MDAC Seasonal Appeal
Make a World of Difference with MDAC’s Seasonal Appeal
Please make a seasonal gift to MDAC.
December 10th was International Human Rights Day.
Rusi Stanev, Bulgaria
On that day ten years ago, Rusi Stanev was picked up by an ambulance from his home in Bulgaria and driven 400km to an institution where he was imprisoned for more than eight years. Surrounded by emaciated and hungry inmates in decrepit and cold buildings, with the smell of human faeces always hanging in the air: this was where Rusi found himself, a place reminiscent of a centuries-old workhouse.
Rusi contacted our partner NGO in Bulgaria, and we took Rusi’s case to the European Court of Human Rights. In January, he won and his rights were restored, setting him on a path to justice.
We are now helping him to return to a life in the community.
Children and adults who are conceived of as disabled and different are stigmatised in all parts of the world. To combat segregation, in Europe we are advocating for investments in community-based services rather than perpetuate institutional warehousing. In Africa we are working with local organisations to eliminate harmful practices in traditional healing and ‘Western’ medicine.
Since we were established, we have directly helped approximately 200 people with disabilities to have their rights returned to them. They say:
“I thank you, MDAC, for helping to regain my freedom and independence in my life. It is very important that my story was an opportunity to help other people whose rights are violated because of guardianship and to change the system.”
Pavel Shtukaturov, Russia
"The confinement in a psychiatric hospital was a terrifying experience. I was forcibly treated with narcoleptics for four months and had to undergo regular intravenous treatment without my consent. I could not leave the ward for 5 months, I was closed behind bars. I could not meet my friends or be with my foster son. If it was not for Liga/MDAC I would die there. On the first month of being at home, I could not fall asleep without the light on. I think my case shows that this could happen to anyone. The system allows for arbitrarity and the gross violations of human rights are often overlooked and trivialised by the persons involved, from the medical staff to the management."
Květoslava Šamajová, Czech Republic
Many people we work for will be spending this winter in an institution. They will also be there
next year and the year after that, unless more is done.
Please give generously.
€ 25 could pay towards investigating human rights abuses in Africa, such as traditional healers tying people with disabilities to trees and beating ‘evil spirits’ out of them.
€ 100 could pay towards training of people with mental health disabilities so that they are able to assert their own rights, and become agents for their own change.
€ 1,000 could pay towards taking a new case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Any amount you can give will help us improve the lives of people with disabilities.
Click here to donate online.Or click here to download a donation form to send by post.
Thank you for your generosity.