Summer 2012
Issue 7
Newsletter of the Association for Self-Advocacy
Cakovec Koprivnica Zagreb
Bjelovar Grubisno polje Osijek
Rijeka Slavonski brod
Rovinj
Vinkovci
Topic of the issue: 2 Conference of Croatian self-advocates
Sibenik
Split
Ploce
EDITORIAL Dear readers, in issue 6 of our newsletter we tried to explain what self-advocacy is. We announced that in May we would have our 2 Conference of Croatian self-advocates. That is why self-advocates, with the help of assistants, decided to dedicate this issue to the Conference and give you a small part of the atmosphere. Here you can read short parts of self-advocates' speeches from the Conference and our joint statement. Since it is the time for holidays and vacations, the team from the Association for Self-Advocacy wishes you a nice summer!
TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: 2 CONFERENCE OF CROATIAN SELF-ADVOCATES
Editor Senada Halilcevic Journalists Fadil Spuren Snjezana Kanjir Hrvoje Forner Nera Bajzec Assistants Ivana Poslon Ivana Kramaric Sanja Hotko Damjan Janjusevic This newsletter was supported by a grant from the Open Society Fundations.
On 18 May, 2012, in Zagreb, 2 Conference of Croatian Self-Advocates was held. The title was Equal Rights for All People. The conference was organized by the Association for Self-Advocacy for the 2 time. More than 100 people participated at the Conference. Participants were self-advocates, professionals, parents, guests from different organizations of persons with disabilities. At the beginning, moderator of the conference Damjan Janjusevic read a letter from the President of Croatia Ivo Josipovic. In his letter, the President greeted self-advocates and supported them in their advocacy for decent life as equal members of our society. He also wished that our successful Conference happens next year too.
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Our friend and former Member of Parliament Vesna Skulic opened the Conference. Tatjana Stefan, self-advocate from Rijeka read the joint statement of Croatian self-advocates. You can read the statement in this issue of the newsletter. After that self-advocates from 13 Croatian cities gave their presentations. Self-advocates came from: Rijeka, Sibenik, Vinkovci, Grubisno Polje, Split, Zagreb, Osijek, Slavonski Brod, Rovinj, Ploce, Cakovec, Bjelovar and Koprivnica. Self-advocates talked about different problems they face every day. They talked about rights they cannot realize. Some of the biggest problems of Croatian self-advocates are: - depriving of legal capacity, - realizing the right to live in the community, - realizing the right to a home and family, - realizing the right to work, - realizing the right to vote. Besides self-advocates, speakers were Darko Ledinski, Deputy Minister of Social Welfare Policy and Youth, Mira Pekec Knezevic who represented the office of the Ombudsman for Persons with Disabilities, Boris Milosevic, Deputy Minister of Administration and Tatjana Dalic, Assistant to Minister of Labour. After the presentations, self-advocates asked the speakers questions. The discussion was very interesting. From representatives of Ministries we heard that some laws will change.
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The conference was part of the project Expanding of Self-Advocacy Network in Croatia. We got the money for the project from the Ministry of Social Welfare Policy and Youth and Mental Health Initiative OSI. Written by Snjezana Kanjir
PRESENTATIONS OF SELF-ADVOCATES FROM THE 2 CONFERENCE Here you can read short presentations of self-advocates from 2 conference of Croatian self-advocates - Equal Rights for All People. Tatjana Stefan from Rijeka When the judge said that my legal capacity will be fully restored, he asked me to sign that document. For the first time the judge spoke to me like a person. He did not ignore me like when I was deprived of legal capacity. He did not talk about me and my life to other people like I was not there. He spoke to me and asked for my opinion. I was very happy. I realized that I was important now, too, and my opinion was respected. Miodrag Dakovic from Rijeka After I finished school I worked in my profession for a year. My boss said that I was a very good, honest and responsible worker. Although I am a person with disabilities, I was not protected and I did not have any social rights which other people have. My parents wanted to help me so they started the process to deprive me of legal capacity. I realized the right to personal disability benefits, but I was partially deprived of legal capacity.
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Now, after 11 years of employment, I live on disability benefits. I think working would be much better for me. Ivana Topic from Sibenik I am a representative of the self-advocacy group Sibenik. In our group meetings we often talked about how we are denied our rights just because we are persons with disabilities which often makes us feel like second-class citizens. We joined in helping our senior citizens who really need help because they are alone and helpless. Djurdja Krog from Sibenik Before I lived in an institution. There they gave me a lot of therapy which made me sleepy. I could not go anywhere. I was lonely. Now I live in community based supported housing with 3 roommates. We all talk about what to do around the house, what to cook for lunch. I like that I pay my own bills, I like that I can go out when I want to. I am happy and satisfied, I get around more, I have fun, enjoy myself. I feel much better and freer than when I lived in an institution. Domagoj Misetic and Marija Lampert from Vinkovci Self-advocates from Vinkovci pointed out that persons with intellectual disabilities have the right to an education, work and employment, participate in sports, to friendship and love and to be involved in the community. Barica Mladan from Grubisno Polje I am the mother of three children. I often visit my children and I look forward to every visit to them.
