We Aren’t Outcasts: We Were Chosen by Illness
Their lives were
literally divided into the “before” and the “after”. They used to work, make
friends, dream, love, and believe… until a mental disorder broke into their
daily routine unexpectedly. After they left the psychiatric hospital, they
found themselves alone in the face of the new world where neither the society
as a whole nor employers want to have anything in common with them.
Dobrodel Social
Rehabilitation Workshop was established by St Elisabeth Convent this spring.
Dobrodel gives mentally challenged people an opportunity of rehabilitation.
Government regulations guarantee rehabilitation as an integral part of
treatment but in fact, mental disorders are heavily stigmatized in our society.
Sadly, people are more ready to admit that their relative is an alcohol addict
than that s/he is mentally challenged. This is pitiful because no one is ever
fully protected against mental health issues. As a result, all rehabilitation
efforts are solely the responsibility of the patient’s family. What can
possibly be done?
We spent a day in
Dobrodel Workshop and saw people who had been abandoned by many but are finding
a way to return to normal life.
Sergey
Sergey is a jack of
all trades. He learned to take pictures in a club house and now takes excellent
photos. He spent a long time in hospital and looking for a suitable medicine.
He is better now but drugs manufactured abroad are not sponsored by the
government, so he has to buy them on his own money.
“I was a regular
guy. It happened gradually. Several months prior to my demobilization, a drunk
soldier started a fight. As a result, I got a double fracture with a
displacement of the upper cheekbone and almost lost my eyesight. Now it seems
to me that it was the first negative impact on my health.
I lost two close
friends whom I had known since my first year at school during the tragic 1990s.
I was depressed. I lost sleep. However, I heard about how awful psychiatric
hospitals were and decided that I would never go there voluntarily.
I worked in an
industrial plant after I had been discharged from the army. My health condition
deteriorated until I had a fight with a co-worker. Finally, they sent me to the
hospital for compulsory treatment in 1999.
“When I was
dismissed from the hospital in 2000, I received the 2nd disability group, and I
was fired from my job immediately. I was looking for a job. I spent some time
working as a mover and as an unskilled builder. My condition was unstable due
to unsuitable drug therapy: I couldn’t sleep at all, I was weak to the extent
of barely being able to drag my feet. After several years of suffering, I went
to a private doctor who finally managed to choose the right drugs for me.”
“Today, I feel that
I’m a regular person whose skills are in demand. The atmosphere here in the
Workshop is totally different. It’s amicable. We are not hopeless. It’s just
that the illness chose us.”
Igor
Igor is not
disabled at all. He graduated from the Belarusian National Technical
University, School of Transport. He used to work as an engineer in a large
company. However, he admits, his unstable mental state would not let him stay
in one and the same position. He had to change jobs all the time.
The Dobrodel
Workshop has found a way to use Igor’s engineering skills. He develops schemes
and blueprints of new items in AutoCAD. Igor has a very healthy and sweet
hobby: he looks after bees. He has 7 beehives in Bierazino Raion. He
participated in a special course on apiculture and received a certificate.
“I used to be a
regular guy until I was 25 or 26. I had a job, hobbies, and friends. My life
was totally normal. Then suddenly I felt bad, and that was how it started. I
was weak, I had headaches and strange sensations. My parents showed me to a
doctor but he just prescribed me some drugs and sent me away.”
“I know for a fact
that our society doesn’t care about the people who are trapped by their own
brain. It’s a huge problem. It’s almost impossible to find a good job that
corresponds to your skills and qualifications. Employers don’t want to listen
to anything you say. Who wants to deal with your quirks and symptoms?”
“The Open House
Centre run by the Belarusian Red Cross helped me to adapt and return to normal
life. I went from a guest to the foreman of the Centre. I had a list of duties,
even if it was small. I felt my own value for the society and for the world.”
“The Dobrodel
Workshop is a new step for me. I have crossed the line between rehabilitation
and employment. Right now, I have a job. It’s hard for me to talk about it, but
that’s my way…”
September 19, 2018
St. Elisabeth Convent
