The development of the Cypriot Disability Movement: A preliminary theoretical model

1. The development of the Cypriot Disability Movement:A preliminary theoretical model Simoni Symeonidou PhD Candidate University of Cambridge

2. Cyprus • Geographical information • Mediterranean island, Population: 775,000 • 85% Greek-Cypriots, 12% Turkish-Cypriots and 3% foreign residents • Political information • Long period of foreign sovereignty • 1960: Cyprus Republic • 1974: Turkish invasion, occupation of 38% of the island, two communities live separately • 2004: Cyprus becomes a member of the European Union

3. My inspirations… • Cambell, J. and Oliver, M. (1996) Disability Politics. Understanding our past changing our future.London: Routledge • Lack of research about disability issues in Cyprus • British Literature on Disability Studies

4. Goals of the Study Conceptualise the development of the Cypriot Disability Movement by locating it in a changing historical context and by interpreting disabled activists’ understanding of their experiences, both as disabled people and as disabled activists within the disability movement

5. History and Disability Studies • The Historian aims to reconstruct the past • Understanding the past gives a sense of self-appreciation, • Past illuminates the present and helps planning the future • Past reveals events that acted as ‘turning points’ • The Disability Studies Researcher aims to research topics of interest within the field • The development & role of disability movements • The personal experience of disability • Issues of culture, identity and gender

6. Hermeneutics as a useful tool • Ontology and Epistemology • There is no real and objective truth • The aim is to understand what is being researched by providing the best possible interpretation • Methods of data collection • Oral history interviews as the primary source • Respondents construct their personal stories • Researcher interprets respondents’ interpretations • Documents as a complementary source

7. Methodology • Population: All Greek-Cypriot disabled activists who have been members of the movement any time during the period 1966-2003 • Sample: 16 key-disabled activists who met the criteria • Sampling difficulties: Including women in the sample • Data Collection • 1st phase: Documentary material • 2nd phase: First round of oral history interviews • 3rd phase: Preliminary analysis and new sample • 4th phase: Second round of oral history interviews • Democratic character of the research

8. Data Analysis • Cultural and Materialist understanding of the Cypriot Context and disabled people’s oppression • The personal experience of disability • The development of the Cypriot Disability Movement • The political experience of disability

9. Cultural context and disabled people’s oppression • Dominance of Greek Ideals • Impact of Greek ideals to Western cultures • Impact of Greek ideals in Cyprus is stronger • ‘A healthy body inhabits a healthy mind’ • Power of Christian Values and Church • Importance of Religion as a means to maintain national & cultural existence because of sovereignty • Bible examples showing that disabled people were cured disabled person should be cured • Christian tradition of Charity • State and Church did not separate their roles Unequal battle between Human Rights and Charity

10. Cultural context and disabled people’s oppression • Dominance of charitable values • Charitable values have been cultivated over the years • Fund-raising by companies, special schools’ boards and disability organisations • Power of family • Family: strong institution that undertook state’s role • Family supports and demands support in exchange • Families find it difficult to accept disabled child/adult

11. Cultural context and disabled people’s oppression • Power of national identity • A group of privileged disabled people – ‘heroes’ • Disabled fighters (1955-1959 National Liberation Struggle) • Disabled of the war (1974 Turkish Invasion) • Impairment discourse Vs Disability discourse • Disabled people presented as passive and pitiful • Use of alternative terminology • Oppressive articles and photos published in the press

12. Materialist understandings of disabled people’s oppression • Impact of Western materialist thinking • Disability was linked with inability to work • Rise of ‘traditional’ professions • Rise of medical model • Normalising principles • Belief that impairment should be cured • Institutionalisation

13. The personal experience of disability • Education • Feeling ‘imprisoned’ in the boarding school ‘I wanted to leave from the first day. At the beginning, my mom stayed with me for a few days until I get used to the School. They were trying to deceive me. My mother’s knotted hand was different from my teacher’s hand. They couldn’t deceive me. While my mother was holding my hand she would change with my teacher who was trying to talk to me nicely. I felt imprisoned from the very first day. […] I always had disagreements and conflicts with the teachers and students, I used to talk students into escaping (we both laugh). This shows how I felt. I was organising movements and revolutions. That was natural. It was a restricting environment. I couldn’t do everything according to the schedule and I couldn’t accept others deciding what time I would eat, go to bed, or watch t.v. You can accept school, but you can’t accept to be there all the time’. C.Nicolaides

14. The personal experience of disability • Employment • People with sensory impairments were usually trained for ‘traditional’ professions • Only a few managed to have University education (exceptions used as examples) • Difficulties in being employed (employers’ bias) • People with acquired impairments employed in posts that help them come to terms with disability

