‘’I’m a doctor by profession; I worked at the Chachava Clinic for a year. In 2010, I had to move temporarily to the village and ultimately, I stayed there for a long time.

In 2013, the non-governmental organization ‘’Atinati’’ appeared in our village, which, with the help of the UN project, ‘’Promoting Gender Equality’’, and the Georgian Strategic Research and Development Project, ‘’Empowering women for Change’’, was selecting a target group of rural women. After the interviews, our village was also selected and that’s how I got into the non-governmental sector for the first time. In the same year, we created a women’s initiative group in the village Torsa, and we did a lot of projects within the group. In 2017, we had already realized that we were ready to register the organization and established the Education and Development Center ‘’Toliskuri’’. After that, we had more opportunities to implement different projects, but we have to work hard to stay relevant.

I saw the UN Women training program on social media and shared it with my team member, Ani Bukia. Fortunately, it turned out that both of us were selected from our organization and got involved in the project. Even though I didn’t have much to do with the technology field before, I became interested in social media marketing. During that time, our organization established a small enterprise for dried fruits, where IDP women are employed, and I thought that the knowledge we’d gain would be helpful for the further development of our enterprise. Although I’ve been through a lot of training before, this program was a big challenge for me because it was a completely new field for me. After completing the training, I can’t say that I can program, but the knowledge and experience I’ve gained, especially in social media marketing helps me a lot in my job. In addition, this program has contacted me with very important people, for example, Nana Dikhaminjia, Lili Pulariani, and many others with whom I’m still friends. Nana and Lili share their knowledge about modern technologies and cybersecurity with the volunteers from our organization. Now I see more necessity and I’m also trying to make sure the rural youth don’t miss the technical knowledge and innovations. Even today, there still are stereotypical ideas that technology needs math and that this field is not for girls. We try to raise awareness about it in young people. I myself was a victim of these stereotypes since I always heard in my childhood that women should study humanitarian subjects, but during the training, I saw many young women and I believed that if I really wanted to, I would be able to gain knowledge in this field. I remember Lili Pulariani’s presentation, which greatly inspired me and I believed that nothing’s impossible. More than 120 women participated in the program and today most of us use this knowledge in different directions.

Since our organization is actively working with young people, I and Ani have prioritized sharing our knowledge with them. In addition, we now have completely different perspectives on the development of our organization and we started more projects to implement digital technologies. Our partners also trust us more when they learn that we’ve been through social media marketing and web programming training and we understand the importance of technological innovations in our business.

In our organization’s headquarters in Khobi, we have a day center for children with disabilities. Within the framework of the project funded by the Tbilisi Human Rights House, we completely digitized our day center. We have 20 children there and our beneficiaries, under the supervision of a special teacher and a psychologist, can use their tablets individually for cognitive-educational programs. The knowledge, experience, and contacts gained in the training for the new technologies helped us a lot in the implementation of this particular project.

Under the Covid pandemic, almost every field needs to use technologies. Many people around me have already started selling different things on Facebook, but most of them don’t have basic knowledge of marketing and branding. Therefore, according to my observation, their posts have a low response rate and this also affects their sales.

At this point, Ani and I are managing our organization’s Facebook page. All the activities of the organization are planned online, but we manage to spread information and mobilize people. Sometimes I think that we might be able to involve more people online than we managed to do offline. During the pandemic, the knowledge that this program gave me was even more needed than I thought. So, I have one piece of advice for women – when seeing an opportunity to learn something, don’t refuse. We don’t know what life is preparing for us and when we’re going to need that knowledge.’’

“I was always good at math and I knew when I was in school that I wanted to study computer technologies. When I told my math teacher that I was going to study computer science, she wasn’t surprised, in the opposite – she was very happy to hear that and always helped me. I enrolled in the informatics faculty at the Sokhumi State University and got a bachelor’s degree, but I expected to receive better knowledge at the university, and, for example, learn more about algorithms. In fact, one year is enough to study any field completely and train for a specific profession, but the education system back then only gave you general education. Imagine, I was studying informatics and I didn’t have a computer at home, so I went to internet cafes where I had to pay hourly and it was impossible to develop myself further there.

