Blind deputy Ayva: Laws can be changed more easily than minds

    “Laws can be changed more easily. But changing some basic prejudices will take time, maybe years,” Ayva said. There are approximately 8.5 million disabled citizens in Turkey, about 12 percent of the overall population. They face various difficulties, one of them being unemployment.

The Disability Act was passed in July 2005 to solve the employment problems that disabled people face, along with a number of other issues. But the law has not been put into practice in all sectors.

Ayva points out that first of all the language referring to the disabled had to be changed. He recalled several instances in which the disabled are seen as people who should be “helped” and “protected.”

He has closely observed the way disabled people are treated in Europe and the US as he travels often to voice the rights of the disabled on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

For our Sunday’s Zaman interview, he elaborated on the issue.

What has changed in Turkey since you became a deputy in 2002?

In 2002, as a blind person, I needed two witnesses in order to sign a document. Now there is no such necessity. My signatures are valid. I can sign contracts and I can go to banks by myself. They cannot discriminate against a blind person now. It’s a crime requiring a punishment of six months to one year in prison. At the time, there were 52,000 disabled students in schools; now this number is 210,700. The number of licensed disabled athletes was 2,500 then, but it is 25,000 now. There were only about 7,000 employed disabled people, but now there are upwards of 23,000 disabled people in employment. In the past, only people with orthopedic disabilities were exempt from private consumption tax (ÖTV) while purchasing cars, but now all disabled people can have that benefit. Again, in the past, parents had to take their disabled children to school themselves, but now school buses do it. There are now more disabled people in social life in the general public arena. These are just a few examples.

There are still persistent problems for the disabled in Turkey. One of them is the physical environment and another is the low employment figures despite laws to encourage and require employers to hire disabled people. How do you think this situation could be reversed?

The most important thing is to change people’s mentality. The disabled were seen as people who should be helped. Now the language has changed. People started to realize that disabled people have rights. They have a right to travel, education and employment. When we debated the laws related to the employment of disabled people, the language was about “helping” disabled people. I asked at the time whether or not the positions for which disabled people would be hired are paid and if those employed are going to be actually working. The answer was “yes.” Then I said they have to change this language of “helping the disabled” because they are basically employed to do a job. So we are trying to change the philosophy of how disabled people are viewed. Laws can be changed more easily. But changing some basic prejudices will take time, maybe years.

You are a member of PACE. Could you talk about your work there?

I concentrate on my work for the disabled because there is nobody else to do what I can do as a blind person. My mission is to defend the rights of disabled people from 47 countries in the assembly. I am the only disabled member of the council. I have a competitive advantage in that regard. So I go to represent the council at international meetings related to improving conditions for the disabled. I have a life experience of being disabled. This is an opportunity for the council. I am also a member of three committees at PACE: the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee and the Committee on Culture, Science and Education.

‘European viewpoint makes disabled people passive’

What can you tell us about your observations in Europe and the United States regarding rights and conditions of the disabled?

Here is an example: In a European city, if I accidentally bang into something in a supermarket and things fall down, a person who is in charge comes to me and says: “We are so sorry. Please call us next time, and we will take your order and send them to your address.” If the same thing happens in the United States, they say: “We are sorry. Until the next time you come in here, we will make the necessary changes in order to serve your needs.” This example tells about the basic difference between the viewpoints of Europe and the United States. I don’t like the notion in Europe regarding disabled. It makes disabled people passive rather than active. They always use the words “protection” and “help” while talking about the disabled in Europe. In many countries in Europe discrimination against the disabled is not a crime.

One important project that you have been working on is in regard to education of the disabled. Could you talk about it?

Disabled people can do everything as long as they receive education. But if they are uneducated, everything becomes difficult. They cannot even take good care of themselves. That’s why my priority is educating the disabled. Another priority is improving their primary rights and freedoms. We are also trying to improve the level of employment for the disabled.

Regarding the basic rights of the disabled, what do you do in the area of their right to vote?