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Before I ended up in Stancic I was married and I lived with my husband and children, but because of my health I ended up in the hospital, and then in Stancic. Since I came to Inclusion, my life changed. I socialize more, I feel better and my health improved. Ankica Bosanac from Grubisno Polje I graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy, psychology. Before I came to Grubisno Polje I lived with my brother and his family. I was isolated and I did not go anywhere. My life changed because in community I work more and have contact with people. Every person has the right to live in the community and feel useful. Tatjana Barada from Split Every day I go to Zvono (Bell) Association. I help all people with health problems. For example, I go with them to the doctor's, pick up their medication, visit them at home and things like that. Inga Saric from Split Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says: all people are free and equal in dignity and rights. Persons with disabilities, in this case persons with intellectual disabilities have the right to the same human rights as other citizens. Bozidar Kobasic from Zagreb Living in an institution is like living in the army. We got up at 7 in the morning. If you wanted to sleep late, as punishment you could not watch TV in the evening. Sometimes they poured a bucket of water on you if you did not want to get up.
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When it was sunny we had to work in the garden. We did not have a choice. There was no freedom, you could not go out, people were punished a lot. That is why I started running away over the fence. After years of living in institutions, I am finally happy. I feel free like other people. Senada Halilcevic from Zagreb I always dreamed about working and living in my own apartment some day. I can say that I am living my dream right now. But I am afraid that some day I will wake up from my dream and end up in some institution again. As a person with disability, it is much more difficult for me to find a new job than persons without disabilities. I would not have anything to live on, and there is no place I can go back to. I can only go back to the institution. Kristina Tekmetarovic and Karlo Zivkovic from Osijek Self-advocates from Osijek presented Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. They talked about legal capacity for persons with disabilities and about support who should respect the decisions, wishes, feelings and opinions of persons with intellectual disabilities. Valerija Vojak from Slavonski Brod We think that we should participate in making decisions on what our country will look like in the future. When we had the referendum on the accession of our country to the European Union, only four of our friends went to the referendum. The others could not, because they were not on the voting registry.
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Lav Ulicni from Slavonski Brod Lav talked about prejudice towards persons with disabilities. When he took his driving test, others told him that he would not pass the test. He did not give up and today he has a driver's licence. Ivan Stepanov from Rovinj I have legal capacity. I am unemployed right now and I have a lot of free time. I also have a hobby: photography. I am not completely independent yet because I do not work, I do not get a salary and I depend on the allowance my parents give me. But that will change because on 1 June, 2012, I will start working as help in the Association House of Batana in Rovinj. I will finally make some money. That makes me very happy! Ratko Ivanovic from Rovinj I have only one grade of elementary school. I can read upper case letters, I can sign my name, and I am excellent with numbers. I worked for 16 summers in tourist camps in Bale in maintenance jobs for salary up to 2,500 Kuna. I receive a pension, disability, child benefits and I receive county financial aid every 3 months. If I restored my legal capacity, I would lose that money. Tell me, who would give me a job, since I have no education and at a time when people with an education are losing their job and get 2,000 Kuna salaries. I just could not survive.
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Katarina Boras from Ploce Part of my life I spent in children's homes in Split and Dubrovnik, and I want to tell you that I did not like the way staff treated us children with special needs, it was too painful that I could not live with my family, and that is why I want to tell you that every child should live with his or her family. Ivan Rakusic from Ploce As a person with intellectual disabilities I finished elementary school. During my education children insulted and humiliated me. It took me a lot of time to explain to them that it was not right, that we are all different, but we all have the same rights. Sasa Brodar from Cakovec I live in community based supported housing in Cakovec. Before I lived with my grandmother and grandfather in Crecan. I finished school to be a shoemaker, but I never worked. My wish is to find a job some day and have a girlfriend. Sladan Bogdan from Cakovec I am 19 years old. I live in community based supported housing in Cakovec with my girlfriend Visnja, daughter Zrinka and roommate Djurdjica. When Zrinka was born, they wanted to take away our daughter, but the association helped us to keep her with us. I am very happy because of that. I would like us to be independent some day and live like a family, on our own in our house.
