Models with disabilities take center stage in Ukraine скачать в хорошем качестве

Models with disabilities take center stage in Ukraine

(26 Jul 2012) UKRANIAN FASHION SHOW PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON MODELS WITH DISABILITIES At a glitzy Kiev night club, models showed off sleek evening gowns and glamorous hats as Ukraine's celebrities cheered them on Wednesday (25 July 2012). But this was no ordinary fashion show - some models rolled on wheelchairs, others were blind. At the event, dubbed Fashion Chance, a dozen designers mostly from Ukraine presented outfits for women with disabilities, in a bid to bring attention and dignity to some of Ukraine's most marginalized citizens. In a country where most buildings lack wheelchair ramps and only a very few public schools accept disabled children, the show was a small but vivid step towards removing the stigma that cloaks Ukraine's disabled. "People on wheelchairs, the blind, the handicapped should all feel accepted," said 26-year-old Ilona Slugovina, an avid wheelchair ballroom dancer, who modeled a lilac-colored glittery evening dress. Some models moved confidently down the runway - on wheelchairs, or accompanied by handsome young men in elegant suits - flashing smiles and some mimicking the traditional model gait. One blind model coquettishly held her hand on her hip and played with a lock of hair. Others appeared nervous. Moved by the show, some in the audience cried. "I felt beautiful, I felt confident," said Antonina Krivobok, who masterfully rolled and turned around in a wheelchair and posed in front of TV cameras as she presented a purple evening dress. New and established designers presented suits and dresses, some cut to accommodate the needs of the wheelchair-bound. "God made the woman beautiful and the designer's goal is to stress that beauty," said Natalia Anri, a top Ukrainian designer. But it wasn't just about clothes. Yulia Kozluk, 28, who runs a fund that trains and then finds computer jobs for those on wheelchairs like herself, said she hoped such projects would help Ukrainian society grow up and accept those who are different. "When I roll in my wheelchair, people stare me like I am an alien and it wounds," said Kozluk, who became paralyzed at age 23 after a car accident. "But I am not an alien, I am a regular person." Ukraine's physically disabled are barely visible to the country at large, confined to their homes in the absence of ramps, elevators and specially equipped buses and mostly shunned by society in a grim legacy of the Soviet era. Children with disabilities are usually hidden away in specialized schools or orphanages, where they are deprived of a chance to interact with other children and society as a whole does not learn to co-exist, accept and help those with disabilities. Only a handful of public schools accept disabled children, because building entrances, canteens and toilets are not equipped with ramps and teachers lack the necessary training and other students and often their parents often object to having such classmates. In Kiev, home to tens of thousands of disabled children of school age, only about 10 schools provide inclusive education, according to Larisa Baida, an education activist with Ukraine's National Assembly for Disabled. Universities also offer very few chances for the disabled, lacking audio books for hearing-impaired and computers for the blind. Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union over 20 years ago, not a single book in the tactile writing system called Braille has been published for the visually impaired, according to the Assembly. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...