When there is international election monitoring, whether or not disabled people are able to vote should be a criterion to watch for. We are trying to put that criterion into the checklists of the election monitors. Turkey has the same problem. About 200,000 disabled people in Turkey cannot cast their votes.

Another area of interest is about improving conditions for the disabled in the regions in which Turkey has a lot of interest. We would like to do mutual projects with the states in those regions.

What regions are these?

The Balkans, the Caucasus, the Black Sea, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

You are also the rapporteur for PACE regarding disabled children. Could you talk about this task?

I am the rapporteur for the project “Granting a right to schooling for children with illnesses and disabilities.” It is about how the education of these children should be in the 47 PACE countries. The issues are: How can costs be minimized? How can prejudices be overcome regarding the education of disabled children? Here, I’d like to say that not only the families of the disabled resist the education of disabled children but also the families of children who are not disabled. They don’t like to send their children to schools where there are disabled people.

‘Political participation of the disabled will improve’

There is no disabled member of PACE but you. Have you seen disabled people in the national parliaments of Europe?

There are about eight to 10 disabled people in the European national parliaments. In 2006, I attended a disability conference in London on behalf of Turkey. We argued for more participation by the disabled in politics. European countries at the time were against this idea. They said they do whatever the disabled request. If we look at the issue from this viewpoint, then we can say that we do whatever women request so there is no need for them to enter politics. The same goes for men, for Kurds, etc. This viewpoint should not be acceptable. The Council of Europe has improved in that regard as there is a committee established on the participation in public life of the disabled. This includes efforts to improve the participation in politics of the disabled.

You mentioned before the low levels of political participation of the disabled in Turkey. What is being done to improve that?

Unfortunately, only the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is making efforts in that regard. The AK Party has disabled coordination centers in every province, and in big provinces they have a wide network going deep into the district neighborhoods. There are three targets in this project. One of them is to introduce disabled people into politics. Another target is to have disabled people identify problems and bring them into the political arena. And the last one is to bring out solutions and follow up on them. We have been successfully implementing this project. There are about 40 disabled people in the municipal and provincial councils.

‘Turkey offers economic opportunities’

An inappropriate physical environment is also a big obstacle for disabled people. And this is a big problem in Turkey even though there are improvements. What else can be done in that regard to improve the situation?

The fact is that buildings, sidewalks and stairs are designed by architects who are not disabled. Why did they do it in a form which is inconsiderate of a certain segment of the population? Because that’s how they learned to do it. We have a problematic approach in educating our architects. Then there is a problem when it comes to having appropriate materials for the disabled. It is not just about having the knowledge of how high a sidewalk should be. You need to have suitable elevator systems in buildings as well. There are shortcomings in that area in Turkey. In order to have a good system which is considerate to the disabled, there needs to be the demand for them.

European architecture seems to be more developed in that regard.

Yes, but the elevators of the Council of Europe still do not have the Braille alphabet. They still cannot provide me with appropriate documents in meetings even though I’ve been in that position for almost three years. When I go to stay in a hotel, I have to be with a companion. There are shortcomings, too.

Would you like to add any other views to what we have talked about?

In Turkey, we are coming to realize that there are “others” other than us. We are noticing this fact. This has a lot to do with the disabled, too. We have to realize that there are disabled people as well. So we have to design public life accordingly. This year the budget involves about $3 billion for the disabled. It is a big amount of money for Turkey. And we will use it to improve the situation. Indeed, disabilities can offer advantages. For example, there are opportunities to improve services and products. This whole area in Turkey has not yet been discovered.

Lokman Ayva, the first blind person to have parliamentary status in Turkey’s history

He was elected  to parliament as a deputy for istanbul in the Nov. 3, 2002 elections from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). He has been a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) since January 2008. Ayva is also the president of the Beyazay Association, working for the education of the disabled.

Ayva was the head of istanbul Greater Municipality’s Center for Physically Disabled People before he was invited by then-AK Party Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to run in the 2002 parliamentary elections. He was also the founding chairman of the Coordination Center for the Disabled, set up, again, by the Greater İstanbul Municipality.