This morning at the 76 bus stop, I got there at the same time a blind man.
He was walking with white stick and tapping the ground with it as he went. I thought to myself: Wow. That’s got to be really hard in Sofia. Then I was struck by the fact that you don’t see very many disabled people in Bulgaria.
I was really busy thinking about how difficult it must be to be blind and walk around the city. I was thinking about the ways that you must face various forms of discrimination each day. I was thinking about what a strong person you must have to be and how strong your desire for independence must be to take the bus by yourself. I was wondering if it would be better or worse to have a seeing eye dog in Sofia.
This lead me to wondering if there are seeing eye dogs in Sofia and who is training them. I wondered if he was going to work and where he worked. Making me think about what kind of opportunities blind people have for primary and secondary education in Bulgaria.
I was thinking about the apparent lack of support and resources there are for disabled people in Sofia when the 76 pulled up at the bus stop. I climbed on.
Only to receive the meanest look ever from this woman riding the bus. She then leans out and yells: This is the 76 bus. Then she sits down.
And glares at me (for four stops).
While she’s shooting daggers at me, I realize that when I walked by the blind man to climb on the bus and that he must have been asking me (and a handful of other people getting on the bus) which number the bus it was. Only none of us bothered to listen to him or to tell him. That’s when it became clear to me why the woman on the bus looked at me with such disgust.
It boils down to this: I am a horrible person I almost left a blind man at the 76 bus stop today. But for the record, I do hope he got wherever he wanted to go.
Well, you don’t see too many disabled people around because most of them do not live in Mladost or if they do, most of those people hang around their local area. There are trained dogs for the blind by a foundation who specialises in buying, training and supplying dogs to their beneficiaries, however, most people prefer to walk around with a stick rather than use a dog. It is true that Sofia City is absolutely inaccessible, but not only for the blind. There are a few suitable crossings for people on wheelchairs or pregnant mothers, the transport system is antiquated, the pavement has so many holes in it… Simply madness.
The primary and secondary education of the blind is possible in a special school for the blind as it is in the states. Of course those who want to pursue a career, could opt to go to a normal high school to complete their secondary education. After finishing school, most disabled people study at the Sofia University or at one of the other numerous higher educational establishments around town.
Overall, it’s not that bad as it might seem it is.
Don’t think about it, I mean, even for the average Bulgarian, life is tough enough, let alone for the disabled one. It’s important to stay positive.
@Djgeorgie Ah. Thank-you for such a thoughtful response to all of the different things I found myself wondering about recently related to life in Sofia for blind people.
So true! Byeong Hun and I are always wondering the same thing. Where are the disabled people and how do they get around?
@Mark Right?! I think the unfortunate case is that this is a difficult city to get around if you’re physically handicapped and as such many of people are “shut-in” and don’t leave their homes.