Šárka Mazurová lived in an institution from the age of seven:
“There was no life, no privacy, no family, nothing.
I didn’t like it there at all.
I didn’t like that they treated me without respect.
I had no freedom.”
And about leaving, she said:
“You have to learn a lot of things when you leave an institution.”
Šárka was one of the speakers at a conference on the transition from institutions to community-based support in Prague 🇨🇿
She captured what it’s all about:
Undoing the harm of segregation.
Supporting people to get back what was taken from them: a place to live, things to do, people to see.
Control over their own life.
(BTW, Šárka Mazurová was one of the participants at our Summer School earlier this year.)
I was there to open the conference a to speak at one of its panels.
I spoke about why talking about institutions that closed is important. Czechia has seen big change, and too few people know about it. Every closed institution, every person finding a new home and a new life, and everyone doing this work deserves recognition.
Doing this work changes lives.
Telling this story changes minds.
But of course, many institutions remain in the country, and thousands of people with disabilities have to live in them, away from their families, friends, and everyone else.
Among them, over a thousand citizens of Prague.
Milan Šveřepa, Chief Executive, Inclusion Europe