Armenia celebrates International Day of Disabled Persons with art exhibit

From The Armenian Reporter:

YEREVAN, Armenia - The International Day of Persons with Disabilities was marked in Yerevan on December 3 with twin exhibitions, one at the UN Armenia Office and the other in the lobby of Yerevan's City Hall. The two events were organized by the Pyunic Armenian Association for the Disabled. While the first exhibition featured paintings by ten young disabled artists, the second presented arts and crafts made by children with disabilities being trained within Pyunic programs.

Ruzanna Sargsyan, the program manager at Pyunic told the Armenian Reporter
that the objective of the exhibitions was to present disabled youth and children as full-fledged members of Armenian society.

Pyunic was founded in 1989, in the aftermath of the 1988 earthquake in Gyumri, to provide programs and services to children who were orphaned and disabled. It became achingly apparent that children with physical disabilities in Armenia was a problem kept hidden during the Soviet era and the need in the newly independent Republic to make disabled persons inclusive members of society was pressing. "In time, we concluded that we have to include people with all types of physical disabilities in our programs," said Ms. Sargsyan.

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities was first celebrated by the United Nations back in 1992. Each year, Pyunic celebrates the International Day with various events to raise public awareness, promote the rights and the abilities of disabled people in Armenia.

"I would love to be known by a wider audience, to get to know new people, to open up to the world. And this exhibition helps me achieve that," said 24-year-old Haik Kakosyan, who has a hearing disability and studies art at the Fine Arts Academy in Yerevan. For the past year, Haik has been teaching disabled children arts and crafts at the Pyunic Arts and Crafts Training Center. He aspires to become a painter.

"Pyunic has helped me a great deal. It has helped me find myself," said Gayane Balyan, 24, a volunteer assistant with the organization.

Each year on May 28, Pyunic organizes a 50 km marathon for the disabled from Yerevan to Etchmiadzin. Another annual event organized by Pyunic takes place on September 21 when young people with disabilities climb Mt. Aragats (4085 meters), the highest mountain in Armenia. "Sometimes people wonder why a disabled person needs to cover distances or climb heights. But we all have to understand that this makes a disabled person feel integrated in society," explains Ms. Sargsyan.

Ms. Sargsyan notes that although quite a lot positive changes have been made in Armenia regarding issues and rights of disabled persons, however there is still a long and difficult road.

"The most important thing is that there is movement. The ministry of labor and social affairs has been attaching more importance to issues related to the disabled. Laws have been amended to improve the situation of disabled people in Armenia and this is indeed important progress," Ms. Sargsyan says.

"We want to show society that we have something to offer," concluded Gayane Balyan, while people crowded around her paintings at City Hall.