Putin Meets With Disability Groups

[/ dave /]

(Not sure how appealing tax breaks would be, given the state to which 
income is under-reported - ?)


Putin says country needs to do more for people with disabilities
Thu Nov 28, 2:37 PM ET

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the Russian 
government has increased spending for the disabled, but he acknowledged 
that many people with disabilities still feel marginalized.

"Admittedly, society is judged, to a considerable extent, by how it 
treats the disabled," Putin said during a Kremlin meeting with leaders 
of organizations representing the disabled.

"We still have much to do in this field," he said, in remarks broadcast 
on television.

Russia has an estimated 10.8 million disabled -- or about one for every 
14 men, women and children in the country, ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

But the country has few facilities for people with disabilities, and 
wheelchair access is rare. The situation is largely a holdover from the 
Soviet era, when the government believed that the sight of people with 
disabilities marred the image of the Soviet state, and preferred to have 
the disabled confined to their apartments.

Putin said the some improvements have been made. Vocational training to 
help people with disabilities enter the work force has increased. The 
government has boosted funding for medical treatment and for special 
public transportation for the disabled, Putin said, according to 
ITAR-Tass news agency.

Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko said that a draft law on 
benefits for the disabled would be sent to the Cabinet by Dec. 15.

Alexander Neumyvakin, president of the All-Russian Society of Blind 
People, urged the government to give tax breaks to enterprises that 
employ disabled people, ITAR-Tass said. Others called for changes in the 
land code to help organizations working with the disabled buy property.

The number of disabled in Russia has increased since the collapse of the 
Soviet Union. The decline of preventive medical care, accidents at 
Russia's aging, disaster-prone industries, and local armed conflicts all 
appeared to be factors.

Some 600,000 of the disabled are children, according to ITAR-Tass. About 
13,000 people were injured during Russia's two campaigns in the 
breakaway republic of Chechnya, ITAR-Tass said.

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/  dave  /