NUR-SULTAN – The capital akimat (administration) offers rehabilitation, specific social services, free use of public transportation and the possibility of employment to its 25,715 residents with disabilities, reported its press service Oct. 19 to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Photo credit: Talgat Akhanov.
Approximately 2,689 individuals are classified in the first group of those with disabilities, nearly 9,000 in the second group and more than 8,000 in the third group. The city has 5,316 children with specific needs. Each regularly receives the needed range of services.
Rehabilitation services currently cover more than 14,000 individuals at a cost of 1.2 billion tenge (US$3 million). Approximately 16,000 people with disabilities receive services annually.
Every person, including children, is provided with appropriate services, such as prosthetic and orthopaedic help and products, wheelchairs, sign language and individual assistant services and required hygienic products. They are also eligible for specific spa treatments and Invataxi, a special taxi service for people with disabilities. The company maintains 30 vehicles daily – five for those using wheelchairs, 10 for the visually impaired and 15 for children with disabilities. The transportation service has already assisted 2,000 people, including 775 children, this year.
Individuals with disabilities are also eligible to be placed on waiting lists for housing accommodations. Some, whose per capita income does not exceed four living wages, live in private houses equipped with ovens. They can rely on social assistance to buy solid fuel; compensation is 16 monthly calculation indices or 40,400 tenge (US$104.03) for one heating season.
Should a person be in a difficult living situation, he or she can receive 13 monthly calculation indices or 32,825 tenge ($84.22) to buy medicine and gain free access to healthcare services. Homeschooling expenses of 25,250 tenge (US$64.78) are also refunded.
People with disabilities are actively socialised and hired. At present, 217 are employed and 242 are involved in public works.
The city administration provided 6,313 tenge (US$16.20) in recognition of the day.
