According to the most recent available statistics, 186,384 individuals, or 6.1% of Armenia’s permanent population of 3,041,000, are classified as having various forms of disabilities. (The Armenian term hashmandamoutyoun is generally translated as "handicap" in state documents)

Only four of the seven candidates running for the presidency have something to say about the “disabled” in their campaign platforms. The other three, Hrant Bagratyan, Paryur Hayrikian and Andreas Ghoukasyan, don’t refer to the issue at all. We don’t know the views of Vardan Sedrakyan because he hasn’t issued a campaign platfor.

Candidate Arman Melikyan, in his platform refers to Article 37 of the RA Constitution stipulating that: Everyone shall have the right to social security during old age, disability, loss of bread-winner, unemployment and other cases prescribed by the law. The extent and forms of social security shall be prescribed by the law. 

Melikyan says he would use the $1 billion now in the shadow economy to launch a series of initiatives designed to improve the living conditions faced by the handicapped and to facilitate their full integration into society.

Serzh Sargsyan’s campaign platform is also short on specifics, saying that the government needs to provide the minimum conditions to facilitate their integration into society.

President Sargsyan also mentions paying particular attention to securing jobs for the disabled and increasing the rate of assistance to families of disabled war veterans.

Candidate Raffi Hovannisian has the most to say about the disabled in his platform, but much is also general in nature.

He says that the level of current funding and improper application of the laws are two reasons why the handicapped are facing such hard times.

Hovannisian concedes that negative public perceptions regarding the handicapped also facilitate their alienation from society and that these attitudes must change.  He says the huge potential of the handicapped is being wasted.

The candidate argues that the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which became law in Armenia in 2010, must be implemented to a greater degree than today.

Hovannisian raises the connected issues of discrimination and public accessibility in his platform as well. He talks about medical privileges and free treatment to those with handicaps and states that the government should cover education expenses for children with disabilities.

Photo: Sona Simonyan