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Damir Flanjak from Bjelovar Very often for someone's financial gain a person with intellectual disabilities is completely deprived of legal capacity. There are many cases like that in Croatia. I personally know many self-advocates this happened to. Although it seemed all right and good in the beginning because you get financial aid, now it causes different barriers in life. Milorad Golub from Bjelovar Despite disabilities persons have, they can work and make money in different jobs and in different companies. When a person does not have legal capacity, he or she cannot sign an employment contract. It was a problem when one self-advocate found a job in a company and they offered him an employment contract, and he could not sign it. Vedran Lipus from Koprivnica Vedran talked about the right to love. His wish is to live with the girl he loves, visit his parents with her and take her out to dinner. Kreso Kupec iz Koprivnice Kreso said that he wants to participate in political elections, but he does not have the right to vote because he was deprived of legal capacity. He said that every person should have the right to vote! Selected by Fadil Spuren, Snjezana Kanjir and Senada Halilcevic
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Newsletter of the Association for Self-Advocacy
JOINT STATEMENT OF CROATIAN SELF-ADVOCATES Self-advocates who participated in the 2 Conference of Croatian self-advocates Equal rights for all people made a joint statement. At the conference, Tatjana Stefan, self-advocate from Rijeka read the statement. In the joint statement, self-advocates sent the following message to Croatian public: In our meetings of self-advocates we talk about all our rights and personal experiences. Often self-advocates emphasize that realizing those rights is a problem. People who surround us have prejudice towards us and it is hard for us to get a chance. For employers it is hard to decide to employ a person with disabilities, and especially a person with intellectual disabilities. They think we are incompetent without even giving us a chance. And experience shows that persons with disabilities are often better workers than others – responsible, patient, honest and hardworking. Unfortunately, we are often treated badly by our co-workers. Some who had jobs say they were laughed at, bullied, falsely accused of causing damage or stealing and things like that. However, there are positive examples. We think that any one of us could do some job. Some need support to do that, and some are quite independent. Legal capacity is closely connected with the right to work because it allows us to sign a contract with our employer and manage our salary.
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We think that legal capacity and employment of us, persons with intellectual disabilities is very important because it allows us to have a normal life within our potentials. When we have a job and a salary we can think about the future and plan it like others. We can choose where to live, with whom, how to organize our life... live normally. We Croatian self-advocates say to you in the end: We do not ask for much, only support for a normal life within our own potentials!
GOOD PRACTICES FROM EUROPE Besides Croatia, in Europe there are also conferences of self-advocates. EPSA or European Platform of Self-Advocates held a Conference of European self-advocates in 2010. The title of the conference was Hear our voices! It was in Portugal and assembled 150 self-advocates, parents and professionals. The conference lasted 4 days. Topics important for self-advocates were discussed, like: importance of finding a job, how to start a self-advocacy group, the right to marry and start a family, how to use new technologies. At the end of the conference self-advocates sent clear messages to parents, organizers of the conference and European government. Here are some of the messages: We need your support but we are the ones who should make the choices. Help us to be involved. Support us. We have feelings and desires like other adults. Do more to make sure persons with intellectual disabilities have legal capacity. Do away with institutions! We want self-advocates in politics! Make things in the community accessible. Everyone should get the same pay for the same job.
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Provide easy-to-read documents, including the ballot paper. Make sure we can exercise our rights to live with who we choose, get married and have children. Make sure that the United Nations Convention is put into practice and enforced. Hear our voices! Written by Senada Halilcevic
NEWS Senada Halilcevic is the new president of EPSA! On 31 May, 2012 in Brussels, Belgium, election assembly of the European Platform of Self-Advocates or EPSA was held. It is a great honour to inform you that Senada Halilcevic was elected president of EPSA. She will be president of EPSA for the next two years. Senada wants EPSA to be a strong organization which will influence creating a society in which human rights of persons with intellectual disabilities will be respected and protected. We sincerely congratulate her and wish her much success! Written by Ivana Poslon Coalition on the Right to Community Living held a conference On the occasion of 5 years of signing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Croatia, on 28 May 2012 Coalition for community living held a conference. The title of the conference was Right to live and be involved in the community. The Coalition for the right to community living assembles 7 organizations of persons with disabilities and Human Rights Center. Coalition presented its joint work in the project which lasted for 1 year.
