Friday, October 6 2017 14:11

ArmInfo. Roundtable with  blindfolded "Inclusion as Culture" was held in Yerevan. The event was  held within the framework of the international humanitarian mission  "Parus of the Spirit", held this year in Armenia under the general  partnership of the State Atomic Energy Corporation "Rosatom".

"The goal of this initiative is to develop inclusion as a culture of  interaction. We want to introduce a new perspective on inclusive,  demonstrating the excellent interaction between disabled people and  healthy people. Today, within the framework of our round table, we  will discuss the difficulties of inclusive interaction and ways to  overcome them, and also understand what inclusion is good and useful  and how to make inclusive interaction well organized and widely  represented in different spheres of life, "said the president of the  social movement , the head of the inclusive humanitarian  mission , the blind trainer Oleg Kolpaschikov at the  opening of the event.

At the same time, he added that after the roundtable flashmob will be  held in Yerevan, during which the blind project participants will  bring their sighted satellites blindfolded to their destination.  According to him, the project participants do not know the city and  will show all their skills and knowledge in the case.  Kolpaschikov  also said that it is planned to make an annual international  humanitarian mission "Parus of the Spirit", which is being held in  Armenia for the third time already. "I would like to express special  gratitude to our general partner Rosatom, thanks to which our meeting  was possible. Our camp opened on Sevan on October 1 and will last  until the 10th. In our camp we practice sailing, free diving, yoga,  and many other sports activities. On October 10, we plan to visit the  Armenian nuclear power plant, where an excursion for members of the  expedition will be conducted. In our camp, we do not just train, but  we also look for ways of self-realization, "Kolpaschikov said.

At the same time, he noted that over the 7 years of the initiative's  existence, the project participants visited more than 20 countries,  sailed  about 12 thousand nautical miles. "The most important thing  is that the participants of our projects began to come to work, to  realize themselves, to feel necessary - this is our task," he said.  According to him, more than 100 people from Armenia participate in  the camp, and from year to year there are more and more participants.

In his turn, the chairman of the Armenian National Federation of  Invalid Sports Samvel Rostomyan noted that cooperation with was born more than a year ago, many events are jointly  held on active sports. "They represent the ideas of the coexistence  of disabled people and healthy people in Armenia, as there are  practically no such initiatives in our country. It is very important  for us, it is important to conduct similar initiatives in Armenia, to  develop this initiative, to distribute among the young. In our  country this is not practiced and we should take advantage of this  opportunity and gain experience from our friends from other  countries, since they have more experience in this area. The people  you see here are real heroes. It's from a series of fiction, they  swam across the oceans, did things that healthy people can hardly do,  "said Rostomian.

Meanwhile, the representative of the Ministry of Labor and Social  Affairs of Armenia Hayk Mkrtchyan emphasized the importance of  holding such events. According to him, such round tables contribute  to the integration of people with limited opportunities into society.  At the same time, he noted that in Armenia much attention is paid to  the integration of disabled people into society. "Such events are a  good opportunity for Armenian specialists in terms of acquiring new  experience and skills in this direction," the representative of the  Ministry concluded.

The round table was attended by people with a vision impairment and  without it from Yerevan, Izhevsk, Tyumen, St. Petersburg,  Yekaterinburg, Kostroma, Revda, Kinel-Cherkassy, Tel Aviv. The  organizers and partners of the event are the State Atomic Energy  Corporation "Rosatom", the public organization "Armenian National  Federation of Disabled Sports", the Russian Center of Science and  Culture in Yerevan, the ANO "WHITE TRUST".

"Sails of Spirit" is a project dedicated to the preparation and  realization of a round-the-world trip on a sailing yacht with the  participation of disabled people, including the blind. Starting in  2011, the international team makes preparatory sea crossings on a  wide variety of latitudes - from the Caribbean to the North Sea.  Simultaneously with the development of the marine business, the  participants of the voyage conduct humanitarian activities,  establishing friendly contacts with people and organizations in the  countries participating in the project. The idea of a round-the-world  trip on a sailing yacht belongs to disabled person Sergey Burlakov in  2004 took part in the New York marathon and won, having overcome 42  km on prostheses.

In August 2011, Sergey shared his plans with Oleg Kolpashchikov, who  became interested in the topic of inclusive sea voyage, and already  at the first meeting in Taganrog a joint decision was made to start  the project. In October 2011 an unusual team led by the master of  sports Viktor Klokov went to the first training in Croatia. This  event is considered to be the start of the project "Sail of the  Spirit".