After graduating, I worked as a tutor – I trained pupils in math, but I never stopped improving my technology skills, I didn’t miss a chance and always attended various kinds of training, where I learned a lot. Technologies are developing so fast that I can never say that I’m finished developing in this field.

Among all training I’ve gone through over the years, so far the most productive was the training by UN Women. I remember exactly, how I filled out the application at the last minute and sent it at 4 AM. To be honest, at that time I didn’t have high expectations that I would get some special kind of knowledge there, but in a very short time, I learned exactly what I needed. This course turned out to be very successful for me because I can say that it brought me back to the profession that I couldn’t learn at the university. Out of 124 selected women within the program, I got into the top 40 and with this program, I passed an internship in the Georgian logistics company „STYX” in the field of social media marketing and web programming.

At the end of the training, the most important thing was that we, participants from Samegrelo, formed a team and we work on various private contracts. We have created websites for several local entrepreneurs where they can sell their products. I can’t say that my income depends solely on this, but I can work with my team on private projects and I can earn additional income.

I have never met resistance from my family members because of my interests. On the opposite, everyone supported me when I decided to study computer science, and later, when I was trying to improve in this field, I had support from my husband’s family as well. My biggest supporter was my mother-in-law, who helped me with everything. Therefore, I often mention that it’s important for women to support each other. However, there are stereotypes in society that technologies aren’t for women. Years ago, one vacancy appeared at one of the banks – they needed a technical supervisor. When I went to the interview and they saw a girl, they were shocked. They couldn’t believe that a woman could work in this position. In the end, of course, I didn’t get the job. Such circumstances gave me more motivation and right after that, I went through a lot of trainings.

By the way, my mother-in-law taught me how to sew and I turned my hobby into a business – in 2017, “Enterprise Georgia” financed us and I bought sewing machines. When I started producing home textiles, I soon realized that social media played an important role in increasing sales, and additionally, if you have a website, you can cover not only your city but the region and even the whole country. After these trainings, I created my own business website and set up a Facebook page as well. As a result, my sales increased by 30%, which means a lot for a small business. I strive to and I try my best to share my knowledge with women and young people to let them use it for growing in the social media area and growing their family businesses. By the way, I made a web page for one of my neighbors, who owns a clothing store, and as she says, it saved her business.

These trainings made me more self-confident – 34 years doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s too late to learn something new. I have more interests and motivation to deepen my knowledge in various fields and to study in a vocational school of web-design.’’

I was born with bilateral hip dysplasia. It’s not a kind of problem that would make a person disabled if the right medical approach was taken, but thanks to our “traditional” cradle, this is exactly what happened to me. The joint has the ability to heal itself and if instead of a cradle, I was put to a normal bed and the joint wouldn’t be tightly restrained, I would be a completely healthy person. However, I’ve always been a very active person and had the opportunity to make decisions independently, thanks to my mother. Perhaps it helped – I felt like a full-fudged person in the community without any complexes.

In general, if we talk about the attitude towards people with disabilities, from 2003 till today, not much has changed. We founded the first non-governmental organization – ‘’House for Harmonious Development of Children’’ in 2003 together with like-minded people. We opened an inclusive studio and held a big concert at one of the cultural centers, where children with typical development and with disabilities participated together. The concert was a success, we, the organizers were very proud, but when I looked around, everyone in the hall was crying. Then and even now, pity towards people with disabilities overpowers everything else – admiration, pride, appreciation, respect, and so on.

Finally, my place in human rights activities was determined in the war of August 2008. Three friends formed an initiative group in a force majeure situation and helped IDPs from the conflict region, especially women and girls with disabilities. In 2012, I founded ‘’Woman and Reality’’ to make a bigger contribution to protecting the rights of women and girls with disabilities in Georgia.

