Evacuating or Leaving Ukraine

International News

Ensuring the protection of persons with disabilities fleeing from Ukraine A note on priorities. (2022, UNHCR)

The Informal International Network Getting Disabled Ukrainians Out of the War Zone. Important especially in highlighting the active role persons with disabilities themselves play in humanitarian response. (2022, Time)

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Georgia

WHO supports an inclusive response to refugees with disabilities in Georgia. (2023, WHO)

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Türkiye

'My heart is torn': As war rages on at home, these young disabled Ukrainian swimmers are stranded in Turkey. (2022, CNN)

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Europe

Regional social protection overview For Ukrainian refugees who have temporary protection in six host countries: Czechia, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. (2023, Acaps)

Info sheet on measures for arrival of displaced people fleeing the war in Ukraine, including extensive reference to measures in relation to disability. (2023, ecre)

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Hungary

Ukraine children with disabilities struggle for therapy abroad “More than a year after fleeing from Ukraine to Hungary with her autistic son Roman, Iryna Bryk has still not found suitable therapy for her nine-year-old.” (2023, France 24)

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Lithuania

Personal stories of two visually impaired Ukrainians after moving to Lithuania. (2023, Euroblind)

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Moldova

Enabling support for Ukrainian refugees with disabilities in the Republic of Moldova (2023, WHO)

"I want to go back" testimonies from older people who left Ukraine. (2022, Help Age)

Rapid Needs Assessment of Older Refugees

"Only 22% of older people interviewed had a disability. This is surprisingly low and may reflect that many of those with a disability have found it harder to flee their homes. Agencies should be prepared in coming weeks for older people arriving who need assistive aids such as hearing aids, wheelchairs, and incontinence pads, which may have been left behind, lost, or broken along the journey. " (link to pdf, 2022, Help Age)

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Poland

Poland’s superior services offer a new life and big dilemmas for a Ukrainian girl with a disability. “In Warsaw, a six-year-old with cerebral palsy can get care that her mother struggled to find in Ukraine, even before the war.” (2023, The Globe and Mail)

Critical concerns facing older Ukrainian refugees in Poland “Only 8 per cent of the 382 older Ukrainian refugees surveyed are able to pay their medical bills in full.” (2023, HelpAge)

Profile of Mudita Association and its support to refugees with disabilities. (2023, Borgen Magazine)

Post Distribution Monitoring for Targeted Cash Assistance for Ukrainian Refugees. Of the recipients “48% of them were persons with disabilities, 30% were people 60-years-old or above, and 22% were legal caretakers of person(s) with disability.” (2023, Relief Web)

‘We long for home - but our son has chances here’: “their eldest son Roman, who has cerebral palsy and learning disabilities, has been given the chance to go to school for the first time. He is 20 years old.” See also a video feature. (2022, BBC)

Situation analysis on the assistive technology needs of Ukrainian people in Poland. (2022, WHO)

Interview with Autism-Poland Association on the situation on the border with Ukraine (2022, EDF)

Poland representative stated that mong the over million Ukrainians who arrived fleeing the war, 100,000 are with disabilities, mostly children. They are arriving without basic assistive technologies like wheelchairs, canes, etc. Poland is trying to find Ukrainian sign language interpreters, develop accessibility and support. (2022, Alejandro Moledo) Polish rehabilitation centres are offering their services for free.

Special assistance is needed for some refugees on those with disabilities arriving in Poland (in Polish, 2022, Rzeczpospolita)

War refugees with disabilities in Poland - situation, support, needs. Links to this page with a list of resource organizations in Polish. (2022, Inclusion Europe)

Ukrainian families with disabilities get new chance “Ukrainian families are finding better opportunities for their children with disabilities in Poland. Local volunteer organizations help them on their journey to adapt to their new life.” (2022, DW)

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Russia

Two Ukrainian men in wheelchairs were forcibly deported to Russia and subjected to months of abuse. Then they escaped. (2023, Business Insider)

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Ukraine

Ukraine denies rumors of border closure for men with 3rd group disability

“Rumors have circulated on Ukrainian social media that men of conscription age with group 3 disabilities have been denied the right to leave Ukraine, despite being exempt from conscription. A recent scandal on the matter erupted following the removal of 20 individuals from a Poland-bound Ukrainian train.” (2023, Yahoo! News)

Experience of Evacuating People with Disabilities a rapid assessment study of evacuation in 2022. (2023, UNDP)

Ensuring the protection of persons with disabilities fleeing from Ukraine. Report that “provides an overview of the situation in Ukraine, highlights the five priority actions to strengthen support to persons with disabilities fleeing from Ukraine.” (2023, EDF)

