Motivational meeting with a famous person

7.10.2021

The higher education applicants from our HEI had the opportunity to personally get acquainted with Dmytro Shchebetiuk.

At the initiative of the head of the Student Social Service of the Legal Department Olena Dukhova, volunteer students of our university attended a two-day meeting with Dmytro Schebetiuk. Athlete, musician, blogger, presenter, Toronto Television, Founder “of Dostupno.UAˮ by his example shows people that nothing is impossible and instills in them self-confidence. Three times in a row he was included in the top 100 most influential Ukrainians. Having abandoned his dream of becoming a world-class Paralympic medalist, Dmytro has become a public figure who defends the rights of people with disabilities. In 2015, a non-governmental organization was founded, and in 2018 – the “Available for Recommendations” award for institutions and administrative buildings accessible to people. They also present the “Open Doors” award to locations and initiatives that have already created a comfortable space for themselves and are working in the field of normalizing the perception of people with disabilities. In this way, the team celebrates the leading accessibility practices in Ukraine and encourages others to follow them. Videoblog is one of the main tools of  “Available.UA”. During the activity of the organization, the following video projects have been released: top 10 museums in Kyiv, a series of videos for Eurovision-2017 about Kyiv, Odesa and Lviv, a beauty blog, Smachno Blog, DostupnoExtrim, DostupnoTour, Dostupno Challenge and School of Accessibility.

So, the volunteer staff of the university could join the verification of Starobilsk for availability. Thanks to the applications “Mirilo” and “Budyvelny Riven”, the angle of the ramps was measured, and the height and length of the steps and railings were measured with tape measures. They checked pedestrian crossings, the central police station, TsNAP, bus and railway stations, pharmacies, grocery stores, cafes and banks. The result can be seen in the overall rating of accessibility of Ukrainian cities “Toaster”.

The next was a lecture on advocacy “How to Effectively Influence the State of Your City” and a master class on preparing recommendations and appeals to the authorities. As a result, a collective letter was written to the chairman of the community in order to remove the illegal place at the intersection of Slobozhanska and Monastyrska streets, as well as to lower the memorial to Polish prisoners of war.

The finale of the fruitful work was the apartment building “Available Dvizh”, arranged in the Luhansk Regional Universal Scientific Library. Attendees had the opportunity to listen to Dmytro’s stories about what it’s like to hitchhike and immerse yourself in the magical world of music performed by Dmytro Shchebetiuk, Serhii Letuchyi and the band “Konets Iiulia”.

Viktoria Kalinina
Press Center of LTSNU