Despite many steps forward, a lot of work still has to be done. A lot of work is needed to change attitudes and to make the attitudes positive. For example, people often don’t know how to help a person with disabilities, and sometimes, with additional care, they even make them feel awkward. I understand that you may never have to live with a person with disabilities and don’t know their needs in detail, but if that’s the case, it’s better to wait and if necessary, the person will ask for help themselves.

Often even the media coverage of disabled persons only serves to instill pity – the reporters only let disabled respondents talk about rights, adapted environments, and conventions. Are all disabled people supposed to be activists? Shouldn’t they let them talk about anything else than challenges in this field? The only exception when they talk about achievement is Paralympics. In reality, we are “women with limited abilities”, not “ability-limited women”, as we are often called. Womanhood is our identity, and limited abilities are only an additional feature. We, as a society, are very far from accepting disabled people, so it’s necessary to display us from another angle so that we’re more than just targets of pity.

One of the causes of lacking adaptations for specific needs is the lack of solidarity and support from people with typical development. Take female women’s rights activists with typical development – when doing their jobs, do they always think of disabled women and their needs? For example, in Georgia, female activists work really great against domestic violence and they have really good results, but do they know, how many disabled people live with an abuser and how many of them had needed physical separation? Or, do we have fully adapted shelters for abuse victims?! This is related to the problem of conscious acceptance. I think we need solidarity that goes both ways and women with disabilities should also support other groups. This tribe is not a small force – according to official statistics, there are 44,000 disabled women above 18. From them, only 4-5 people fight for their rights and such fragmented requests can’t change reality. Thus, the tribe of disabled women should strengthen so much to become a force to be reckoned with. Women with disabilities aren’t able to present their problems as part of the agenda.

Despite the UN disabled people’s rights convention being in place in Georgia since 2014, local or international responsibilities that regulate women’s rights aren’t reconciled with the above-mentioned convention even today. Even political documents or action plans that directly regulate women’s rights don’t consider disabled women and girls. So, the systematic problems, that were there before the convention, remain the same.

Disabled women aren’t part of decision-making on any level. I’m not even talking about central or local government – we don’t’ even have voting power in commissions or councils working on disabled people’s rights. Women aren’t even involved in managing organizations for disabled people, except when a woman is a founder, because even in the tribe there’s gender-based sensitivity. If we want to see disabled women in positions of power, even in local self-government, we must start working on it today. This problem is intertwined with access to education. I requested statistics from the Ministry of Education – I wanted to know, how many disabled women above 18 received education. Do you want to know what the number was? 18 disabled women, including higher and professional (college) education. The social welfare package in this country is completely bogus, and, in my opinion, the program protecting the socially vulnerable shouldn’t be bound to disabled status. Let’s take employment as an example – if a visibly disabled person is employed in the public sector, they receive both their salary and their compensation. But welfare for significantly disabled people was canceled in 2013 when only 103 disabled people were working in the public sector. This standard is completely bogus and even the public defender has determined there were a few cases involving discrimination. The state, instead of encouraging the employment of disabled people, kills all motivation and hopes for social integration in young people. Often, disabled people have to say no to temporary employment in fear that the state will cancel their welfare check.

We went through a very hard process to include access to sexual and reproductive health in the 2014-2016 governmental human rights action plan. It turned out that they didn’t even consider that disabled women would need those services. I remember clearly that when, on one of the working meetings, I voiced my opinion on this issue, nobody supported or even opposed me – they were completely oblivious to what I was talking about and how were reproductive and sexual issues relevant to disabled women. I had to expend a lot of effort to explain why this had to be added to the action plan. In addition, we had to voice our concern multiple times about how the government screening program isn’t accessible to disabled women. Women using wheelchairs are in a higher risk group of cervical cancer and the government’s response shouldn’t be that it’s possible for disabled women to take a pap smear in the regular gynecological examination chair. I’m convinced that if disabled women were present in the Tbilisi City Hall council for disabled people, this issue would be resolved and the government would buy at least one gynecological chair.