Surviving the Russo-Ukraine War with disability – a feature with Tetyana Herasymova of Fight for Right. (2022, Ink Stick Media)

Evacuating the Vulnerable Amid the Terror of War photos and descriptions of the work of Vostok-SOS, evacuating people from Eastern Ukraine. (2022, NYT)

‘Calls kept coming’: Ukraine’s network for the blind shelters displaced people: factories predominantly staffed by people with visual impairments provide shelter. (2022, the Guardian)

How Misha, a 19-Year-Old With Down Syndrome, Escaped Ukraine (2022, WSJ)

I fled Ukraine with a disability. “In this state of war, you start to think differently. You understand that HIV therapy is your life, and you understand just how badly you need access to this therapy.” (2022, Business Insider)

A rescue was organized from Russian occupied territory for a Ukrainian mother and disabled daughter (2022, Info Migrants)

Here’s what Ukrainians with disabilities face as we cope with war A first-hand account of the first days of invasion and leaving Kharkiv to Western Ukraine by a blind woman with other disabled family members. (2022, The New Humanitarian)

BBC Ouch podcast 'I think of my wheelchair more than myself now' with Tanya from Fight for your Right, and a disabled Russian journalist who left Moscow after her article denouncing the Ukraine war went viral. (no transcript I think, 2022, BBC)

Refugees on the Moldova-Ukraine border "We saw a fairly large number of older people arriving, as well as some people with disabilities who were being assisted in their journey. But the number is disproportionately low, compared to the population of Ukraine." (2022, HelpAge)

In Touch podcast on the blind people and organizations supporting people in Poland and children with visual impairments in Lviv. As with so much of the response, these are individual, ad-hoc measures. (with transcript, 2022, BBC)

In-depth conversation with Tanya Herasymova, of Fight for your Right (2022, Natasha Lipman)

The Global Effort To Evacuate Children With Cancer (2022, Forbes)

Escaping the horror in Ukraine is not an option for many disabled children and their families One parent, stuck near the Polish border for several days described their daughter's need to resume physical therapy:

"Vika has been without rehabilitation for a very long time, her condition is deteriorating," Chuiska said. "She is constantly growing and her muscles do not develop at the same pace, so she is starting to lose the progress. She has started falling while walking and her legs are not developing well, she has pain in her legs now." (2022, CNN)

As Millions Flee, Disabled Ukrainians Forced to Fend for Themselves (2022, New Mobility)

The Disabled Ukrainians Doing What the UN Can’t (or Won’t?) Behind the scenes on the ad-hoc connections within the disability community and lack of support from humanitarian organizations.

'But as we made these connections, reaching the highest heights of the “who’s who” of the humanitarian field, we were turned down every time. The typical line was that the organization lacked the ability to evacuate “personnel with those needs” – in other words, people with disabilities.

How fascinating (read: infuriating), given that every single one claims to serve the disability community in their promotional materials and appeals for funding. ' [...]

'Notice a pattern here? The disability community, already under-resourced and struggling, is consistently the only one to step in to help.' (2022, FP2P)

Rules and documents from the Ministry of Social policy on who can accompany children and people with disabilities when crossing the border (in Ukrainian, I used google translate, 2022, HB)

Ministry of Social Policy reports on the evacuation of About 5,000 children from vulnerable categories being brought up in institutional care facilities (2022, Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine)

The hearing impaired Ukrainians fighting to survive war (2022, La Prensa Latina)

Chaos, upheaval and exhaustion for Ukraine's disabled children. Evacuation of children with disabilities from one centre. "The bus to the Polish border was a capsule of exhaustion, grief and tender mercies." (2022, BBC)

Humanitarian efforts aren't doing enough to evacuate Ukrainians with disabilities A deeper look at the barriers disabled people are facing to leave, including being stopped at the border.

"Despite collective condemnation of Russia and support for Ukraine's sovereignty among the international community, the humanitarian response has lacked inclusivity and accessibility for many. From inaccessible evacuation centers to a lack of information in accessible formats such as braille or sign language, the lack of proper resources for people with disabilities has had devastating consequences." (2022, MSNBC)

Disabled children fleeing Kyiv received by Poles, Hungarians. Evacuation of residents of orphanages for children with disabilities. (2022, KTAR News)

Ukrainian woman says people with disabilities 'left behind' after 'almost impossible' journey across the border. The experience of Tanya Herasymova, project coordinator of Fight For Our Right. "The only people who offered support is volunteers. Without people, such people, it couldn't be possible to evacuate for us." (2022, Irish Mirror)

Rapid needs assessment of displaced older people. The most widely reported need is cash support. (2022, HelpAge) See also on Age International.

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United Kingdom

Ukrainian refugee family with disabled son denied accessible house by East Renfrewshire Council (2023, STV News)

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