“Inclusive society starts with equality of opportunities”. Tatev Ghazaryan

Interview with Tatev Ghazaryan, an ergotherapist, a lecturer at ASU, director of the operational part of the non-governmental organization for the promotion of “Full Life” inclusive society.

– Tatev, you are an ergologist by profession, you also teach the subject “Ergotherapy” at Yerevan State University.. Abovyan Pedagogical University. Unfortunately, your profession is not widely spread in our country, but the need for ergotherapists is great. Can you tell me why you decided to choose this profession?

– The choice of profession was not really planned. I wanted to enter the YSU Department of Psychology, but my scores were not sufficient and I ended up at the ASMU. As for how the word “ergotherapy” appeared in my application, I must say that it was thanks to my mother, who just heard about such a profession from her friend. I didn’t even know what it was, my mother just asked me to mention that specialty in the second application, but I was so sure that I would be admitted to the department I wanted, that I thought if I mentioned it, nothing would change. Now I thank my mother for making me choose that profession at that moment, because the latter became my destiny, it is the most pleasant thing I do today. To be honest, I don’t really agree with the idea that ergotherapy is not widely spread in RA. Since 2004, significant movements in this field were noticeable. Today, occupational therapy is in the first place for me in the field of rehabilitation. Unfortunately, there are few ergotherapists. On average, 10-12 students graduate with this specialty at ASMU every year, and I don’t know a single rehabilitation center in Armenia that doesn’t need an ergotherapist. Over the years, we occupational therapists have been able to demonstrate the value and importance of occupational therapy in the field of rehabilitation.

– An important place in your professional activity is the “Full Life” inclusive society promotion NGO, where you have been working as an operational director for a long time. “Full Life” has been around for about three decades. During his many years of activity, he has managed to implement a number of programs for the benefit of people with disabilities and the establishment of an inclusive society. Now he is implementing the “Leading Equality and Access for Disabilities” program funded by the EU. What is the purpose of this program, what important steps have been taken within the framework of this program?

– Yes, I have always said and now I proudly repeat that “Full Life” NGO is the place, I will not be afraid to say that it is the hearth where I took my first steps, where I was established, self-educated and today I present myself with great pride as a representative of “Full Life” NGO, but I have not always been a director in the operational part (smiles – ed.). I started my steps here since 2016, when I also worked as an ergotherapist at the “Independent Life” center. At the beginning, I coordinated programs in “Full Life” NGO, now I coordinate our three centers. During these ten years, we had periods when we had no plan at all and we had dozens of plans that we were able to implement effectively. Now the “Full Life” NGO is implementing the “Ensuring Equality and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities” project with partner organizations (“Agat” NGO, “SORS” Foundation, “World Vision Armenia” Children’s Protection Fund), which is already nearing its end. I think this program is one of the best programs that we implement at a high level in “Full Life” NGO. Within the scope of the project, we were responsible for a number of activities. Among them, the awareness events about the new system of assessment of the person’s functionality were carried out in the five regions of the Republic of Armenia, the trainings of doctors and physiotherapists carrying out the assessment of the person’s functionality. It is within the framework of this program that we undertook the validation of four international tests, which are a great achievement for Armenia. until now, rehabilitation professionals used assessment tools that were simply the result of individual choice. And now we have tests in the validation stage. This is an unprecedented step in the rehabilitation sector of our country.

-Recently, the new system of evaluating the person’s functionality, which is certified by the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Persons with Disabilities”, has received a strong response among the public. In your opinion, what are the advantages and disadvantages of this new evaluation system?

– in 2023 The Republic of Armenia officially made the transition to the system of assessment of the person’s functionality, which, in my opinion, was the best reform in the field of disability in recent years. Of course, one can talk about the advantages and disadvantages of this evaluation system for hours, but the most important advantage of the latter is that, unlike the previous evaluation system, according to which the emphasis was placed on the person’s illness, health problem, in this case, an attempt is made to understand how the given health problem affects the organization of the person’s daily life, eating, self-care, household, community activities, educational activities. From now on, the assessment is not carried out exclusively by a committee consisting of doctors. the committee also includes physical therapists: ergotherapist, psychologist, speech therapist, kinesiologist, special pedagogue and other specialists, which allows to get a complete picture of how the health problem affects the functional abilities of the person. As for the shortcomings, I would like to mention that the system is perhaps not fully implemented due to the lack of specialists, which is acutely expressed in the marzes. There is also the issue of experience. the system is new, unusual, it is necessary to be able to accurately assess a person’s functionality within 30-40 minutes and provide services, which is essential in improving the quality of a person’s life. Therefore, it is quite a responsible process and I think that we still manage to justify people’s expectations.

– There are more services and opportunities offered to people with disabilities in Yerevan compared to marzes. “Full Life” NGO has a branch in Stepanavan city of Lori marz. What services are provided there, what progress has “Full Life” made in Stepanavan?

– Unfortunately, most of the services are concentrated in the capital Yerevan, I agree with you. “Full Life” NGO was founded in the city of Stepanavan, we also have a center in the city of Tashir. We had centers in Goris and Sevan, where we implemented various programs. Now these centers are not functioning due to a number of factors. And the Yerevan, Tashir and Stepanavan centers are working. We have quite a large space in the center of Stepanavan to provide services. The center is under renovation. We aim to turn the second floor of the Stepanavan center into an independent living center, a place where people with disabilities will be able to learn a number of daily life skills, such as cooking and dressing independently. In Stepanavan, we are currently implementing two programs with state funding: provision of social-rehabilitation services for people with disabilities and day care services for children in difficult life situations. We have about 150 beneficiaries there. We have speech therapist, psychologist, social worker. pedagogue, art therapist services, a number of groups, for example, effective communication, art therapy, pottery, cooking skills group, which, by the way, is the most favorite group of children. I cannot fail to mention the annual camp of “Full Life” NGO, which is held in Stepanavan, in a cozy place of nature. Every year, around 50-60 beneficiaries spend their seven-day vacation in the camp. of course, it is not about passive rest. various events are carried out, various groups are active. In Tashir, at the moment, a social-rehabilitation service for people with disabilities is being implemented, again with the state delegation. About 20 beneficiaries receive various services on a daily basis.

– Tatev, what plans does “Full Life” NGO have in the near future?

There are many ideas. We actively cooperate with local and international organizations, trying to implement various programs. There are programs in the preliminary and final stages. All these programs will, of course, be aimed at developing the abilities of people with disabilities and improving the quality of life. We have a great hope that next year we will be able to reopen the Yerevan center of the “Full Life” NGO, where about 30-35 beneficiaries received services every month.

I and the entire staff of “Full Life” NGO work with great love and enthusiasm. We are trying to do our best for the establishment of an inclusive society. We hope that the good news will not be late.

N spoke. ZAKARYAN