Other than the lack of ability to receive adapted services, the medical personnel isn’t ready either – they don’t know how to service a disabled person in a way to avoid damaging them or making them feel insulted. Sometimes, disabled women’s rights activists have to act like bad provocateurs – we tell women what rights they have, but we can’t offer them adequate service, because such services simply don’t exist in our country.

Meanwhile, we wrote in the 2018-2020 governmental action plan for human rights that, according to the evaluation results of the strategy for 2017-2030 and the three-year plan of 2017-2019 for the healthcare of mothers and newborns, if needed, a project for corresponding changes must be prepared and approved, which we don’t have to this day. Because of a lack of gender-segregated statistics, the needs of disabled women and girls aren’t visible anywhere.

To sum up the problems: first, comprehensive research must be done on disabled women’s needs, to correctly and objectively evaluate all the challenges that today prevent disabled women and girls to receive education, to be economically independent, and to receive different sexual and reproductive healthcare services on par with others.

‘’I graduated from the Economics faculty, but during the studying process, I discovered that actually, I was interested in a completely different field. My father was an amateur photographer. I remember he had a ‘’Zenit’’ brand camera. He took photos and developed them himself in a small darkened room where my siblings and I were not allowed, but I really wanted to see the process. It was then that I got interested in photography – I too wanted to take pictures. However, when I became a photographer, I chose a digital camera – I don’t have to count how many shots I have left.

I learned photography on my own. I was basically looking for learning resources on the internet. My photograph friends also helped me and shared their experiences. Later I made a blog on WordPress; now that I think, it was mainly for fun, but working on this blog gave me an important thing – I was creating both content and visuals for the posts; it helped me improve. My goal was to learn social media on a professional level.

During this time, I began working as a social media coordinator for the Civic Education and Teacher Training Program. I had to work with pupils and teachers from Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi, and Kvemo Svaneti villages. There was a lot of work to do and the salary was minimal, but I enjoyed my job.

The main value of this job was that I had the opportunity to share my knowledge with the people who needed it the most and for those with less access to it. I traveled to highland villages – I conducted training for pupils, teachers, and directors of schools in social media management and video advocacy. I was happy to see how quickly and successfully people started using this knowledge in practice.

In the teaching process, I grew professionally. Along with photography, I learned videography and editing. Now I make video stories myself.

I mastered information technology at a professional level during a free UN Women course.

This opportunity strengthened my self-confidence. I often say that during this time I proved to myself many things – in addition to being on the panel, I also helped trainers professionally.

After completing the UN women training course, I decided to start my own business and started to offer consulting services.

There are 3- and 6-month packages that include setting up social platforms, preparing audio-visual materials, and training for the staff. For the last 3 years, I’ve been working on different segments in Kutaisi, Batumi, and Tbilisi. Tourism, medical facilities, developer companies, real state agencies – this a shortlist of areas where I successfully used my professional knowledge in technology. I invested part of the income in my education again – everything is changing fast and the competition is huge, so, it’s very important to keep up with the newest trends. At this point, I’m making animations as well as teaching video editing and excel.

The pandemic affected my job; it hindered me. It became difficult to find new companies and to start collaborating with them. I decided to use my free time to spread my knowledge. I help everyone who needs help with social media. For example, I helped one teacher who lives in Zestaponi – I set up a WordPress blog and through that, she gained extra points. It’s very nice to be the cause of people’s happiness.

It was really difficult to have been through this path, and I’d love to make it easier for women and girls, and I’ll do my best not to let them go through the same.’’

“My childhood, growing up in the village, was like every other kid living there. I helped my parents do chores, and I was teased and restless. I always heard in my family that there is nothing more important than education. My mother is a mathematician and my father is also highly educated, so I too tried to be a good pupil. I was lazy sometimes, but when I saw how much support I had and how they struggled, I wanted to be successful. I participated in different projects, went to camps and I grow up mentally. When a child grows up in a village, she has less communication; so, I wasn’t used to contacting strangers, and the first time I went to the camp, I was a little shy. When I came back home, I realized that behaving like that was nonsense, and when I went there for the second time, I already behaved in a different way – I became very open and tried to get the most out of it. I used the school period, especially last year, very well.

