Fellow Ukrainian citizens!

Annually, on December 3, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, is observed. The world community is addressing disability issues through the prism of human rights. By ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Ukraine has undertaken a number of commitments to shape the state policy in order to intensify and harmonize the standards of social protection of persons with disabilities with those in the countries of Europe.

Ukraine is demonstrating significant progress in the system of social protection of people with disabilities. A large number of normative-legal acts aimed at integrating such people into active social life have been drafted and improved. Among the principal activities of the Government, in particular, are to ensure the participation of persons with disabilities in political and public life; to create barrier-free environment for people with disabilities, which envisages apart from the adaptation of architectural environment or transport infrastructure, the provision of access for persons with disabilities to information and communication; to establish conditions for employment of persons with disabilities by setting workplace quotas for such persons; to improve the quality and level of accessibility to social services; to introduce a comprehensive rehabilitation model for people with disabilities, including children who belong to at-risk groups.

The Government has also taken a series of vital decisions aimed at the development of a new Ukrainian school, the creation of a modern educational environment taking into account the requirements for a reasonable adaptation of the entire infrastructure of educational institutions to children's needs. In order to ensure the rights of children with disabilities to be raised in families, the institutional care system is being reformed and a personality-oriented model of education is introduced with the maximum accounting for the needs, interests and abilities of each child.