international standards that are known, but I can say that even the average or minimum standards are not being respected and maybe currently this is one of the most discriminated categories in Kosovo". declares the chairman of the Council for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms (KMDLNj), Behxhet Shala.
The law guarantees the enjoyment of equal rights and opportunities without facing discrimination.