While I was preparing for the university exams, I decided not to use the help of tutors – I don’t like this trend, which lately has been become a must. I was preparing independently – if others didn’t go to school during this time at all, I had only missed probably just a few days and the school teachers also helped me a lot. I was studying maths at home and the whole family was involved in the learning process. If I had something to solve, my parents did nothing but help me. I got enrolled at Akaki Tsereteli State University, in Kutaisi – the faculty of Mathematics. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted, but I knew I was going to the technical field. Mathematics is a prerequisite for too many fields and that’s why I chose it. Many people thought that I wanted to become a teacher, they told me that I would be a teacher and take care of my family easier. Some people told me to choose some other faculty – there are such stereotypical attitudes towards professions, but I wanted to do it and I did it.

I was in the 11th grade when I participated in the FLEX program, this was my second attempt. When I was in the last round and I already thought that I was going to the USA, I got rejected. It was very painful for me and, even today, when I talk about FLEX and my unfulfilled American dream, it’s very difficult, but this story changed my future – I no longer fear failure and if something interesting appears, I always try my luck. Therefore, I also got interested in social media and web programming training. I also had previous experience with the Innovative Education Foundation and I was sure that would be a huge source of experience for me.

The training process was great, we had an amazing trainer and we were a good team. Even though it was on a weekend and it was the holidays, everyone was happy to go there because of the great environment. It was out of the question that we’d need help and Megi or any other members wouldn’t help. The learning process was both fun and productive, we put a lot of hard work into it. In the end, we learned a lot – making a business page, advertising, we learned how to bring our message to customers, in general, what kind of content we needed to create, creating a web site on WordPress; we learned how to work in a team, which is very important.

When we finished the training, I didn’t plan for an internship, I thought the times would overlap with my lectures at university. I finished the project with great scores and Megi was worried, that I was doing my maximum and I shouldn’t be giving up, so I filled out the internship form anyway. That’s how I got into ”Aldagi”. I was very happy about it. My job was to take care of PR for one of the programs. I created content, brochures, and chose my region – Samtskhe-Javakheti, where I had to support the promotion. Most importantly, this was my first job and I learned to work there. After the internship, all of us got the chance to fill out an application to travel to Lisbon. I didn’t have high hopes because really great girls and women were involved in this project, however, I got among those four chosen participants. The main motivation to go was to see on what level the world is today. More focus there was on startups, which interested me less. So, I attended more sessions that were tailored to programming. I was observing what I could learn for the future – what was the priority for me, which similar methods could I use in Kutaisi, and, in general, in Georgia.

‘’I was born in Gali and I was a completely healthy child. I had polio at the age of five, probably because I wasn’t vaccinated. In the village, I didn’t get proper treatment – a large volume of fluid was incorrectly removed from the spine and something got damaged. Since then, I can no longer stand on my feet.

Because of this condition, my biological mother refused to keep me and I was adopted by someone else. Mzia Gasashvili turned out to be a real human being – she was married, but she didn’t have a child and decided to take care of me. Back then I didn’t have a wheelchair and if we had to go somewhere, my mother would carry me. Once, I remember, I was having a fever and she was taking me to the doctor in the rain and we saw a little girl on the street and my mother took her home too and today this girl is my sister – my foster mother is such an amazing person.

After my mother’s husband died, it got hard for her to take care of me. I grew up and taking me in her hands was no longer easy. I needed someone to take care of me all day. During that period, the situation in Abkhazia became tense and we had financial problems as well. My mother was forced to find a job and I was left without a caregiver. Therefore, by our joint decision, I moved to the Senaki orphanage.

There was a lot of violence and injustice in Senaki orphanage, but it didn’t affect me just because I had someone who cared about me. My mother came to see me almost every week, bringing sweets and gifts. During the holidays, she would take me to Gali. If she couldn’t come, she would have a daily phone conversation with the director, asking about me. So, they couldn’t treat me like that. They knew that if something happened, they wouldn’t be able to hide from my mother.

