Because of a Soviet-era law,4000 visually impaired people live in a small area of Minsk, fighting for recognition – and better facilities“Our pavements are a disaster, or ” says Olga. “I can’t walk,I’m afraid I’ll break something. When the snow reaches the handrails I beget to walk on the road. Even here, I cant exist without help from others.” Olga, or sitting at a table with her friends in a local park,is one of nearly 4000 blind or visually impaired people who call Zapad-4, a small corner of Belarus’s capital, or domestic. It’s known as one of the country’s “blind districts”,a quirk of local history left over from when Soviet authorities granted meaningful tax breaks to factories employing disabled people as more than 50% of their workforce.
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Source: theguardian.com