The situation of people with special needs throughout the world is in a poor state. Societies build all kinds of barriers around people with disabilities: These barriers include inaccessible physical environments and transportation, the unavailability of assistive devices and technologies, non-adapted means of communication, gaps in service delivery, and discriminatory prejudice and stigma in society. In regions, that are affected by war, embargo and economic scarcity like North and East Syria, this situation is tremendously aggravated. Because of the circumstances, basic assistance and knowledge is hardly reaching the people in need. The bombardments and use of war technology also has long term effects on the nature as well as on human bodies. According to official figures, more than 30,000 people with disabilities (out of approximetly 4 Million) live in the Autonomous Administration Regions.
Before the Rojava Revolution there were no services for people with special needs. At the same time society had, and still has, a different approach towards disabilities than in the centers of capitalism. People are more open for needs of others and accepted each other the way they are. Social care often takes place in families. After 2012 there were more possibilities to strengthen civil society and with this expanded the social fabric above family structures. It was only after the revolution that initiatives emerged who regarded the inclusion of people with special needs into society as an important cornerstone of an intact society. Volunteers came together and started to organize to improve the situation of disabled persons. In 2021, Nûdem was founded as a non-governmental organization working with and towards the needs of people with disabilities in the Autonomous Region and the whole of Syria. The focus is on pedagogical and societal works aimed at societal change. This means that they seek dialogue with political institutions, advise newly established facilities on how they can be made more inclusive and hold many seminars to share knowledge and raise awareness through education. The other branch of the work is direct educational work with children and young people in particular. It is still widespread that disabled children are not sent to school – and cannot be sent, as there is no special care for them. The services Nûdem are providing are for free and open to everyone. The resources of the organization are based on donations.
Radical Democracy as base to improve living conditions of people with special needs
In October we visited a Nûdem center and got to know the Nûdem worker Sîham Çolî who is sharing her experiences and the philosophy of the NGO, which is rooted in the radical democracy that is build up in North and East Syria. The neighborhood communities and the structures of the self-administration are an important base for the Nûdem works. Communes are build up everywhere, to organize the everyday life of the people and as the foundation for the democratic confederal system. Communes for people with special needs and their families are also being built up. In these communes Nûdem organizes regular training sessions that reach people with and without disabilities. The communes also give the women from Nûdem information about which families are in need and should be visited. Nûdem often travels to the surrounding villages and organizes one-day events there. This usually means a day of games and handicrafts provided for people with special needs and their families. Through this occasion they can discuss questions and problems related to inclusion and disability over a meal with the families afterwards.
The Nûdem team is also attending meetings of the political structures to promote the perspective of people with special needs. “Sometimes we focus on the small level but also we work until the big level”, Sîham is summarizing their strategy to improve the situation of people with special needs. In some cases, they fight directly against the prevailing practice, which is based on prejudice. “Recently, we were with a family at a school that didn’t want to admit a child who is dependent on a wheelchair. The school management was worried that he wouldn’t be able to follow lessons and we had to explain to them that the boy is not cognitively impaired.” For the direct education work, Nûdem is currently working on a project for audio recordings of schoolbooks. Another aim right now is to establish more opportunities to work with adults with special needs. Therefore preparations to open a café run by disabled people are taking place.
What catches the attention is that mainly women work in the institutions of Nûdem. When asked for the reasons, Sîham explains: ‘They know the needs of the families and they know how to talk to people in order to change their view of disability.’ It was not originally intended to build up this organization only by women, but today it is consciously continued.
“I wanted to get to know the works with disabled persons in the revolution”
An internationalist called Meryem is also currently working in the Nûdem center. She came to North and East Syria to get to know the women’s revolution and learn how the revolutionary values influence the works with people with special needs. She is sharing how she was welcomed heartily by the Nûdem staff and felt like a lot of trust was put in her. In her fist weeks she got to know the institution, her colleagues, and learned some Kurdish. In the institution, as in the city, Arabic and Kurdish are the main languages spoken. Understanding all conversations with the co-workers, families, clients and guests in the center is still challenging for Meryem. But People in North and East Syria are familiar with multi-lingual settings and assist her a lot.
Back home, Meryem was working as a special needs teacher. With a translator, she could share some of her experience by giving seminars to her colleagues about topics like cognitive development, Trisomy 21 and alternative and augmentative communication.
Asked for her experience, Meryem sees the biggest difference compared to her home country in the strength of communality. “The difference is that people stay more within their families and therefore in society. In the place where I come from, people with special needs are more separated”, she explains. The strength of the community and the natural caretaking is a big value. At the same time, Nûdem is struggling to relieve the families of taking all the responsibility for their disabled family members. Many people with special needs need to rely on their families because other support structures are not available for them. Since 2012, many civil institutions have been build up to develop the communal organizing. Their role in the democratic confederal system is to shape and protect the democracy of society with their work, and throughout the participation in the political processes.
Despite the challenges to overcome the impact of the Syrian state’s regime and the decades of oppression on the people and society, the ongoing war has a big impact on life. “The war reality makes the works very hard”, Meryem shares. The embargo against the Syrian state and the ongoing attacks by Turkey set harsh limits to the efforts of the Nûdem workers. Also, professionals are missing. Many people fled from the war to the neighboring countries or abroad. At the universities of the Self-Administration there are not many programmes that can educate students with the necessary knowledge. Meryem is sharing her experiences. “We have to see that people work as volunteers here. They are not professionally educated, but they do good work. There is a lot of self-education and learning from each other. Throughout the practical works, the workers learn a lot. Every day in the center is different. I learn a lot, and after work I am often invited to visit the families of my co-workers. But to get deeper answers to my questions bringing me here, I would need to stay longer.”
Asked how Internationalists and people abroad can support the works of Nûdem, Meryem says financial support is always needed. Speakin and hearing assistance devices need technical support that is widespread in other places and could make life much easier, but in North and East Syria they can´t be provided. Yet, material support is not primary. Meryem and Sîham agree, “Funding campaigns are nice, but it is more important to spread the word of what is done over here.”
All around the globe, fascist forces are rising. They attack society, women and human values and clearly devalue the lives of people with special needs. At the same time in North and East Syria, the war and the revolutionary transformation of society are going on. The efforts of Nûdem under these circumstances show a strong radicality and are an example of how to fight on a daily and communal basis for a society that is united in diversity. Nûdem and other societal institutions are always happy for professionals and Internationalists to come and share their knowledge who want to learn from the experience of the people.
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