64% of people with disabilities do not attend cultural institutions according to results of all-Ukrainian survey on the cultural rights of people with disabilities

The presentation of the results of all-Ukrainian survey on the cultural rights of people with disabilities was held in the Museum of History of Kyiv. It was the first representative survey in Ukraine on the status of the cultural rights of people with various disabilities. The survey was held within the implementation of the project “Arts for All: Exploring the Situation Regarding the Cultural Rights of People with Disabilities in Ukraine” supported by the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.

The survey was carried out by the team of NGO of people with disabilities “Fight For Right” in partnership with Kyiv International Institute of Sociology from September 15 to 22, 2021 using computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) based on a random sample of mobile phone numbers. A total of 2,002 respondents were interviewed. The sample is representative of the adult population (aged 18 and over) in Ukraine. The sample did not include those areas which are temporarily not under the control of Ukrainian authorities – the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The statistical error of the sample (with probability 0.95 and considering the design effect 1.1) does not exceed: 2.4%.

The results of the study showed that for

• 61% of those surveyed people without disabilities disability was associated with something negative, limiting: “disabled”, “people with disabilities”, “people who cannot take care of themselves”, “people who need help”, “helpless”, “incapacitated”, “people who face difficulties in life”, “people with communication difficulties”.
• Approximately two thirds of people with a mobility impairment (64%) do not attend cultural institutions and events at all. Less than half of people with visual impairments (46%) and only one in five people with mobility impairments (23%) have been to cultural events where they feel their disability-related needs have been considered.
• Two thirds of Ukrainians (66%) consider the state, and almost half (49%) consider local governments responsible for creating conditions for equal access to cultural events and institutions for people with and without disabilities.
• More than a third (37%) of people with visual impairments believe that there could be more books in accessible format.
• According to the survey of people with intellectual disabilities, 40% of female respondents and 24% of male respondents cannot read. The figures suggest the impact of gender stereotypes on the learning and education of people with intellectual disabilities.
• Approximately a third of Ukrainians with and without disabilities said that money and time were the main factors that prevented them from doing creative work more often.

Speakers at the event included: Yuliia Sachuk, Chairperson of Fight For Right, an NGO for people with disabilities, Yaroslav Petrakov, Director General of the Directorate for Strategic Planning and European Integration of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Oksana Prasiuk, Head of Analytical Department of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, Professor Volodymyr Paniotto, Director General of Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, Leonida Ponomarova, Deputy of Kyiv Regional Council of the VIII Convocation and Nadiia Dobrianska, analyst of the research.

During the presentation, Yuliia Sachuk noted that “more than a half of adults without disabilities in Ukraine (56.3%) believe that people with disabilities have the same opportunity to attend all cultural events as people without disabilities. And this figure speaks to the public’s ignorance of the fact that at least a tenth of them remain segregated, outside of cultural life in the country. We got the first answers, each answer, the figure, the pattern is worth investigating further”.

The analytical report can be read in detail at the following link.