In Kazakhstan, with its legacy of Soviet rule, disabled people and children in care would often find themselves labelled as victims who could not be helped. Families would reinforce this by doing everything for the children, rather than encouraging independence. Children with cerebral palsy were simply named ‘lying down children’.
British physiotherapist Margaret Andrews has been introducing alternative, inclusive approaches as part of a placement at the Children’s Rehabilitation Centre in Usk-Kamenogovsk. To do this, she has been working with children and their families to develop their confidence and abilities, and running short courses about working with children with cerebral palsy. She says, “Courses like this can change views because we can show that the child can achieve and learn things by working actively. On this course, we have a paediatrician from the centre, a rehabilitation doctor from the hospital, some exercise therapists, massage therapists and social workers, who are more like community rehabilitation workers or physiotherapists in the UK. It’s real progress to get a mixture of professions so they share information with each other.”
VSO’s knowledge and skills are helping to develop social work throughout Kazakhstan, a profession only recently introduced to the country. VSO’s health and social well-being programme manager Madina Akhmetova says, “VSO is supporting social work on different levels. Our volunteers work in NGOs, in state organisations and on a policy level.”
Margaret has now completed two long-term placements with government institutions and three short-term placements with the centre over the last year. Before each course, she has carried out practical assessments of the health and social workers, observing them working with the children in their family homes. This means she has been able to continue to build on her work and see the same participants develop their skills. She says, “If you repeat a placement at the same place you can actually bring one group of staff forward and increase their skills.”