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Association for Self-Advocacy was the leader of this project. Decision makers, a representative of European Commission and other guests were invited to the Conference. At the beginning of the conference, the coordinator for the Coalition said that the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is not implemented yet in Croatia in real lives of persons with disabilities. President of Croatia Ivo Josipovic spoke to us at the conference. Written by Senada Halilcevic Conference Europe in Action From 31 May to 2 June, 2012, conference Europe in Action, was held in Brussels. It was organized by Inclusion Europe. Topic of the conference was employment for persons with intellectual disabilities. Self-advocates from our Association participated at the Conference. Participants talked about what can be done so that more persons with intellectual disabilities can work in the open labour market. The conclusion of the conference was that persons with intellectual disabilities want real pay for real work, like other people. Written by Snjezana Kanjir Round table Accessible information On 28 June 2012 at the Human Rights House in Zagreb Association for Self-Advocacy had a round table. At the round table we presented the project Accessible information for persons with intellectual disabilities. We got money for the project from Open Society Foundation. At the round table we talked about easy to read information and why it is important
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for persons with intellectual disabilities. Self-advocates Fadil Spuren, Snjezana Kanjir and Senada Halilcevic presented our newsletter, brochures and invited participants to a workshop on making easy to read information in August. Kresimir Miletic, representative of the City of Zagreb, Jasmina Papa from UNDP and Branka Meic from the office of Ombudsman for Persons with Disabilities spoke at the round table. All speakers agreed that this is a very important topic. Some said that they would like to learn how to make easy to read information. We invited them to participate in our workshop on making easy to read materials. Written by Snjezana Kanjir and Fadil Spuren Sexuality of persons with intellectual disabilities On 25 may 2012 Association for Down syndrome organized a round table at the Faculty of Rehabilitation and Education Sciences. It was about the sexuality of persons with intellectual disabilities. They presented their project called I love you. Representatives from different organizations and institutions participated at the round table. Senada Halilcevic, president of Association for Self-Advocacy, talked about the right to marry and have a family. After the speakers there was a very good discussion where participants had good and interesting questions. Written by Senada Halilcevic
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FUN SECTION CULTURAL EVENTS IN CROATIA Zagreb Changing of the Cravat Regiment guard ceremony from 21 April to 30 September 2012 Cravat Regiment soldiers were heroes of our past. They are recognizable because they wore a scarf tied in a knot around their neck. That is how the cravat was created. On the weekend around noon at Upper Town you can see the changing of the guard and listen to interesting stories. Rijeka From 21 June to 10 September 2012 at the Trsat Castle in Rijeka there will be a cultural and entertainment program which will host many of our famous actors and singers. Make yourself comfortable, cool off from the summer heat within the walls of our castle and enjoy the shows and concerts. Cakovec Summer cultural program from 25 June to 2 August 2012 In addition to the shows, concerts and exhibitions you can see in Cakovec in the summer, the most interesting event is the changing of the guard of Zrinski Regiment. The changing of the guard will be every Saturday in front of the eagle - monument dedicated to Nikola Zrinski. Cultural summer of Cakovec will end on 2 August when everyone gathers and rejoices in concerts, presentations of old trades, art colonies and archery and horse competitions. Selected by Fadil Spuren and Snjezana Kanjir
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SPORTS European Football Championship is over. Croatia showed that we can play well. We were in group C. We played with Ireland 3:1, then with Italy 1:1. In the final round we played with Spain, to which we lost 1:0 and we did not go to the next round. Our top scorer is Mario Mandzukic. Italy and Spain played in the finals. Spain won 4:0 and became European champion in football. Written by Nera Bajzec
WORD SEARCH
Created by Ivana Kramaric
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ADVICE CORNER QUESTION I am in a long relationship with my girlfriend, but we did not have sex. We want to, but we often hear that persons with intellectual disabilities do not have the right to love and sex. I also want to know where I can buy condoms. ANSWER I understand you completely. Most people think that persons with intellectual disabilities cannot have sex. I disagree. Every person has the right to love and sex, including persons with intellectual disabilities. Before you have sex, you need to talk to your girlfriend. You need to be informed. Use protection from sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy, condoms. It would be good to talk to a person you trust. You can buy condoms in stores which sell hygiene products, drugstores or pharmacies.
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KVIZ 1. Who is the main character of the film The Lost Prince? a) Lara
b) Scheherazade
c) Lorena
b) air condition
c) coats
2. What do we in the summer? a) heating
3. Who is the Minister of Social Welfare Policy and Youth? a) Vesna Pusic
b) Natali Dizdar
Created by Senada Halilcevic and Snjezana Kanjir
CONTACT US
Bleiweisova 13, 10000 Zagreb Telephone: 01 555 66 80, Fax: 01 555 66 89 E- mail: kontakt@samozastupanje.hr Visit our website: www.samozastupanje.hr You can contact us Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.
c) Milanka Opacic