No excuses: a world without barriers Alexander Popov

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

They say about people like Alexander Popov: "He made himself." He overcame depression himself, found himself in a wheelchair, opened a business himself, built a ramp himself, found a business to his liking, benefiting thousands of people. Sasha is the head of the Voronezh educational resource center "Accessible Environment" and believes that in a few decades people locked in their apartments will be able to freely walk around the city. After all, the system can be changed!

Afraid to be afraid

- Hi, Nastya!

- One of the first bright memories of childhood: dad, big and powerful, enters the apartment, and we run to him with joyful shouts. Unfortunately, my father died when I was five years old. Mom raised my sister and me alone. She is very strong-willed, moreover, incredibly kind.

- For a number of subjects, yes.

In my opinion, a lot depends on the personality of the teacher. We had an excellent biologist and geographer - these disciplines were easy. But the mathematician was bad, therefore, with numbers, in addition to elementary computational operations, I still have difficulties.

Somewhere in the eighth grade, I fell in love. The girl was from "A" -class. You know where the most diligent students are usually gathered. In order to somehow get closer to her, I won an Olympiad in biology and got into the "A" -class. For exactly one day. In the rest of the disciplines I did not reach the guys, and I was quickly returned back to "G".

- No, not taken peak.:) But this was the first serious experience when I pulled myself together and began to achieve what I needed.

- I have a congenital disease associated with muscle atrophy. At about 16 years old, when it was getting harder and harder to walk, I began to study the issue deeply and realized that the prospects were far from bright. Therefore, he did not want to waste time studying, dropped out of the institute and went to work.

- At first I was a receptionist in a workshop for the repair of mobile phones and portable equipment. Then he opened his own service center. For 10 years, his team has grown from me to 30 people, 20 of whom were highly qualified engineers. It was the largest service center in the region, and the business was quite successful. But my health condition, unfortunately, was getting worse. At one point, I realized that I just physically cannot go to work. I tried to look for managers, but none of them was effective: the repair time grew, the quality dropped, the team became less and less manageable. As a result, I made a strategic decision to close the service center.

“It was a huge moral problem. I had such a terrible shame that I didn't know what to do with myself. You are a normal, intelligent, decent, energetic person who could do a lot, and suddenly you can no longer walk. The feeling that your value as a person has become less than before. Whatever I did to solve this problem: I read books on psychoanalysis, went to consultations with specialists - nothing helped.

Until one day I suddenly decided this question for myself literally in one second.

All my life I have been afraid to be afraid. When I feel that I am afraid of something, I immediately go to this problem. This is my personal life hack.

Once I realized that I was afraid to appear on the street in a wheelchair, I was afraid that my friends, acquaintances, and colleagues would see me like that. What if they think I'm helpless and start to feel sorry for me? As soon as I realized this fear, it became easy for me - all the depression disappeared. I began to walk everywhere in a wheelchair, and I did not care what they thought of me.:)

Bezbarierro

- Business teaches us to think about the consequences. If you have ever lost money, if you have ever had people to whom you pay a salary, were idle, if you at least once realized that in a month you would have nothing to pay taxes with, then you probably learned to plan for a long time ahead.

Now, if I don't have a plan for a month, a week, and a day, I start to feel anxious.

- Initially, I did not plan to professionally deal with a barrier-free environment - I just wanted a ramp and a lift in my entrance. But I quickly realized that this is a non-trivial task: the existing system does not work, it needs to be radically changed.

For three years of correspondence with the management company and other authorities, I have accumulated a huge folder of unsubscriptions. Even when the regional government ordered the management company to make me a ramp, the latter did not move. I had to go to court. And even during the installation process, I had to stop work four times: despite a clear and clear project, the management company tried to make it both simpler and cheaper. But as a result, he achieved that the ramp was done and done as it should.

- Yes. I decided to equip the electrical control room with a special lift. Here a neighbor began to insert sticks into the wheels. One day, she called the housing inspection, firefighters and the police to me at the same time.:) All three services came, but after seeing the state of affairs with their own eyes and assessing how the neighbor communicates with people, they immediately gave me a work permit.

- Of course, it's sad to watch this. But we must understand that in any community there are inadequate people. This is fine.

You need to act with them only according to the law. In no case should you get involved in conflicts, don't succumb to provocations.

They will certainly lead you to a scandal. But do not waste your nerves on arguments and persuasions - act on the basis of your rights and legitimate interests, and document everything.

- Low motivation of people with disabilities is a big and serious problem. They have an extremely low self-esteem, and often there is simply no moral strength to overcome external obstacles.

There are few good, really working public organizations in the country. Usually a person comes to the local society of disabled people, sees there stagnating grandparents, and his hands finally give up. It seems that such a gloomy haze is everywhere and it is impossible to overcome the bureaucratic monster.

- Including. We believe that the rehabilitation process consists of three stages. The first is physical rehabilitation (treatment, surgery, sports, and so on). The second is the adaptation of the environment when a person has come to his senses and wants to have access to the world. And the third stage is self-realization. It is achieved through employment. We are working on the last two stages.

When my epic with a ramp and a lift was over, I went to the head of the regional society of disabled people and said that I wanted to deal with an accessible environment. The first thing I did was go through the facilities that had already been adapted in the city under the Accessible Environment program, and revealed a number of mistakes. It turned out that the management of institutions and contractors need expert help in correct adaptation and that there is not a single organization in the Voronezh Region that would supply specialized equipment (signs, pictograms, plates, mnemonic diagrams, and so on). We have occupied this niche.

