President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova addressed the International scientific and professional conference “75 years – organized education, rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities in the Republic of North Macedonia”, organized by the Union of Special Educators and Rehabilitators, through a video message.
Below is the full text of the address of President Siljanovska Davkova.
Dear special educators and rehabilitators,
Dear researchers, medical personnel, parents and everyone involved in this humane and noble mission,
It is with special honor and deep respect that I address you on this important anniversary – 75 years since the opening of the first door for education on rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.
We are celebrating 75 years of hard work, dedication and perseverance, years of perseverance and love, years that are not just numbers, but also a testimony to your every step in building a better and fairer society.
Today we celebrate the long-term work of the Union of Special Educators and Rehabilitators – an organization that has been striving for decades to improve conditions for people with disabilities, their parents and families. Thank you for laying the foundation stone for inclusion in Macedonian society and for working against discrimination every day.
75 years is not only time behind us, but also a proven inspiration to change the handicapped state that gives up the potential of many people.
Today, all together, you and I, have a common mission: To sketch a future in which people with disabilities will have support and opportunity for personal and professional development.
Dear participants of this conference,
The anniversary is a real moment to face and accept the challenge of change!
The conference is an excellent opportunity to discover ways to improve diagnostics and rehabilitation, modernize education and provide funds for these purposes.
Your commitment proves that inclusion is not only a need, but a social imperative to build a state without obstacles, in which everyone, without exception, will feel like equal citizens.
Every child, every young person, every adult with a disability is a person and deserves quality education, support and security. Many families in Macedonia face the challenges of raising children with disabilities every day, and our system is obliged to support them, to offer them care and resources, to create conditions for each person to be valued.
I encourage every educator, every rehabilitator, every parent and every advocate of the rights of people with disabilities to continue the hard and humane work of building a society without barriers and stereotypes for people with disabilities, a society in which they will feel accepted and respected.
I am proud of you and your exceptional contribution. It is our turn, who represent the state, to reach for reforms that lead to greater participation of people with disabilities in the decision-making process and their social integration.
Let us critically and self-critically face the successes and failures of these 75 years. Let us take responsibility. To embrace new ideas in creating solutions. Let us listen carefully to those most knowledgeable and dedicated to the problems of people with disabilities, as well as themselves.
Thank you for the tireless work that makes you great in my eyes, but also in the eyes of people with disabilities. Thank you for your selflessness, for your humanity.
I wish you a fruitful work, the results of which will help us, the responsible ones, to overcome our own disability to perceive your burning problems and solve them together with you!
Thank you.