‘We long for home - but our son has chances here' For some disabled refugees, fleeing Ukraine has given a better quality of life
Roman, 20, is being taught at a school in Poland - it's the first time in his life he has been able to access an educationWhen war broke out, millions of Ukrainians had to make a life-changing decision to flee their country - with many hoping to return as soon as possible. But for some disabled refugees, this displacement has offered new opportunities, and they now face a dilemma over whether to ever go home.
"Back in Ukraine we were told he was unteachable, that there was no school for him," his mum Olga says as she makes packed lunches in the family's small kitchen.For many disabled children and young people in Ukraine, access to education is rare. Before the war, fewer than 3% were enrolled in mainstream school.
More than 50,000 disabled children and young people exist in this system - a network of more than 700 institutions. They are casualties of a Soviet era that encouraged parents to give their disabled child up to the state in the belief children receive better care in an institution.and the team were asked to give evidence at the United Nations.
He is given one-to-one support and physiotherapy in the school gym and his walking is steadily improving. For the first time, he can mix with his peers and learn new skills. Ivan had spent his life lying down in an institution in the east of Ukraine. He is one of 60 disabled evacuees who fled their orphanage in Kharkiv just after the war broke out.It took months to raise 20-year-old Ivan into a sitting position so he could be in a wheelchair
Ivan looks no older than a six-year-old, undernourished after two decades in confinement. His hair a flash of red against his pale skin.It has taken months to raise his fragile frame to a sitting position. If they elevated him too quickly there was a chance he could have had a stroke.
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