“All we want to do is participate in cultural events”

Today in the Charles Aznavour square a non-political movement organized by the “Unison” organization, under the title “Culture for everybody,” took place. The participants had different slogans, but all had the same meaning: We are also people. “We are different, but equal.” “Culture is everybody’s.” “No discrimination.” “End obstacles together.” These were the placards held by today’s participants; the participants were handicapped.

“We want to tell everybody that we exist. We can sing, or listen, to anybody. We can visit museums, and go to places of culture,” Armen Alaverday, head of “Unison,” said to a Panorama.am journalist during their interview. In his words, work has to be done to make cultural monuments accessible to everyone. “The physical inaccessibility of these monuments make it impossible for us to attend cultural events,” Alaverdyan said.

Demands by event participants were not many, and were not unrealizable. They ask for cultural places to be built with wheelchair accessibility. “We are applying to the government and to benefactors to solve this problem,” he said.

The purpose of the gathering was to draw attention to the plight of the handicapped concerning cultural integration. A program now underway is being guided by the British embassy. We point out that a concert also took place, in which “New Voices,” took part, as well as Arsen Grigoryan, Leyla Saribekyan, Anna Khachatryan, and others.