Opposition Figure Presses Armenian State on Cerebral Palsy Care

An opposition politician in Armenia is urging the government to do more for children with cerebral palsy, saying many are isolated by having to stay at home.

Anahit Bakhshyan, a member of parliament from the opposition Heritage Party, accused the authorities of ignoring parents whose children have cerebral palsy, and of failing to give them the assistance they need.

Bakhshyan said there was plenty of money in the government’s budget but it was not being used effectively. For example, the welfare benefits paid to people with cerebral palsy were so small that they did not even cover the cost of shoes.

“The rights of people in this country are not protected in general, and the rights of the disabled, as vulnerable members of society, are violated most of all,” she said.

Doctors say early diagnosis and treatment of cerebral palsy are essential, but parents often keep children at home for fear they will face discrimination and bullying.

Arevik Mirzoyan’s 16-year-old son Manvel has cerebral palsy, and she has become an activist pressing for better state provision. Now she has got Manvel into a mainstream school.

“I didn’t have any more children for 12 years; I just cared for him – he has serious muscle coordination problems, he’s had operations, but it’s impossible to change things,” she said.

“Many people keep their children at home and conceal the problem. It was hard at first, but the Bridge of Hope organisation helped me and we managed to break the stereotype. My son became the first child with this condition to go to school. Now he is in the ninth grade of an ordinary school. He has caring friends who help him and whom he can talk to, which is very important for me.”

Hasmik Ghukasyan of the World Vision organisation said there was a common prejudice that children with cerebral palsy could not study at mainstream schools.

“In a programme funded by USAID which ended in June, we found 73 children in Armenia who had been taken out of school because of their disability, who barely leave their homes, and who aren’t placed in children’s homes or schools,” she said.

Disabled children in Armenia attend 26 special schools and 65 inclusive ones where they study alongside other children. The education ministry plans to ask parliament to consider turning disabled-only schools into integrated education facilities as well.

Bakhshyan said the government must stop excluding disabled children from mainstream schools.

“An everyday environment changes them, whereas a special school just increases exacerbates their problems,” she said. “Mainstream education must be organised so that it meets the specific requirements of these children and takes their potential into account. That’s the point of integrated education.”

Karine Sarbekyan, who heads the mother-and-child department at the health ministry, acknowledged that children with cerebral palsy were commonly kept at home in rural areas, in particular.

“No one knows about them because society doesn’t have the right attitude to them. The parents often hide them away or isolate them. We’re still a long way off European values, even basic human values, in this regard,” Sarbekyan said. “But the state is definitely trying to work in that direction with its programmes.”

Bakhshyan said that a decent education was no guarantee that someone with cerebral palsy would find work as an adult.

“When I worked as head of Yerevan’s school no. 27, we had a child with cerebral palsy who finished school and went on to the humanities university. But sadly, he’s now sitting at home and no one will give him a job, even though he’d be able to apply his skills,” she said.

Deputy labour and social affairs minister Jemma Baghdasaryan said the government was trying to reshape policies to bring them into line with international conventions governing the rights of the disabled.

“We are working to ensure that people with special needs enjoy equality with everyone else, and to help them integrate into society,” she said.

Yerevan has two treatment centres: the Children’s Rehabilitation Centre and the Arbes Centre, which also has six branches outside the capital.

Laura Movsisyan, head of medical services at the Children’s Rehabilitation Centre, said 70 per cent of the children under observation there had cerebral palsy.

Welfare provision for the 7,891 people registered with cerebral palsy in Armenia is less than generous. Children get around 40 US dollars a month in benefits, and if they are under seven they qualify for free medical treatment, which can be extended to older children if proof of disablement is furnished.

Children with cerebral palsy also have the right to go on an annual paid-for trip to the spa town of Jermuk. The government does not, however, cover the costs of rooms with hot water or en suite bathrooms.

Parents say they find it hard to claim the trips, and healthcare staff are obstructive.

“No one told me I had the possibility of taking my son for treatment at a sanatorium,” Rosa Grigoryan, who has a five-year-old with cerebral palsy. “When I found out, I asked the [health] ministry about it, but they told me rudely and brusquely that there weren’t any places available, and that I’d need to fill out an application. I filled it all out and we did get a place. That means there were places available, so why did they have to treat me like that?”

Sarbekyan said the government was unable to meet the demand for places, but was now expanding the programme.

Naira Melkumyan is a freelance journalist in Armenia.