In 2014, I had a living hell at home: about 50 organizations passed through my apartment, which needed advice on SNiPs and the state program. Sometimes there were 10-12 visitors a day: directors, accountants, engineers and so on. We realized that we needed a room where our team could work and where people could come. The leader of our society of disabled people, seeing the effectiveness of our activities, singled it out to us.

We received one and a half million rubles from the Department of Labor and Employment (this is compensation for the employment of three wheelchair users) and invested profit from the sale of tactile products. There was still not enough money - I had to invest my own funds. But in the end, we completely reconstructed the premises and created a reference house for a person with a disability. We are not ashamed of the result, 2015 showed how correctly and comfortably we did everything.

- To some extent, yes. The center is adapted for all categories of people with disabilities: wheelchair users, visually impaired, hard of hearing, people with mental disabilities.

We wanted to show you how to make a ramp correctly, install a staff call button, arrange braille plates, mnemonic diagrams, how to organize the ergonomics of internal workspaces, equip a bathroom, what kind of furniture should be, and so on.

Staff call button

Toilet

Workplaces

Many things are tested in our office. For example, drop-down thresholds - is it convenient? Are contrasting elements on furniture helpful or not? We check all this on ourselves, and then implement it.

- We wrote them a big letter with a description of the problem and our vision of the result, but we have not received an answer yet.

But, even if it does not follow, we will still shoot videos about the availability of objects. So far, within the framework of the grant for the creation of a Voronezh accessibility map, which we won, but we'll see.:)

You criticize - offer, offer - do, do - answer

- I think the situation will change radically in the next 15 years. We will see people sitting at home, on the streets, in shops, in the cinema.

The legislation is seriously changing, experts, activists appear - all this can change the system.

The main thing is to understand that one should not conflict with the authorities, but integrate into its work.

- Not just like that, but criticize - offer, offer - do, do - answer.

Imagine a government agency mandated to implement the Accessible Environment program. At best, officials will be sent to some kind of training seminar, but usually this does not happen either. In addition, a bunch of issues that need to be resolved promptly hang on this body.

Meanwhile, only professionals with experience and knowledge can correctly adapt the object. And if we are talking about the involvement of people with disabilities in the adaptation of infrastructure, then these should be experts. Only in this case the money allocated by the state will be spent efficiently.

- Last year we came up with an initiative to create a federal training center "Accessible Environment". We want the current wave of scattered information about accessibility to be structured so that a training program can be created. So that people can remotely read these educational materials, watch lectures. And those who want to deal with this issue professionally in their city were able to pass the qualification exam remotely and receive the official status of an expert (certificate).

Then the system will work in a new way: an expert will be attached to each object, his visa will be on the design and construction documentation. This will mean that he has put his knowledge into the project and is ready to be responsible for the result. Without an expert visa, it will not be possible to put the facility into operation. Believe me, a professional of this level will always be in demand and will be able to earn money.

- We created and from April to December 2015 were able to employ about 25 people. Another 50 were trained. This is a good result, considering how severe the degree of disability the children had and how many prejudices were in the minds of employers.

- Including. They are afraid that they will not cope, that there will be constant sick leave and compensation. Therefore, we do not come to the employer with the demand “Take it! You are obliged! . We come with a proposal: look what a great specialist, how inexpensive he will cost you, what his motivation is!

We also try to make people with disabilities competitive workers. To do this, we conduct training in relevant specialties on the market. For example, in February we will start a course on public speaking, from the listeners of which call centers will recruit employees. There will be a training program on SMM, online advertising, English. And most importantly, this year we want to make a business council that would unite the interests of employees and employers, and we plan to hold a Career Path competition among university graduates with disabilities.

- The first is to go online and see what ramps there are. The second is to contact the nearest company engaged in the manufacture and installation of ramps, with a request to determine whether there is a technical possibility to make such and such a ramp, and to prepare a commercial offer for it.

The legislation allows for the installation of a ramp without the consent of the tenants, but I would be insured. Therefore, the third step is to make a questionnaire and walk around the neighbors. Even if in your house there are those very inadequate people that we talked about above, the bulk of the tenants will not mind a convenient, correct design.

Also, I would contact the management company. Often she has the internal resources to make it, and, perhaps, if you give a normal drawing and control the progress of the work, she will do everything right.

Step four is to find money. This can be funds from the management company, sponsorship, and special funds of the program for the adaptation of the housing stock (there are such funds in some cities). Do not forget that you can just make money on the ramp! It also makes sense to contact public organizations. Their experience and connections can help you. Remember, any problem can be solved if you put enough effort and time into it.

Everything!:)

Perpetual motion machine

- Before, I always thought that every task took energy. But recently I realized that the opposite is true: every deed done, especially aimed at creation, adds energy.

It is a never-ending source of energy. If I am lying somewhere on vacation for more than three days, then from a thirst for activity I begin to build appliances on tables, arrange loungers along a ruler.:)

- Over time, you begin to appreciate very simple things. The opportunity to sleep, read a good book, communicate with an intelligent person, go out into nature, take a cold shower in the morning, eat a piece of deliciously cooked meat - isn't that happiness?:)

- Do not be afraid of anything and work hard. You will be surprised how much will change in your life.

- Thanks for the invitation!:)