15. The personal experience of disability • Response to disability • Accident as a turning point to life trajectory ‘I had just graduated and I had two scholarships for Neurosurgery and Medicine. I did my military service in the National Guard. Two months before finishing my military service, it was Wednesday after Easter and we were in a lorry of the army, six persons, we returned from Dali to Nicosia. A taxi tried to overtake, a car came from the opposite direction, the driver of the taxi was on a turninh and he had no visibility. We were six persons, fortunately, only I ‘paid the bride’. I knew what happened because I used to read and I began to say that I was paralysed. Instead of entering the door as a doctor, I entered it from the side of the patient’. A. Procopiou • Developing illnesses act as transitional periods • The person feels in the middle of two worlds

16. The personal experience of disability • Family • Supporting one’s family instead of being supported • Importance of mother’s response • Access in social life • Prior the 1980’s: disabled people were ‘invisible’ • Personal journeys to social integration

17. The personal experience of disability • Gendered experience of disability • Women’s double oppression is related with their difficulties in getting married • Intimate relationships • Only men referred to this dimension • Being loved & accepted Vs Being loved & rejected • Belief that non-disabled women feel pressure from their families to end relationships

18. Development of the Cypriot Disability Movement • 1966: The first disability organisation ‘We focussed in finding members for our organisation. It was very difficult. Now we have telephone. Then it was different. We worked in regions. For example, the Regional Committee of Limassol would cover a few villages every Sunday. We found disabled people and we registered them. We used to plough Cyprus to find disabled people. This went on for a few years. We collected data. We registered all the disabled people we could find and others who were pointed out by community leaders. We made a list with all the relevant information. We worked as statisticians’. G.Christoforou • 1980: Formation of single impairment organisations • ‘Our fate in our hands’, ‘Nothing about us without us’

19. Development of the Cypriot Disability Movement ‘By being united you have power’ • 1981 - International Year of Disabled People • 1984 – Confederatio19n of Organisations of the Disabled of Cyprus • 1986 - Co-ordinating Committee for the Struggle of the Disabled • 1999 - Cyprus Confederation of Organisations of the Disabled

20. The political experience of disability • 1980s Experience in single-impairment groups • Dilemma of solving personal problems by using their connections or through their organisations • State’s attitude was disappointing • Inexistent social policy. Impact of networks with disabled activists from other countries • Scattered legislative achievements for each group of disabled people - no sense of collectiveness

21. The political experience of disability • Experience in single-impairment organisations • Conflicts as turning points • The ‘good boy’ policy • Charity experiences – unavoidable humiliation? • Disappointment of the state’s generosity to the ‘heroic’ group of disabled people • Self evaluation of the first generation of activists as members of single-impairment groups ‘We belong to a generation that had an obligation to join the organisation’s struggle. We had to create the infrastructure that we have today. New generations found the infrastructure ready’ M. Demosthenous

22. The political experience of disability • Experience in collective organisations • Activists in a ‘big school’ • Getting to know people with different kinds of impairments • Lack of agreement on the meaning of ‘equity’ • Some activists found it difficult to function in collective organisations (personality, age, gender) • Personal, group and collective identity

23. ‘CCOD had an impact on me. As soon as I started going to the meetings, I realised that I had to become active. At the beginning, I used to go there and just listen. There were old activists who carried disappointment and anger. This anger is important for claiming your rights. There is no doubt that it helped me a lot. Only men participated. The only woman was the interpreter of sign language for Demos. In addition, I was young. I also look young. I just listened. I felt that there wasn’t a single hole for me to enter. You needed to be methodical in order to be imposed, but… I felt that I could help and reinforce the struggle of CCOD in another way. Finally, I found the way. Through this office, I am in close contact with the organisation. It is very important to know your possibilities and capabilities, to know how you function and to know what you can really do and how far you can go.

24. There is no reason to ‘hit your head on the wall’ or ‘throw eggs on the wall’ because the others do so and that way they achieve things. If you don’t help yourself, if you don’t see what’s best for you, you can’t do anything. It is through your own needs that you can do things for the benefit of other people. If you don’t support yourself on your own, if you don’t help yourself, then there isn’t much you can do. This is not selfishness. It is the right attitude towards the situation. It needs obstinacy; a lot of obstinacy. If you are obstinate, then you can achieve something. If you let yourself lose, then you can’t achieve anything. You have to push things. It is disappointing, very disappointing. But this is how it is in Cyprus.’ C. Petridou

25. The political experience of disability • Experience in collective organisations • Disabled activists in search of moulds • Efforts to find out about social policy abroad • Umbrella organisation member to international and European organisations • Accession to the European Union gives hope • Close bonds with the Greek disability movement

26. The political experience of disability • Experience in collective organisations • Disabled activists are disappointed with the state • Lack of vision and long-term planning of the state • Marginalisation of disabled activists by the state • State as ‘breakwater’ • State stops protests

27. The development of the Cypriot Disability Movement: A preliminary theoretical model Culture The personal experience of disability The political experience of disability