International Day of Disabled Persons in Smolensk region

Aleksey Ostrovskiy took part in the event dedicated to the International Day of Disabled Persons that took place in Smolensk’s community center “Charm”.

December 3rd was proclaimed the International Day of Disabled Persons by the UN General Assembly at its 47th session in 1992. Later during that session the General Assembly encouraged the UN member states to organize commemorative events for the International Day of the Disabled Persons with an aim to integrate people with disabilities into the life of the society.

A number of social assistance measures exist in our region today. They are provided by the federal legislation and, additionally, by the government of Smolensk region. Among the federal support measures are the monthly allowance, the monetary equivalent of rent and utilities, the housing funded from the federal budget for disabled persons and families that have children with disabilities given that they need to improve their housing conditions and registered to participate in this program before January 1, 2005 and other measures. The government of Smolensk region introduced additional measures such as subsidized public transport tickets that should make city transport and suburban transport services equally available.

In his speech on the implementation of social assistance measures for people with disabilities Aleksey Ostrovskiy mentioned that tens of millions of rubles from the budget are allocated to finance the aid measures for the disabled in the next three years. “The officials should always remember that the reason why they came to their offices is to assist you, the people who need their help. We’ll try to provide that help, to be there for you”, - that’s how the head of the region declared the direction of social policy.