Contact with my mother stopped during the war in Abkhazia. I heard the news about the horror that was happening in Abkhazia, villages were being bombed. During this time telephone lines were also damaged and I didn’t know if they were alive or dead. A few months later after the fall of Sokhumi, I was called to the director’s office and given the telephone. I heard my mother’s voice – honey, I’m alive and in peace – I was born a second time. My mother moved to Tbilisi and barely survived the hard times of the 90s. So, I stayed in Senaki again and we kept remote correspondence.

I didn’t have a wheelchair until I was 15, I used to move around by crawling. One of the wheelchairs was kept by the administration in the office, when we were organizing concerts for the guests – they would take it out and show them how we used it. Back then many foreigners came to visit, but the administration tried their best no to show them me and other children with disabilities – to avoid showing them our conditions. Once, the Americans visited us and they gave me personally a red Mustang wheelchair. Once the guests left, the administrators threw me off the wheelchair and took it. They probably sold it.

I got my first wheelchair after the parliament passed the Law for ‘’Equality of Persons with Disabilities’’. It would be about 1995. I was then a teenager and being in a wheelchair felt very awkward. I thought, if I would sit in a wheelchair, my life would end. I thought the wheelchair would be a stigma that would affect my relationships. No one taught me that the wheelchair is my ability, my feet, the open door to enter many different spaces. I realized this only when I was already an adult and moved to Dusheti boarding house. Before that, I used to live in isolation.

I live in the Dusheti boarding house a much freer and independent life. If I used to go by a mechanical wheelchair before, today I have an electric wheelchair and I can go out, go to the city, to the stores for shopping. The only thing that hinders me is the environment, which is not adapted for people with disabilities: no public transport, shop, or pharmacies – nothing is adapted. Therefore, I often have to bother other people to get the items I need.

I used to go out more often before the pandemic and I have visited Tbilisi many times to see my mother and my friends. Once, I was even invited to a wedding – the boarding house gave me an adapted car, and when I entered the hall, surprised guests applauded to the fact that I had managed to be among the guests in a wheelchair. Imagine for a second how people are surprised to see a person in a wheelchair. If there was an adapted environment, they would see us more often and we would be a usual part of society.

When I’m going somewhere, I always check beforehand – is the transport, hotel or café adapted? Because I don’t want to bother other people; first, it’s not pleasant and it’s offensive, and second, my spine cannot take rough movements. Therefore, I often refuse to go out.

I have my small room in Dusheti boarding house and I live here with my little cat. In addition to the pension, which is 250 GEL, I also have a small income from my job. I’ve been thinking about returning to my mother, but given my financial situation and the services I need, I think that living in a boarding house will be much easier. Most of all I don’t want to be a burden for someone and force someone to take care of me. And as for the people who help me in the boarding house, it’s their job. So, it makes me more comfortable and less awkward when I use their services.

The only good thing and knowledge left from the Senaki shelter is knitting. I first started knitting socks and knitted some warm socks for the children there, now I can knit clothes of any complexity and even room slippers. I take orders mostly from the staff of Dusheti boarding house because not many people know me and I don’t have access to the spaces where I can sell my knitting. During the pandemic, I also had a problem buying knitting yarns, and the staff gifted me some and I knit and knit in this quarantine. The pandemic restricted my movement even more. I say all the time: when Corona is over, I’ll travel a lot and meet a lot of people.’’

”I’ve been interested in technology since childhood. When I was in the 8th grade, I enrolled in a free Microsoft office program course of one of the NGOs together with two of my friends. Even though my friends left the course in the first month and I was left alone, I still made it to the end of the course. I connected my future profession to it and enrolled in a faculty where computer technologies and foreign languages were taught at the same time. However, after the first semester, according to the Minister’s order, the computer teaching part was removed and we were only left with an opportunity to become English language philologists. I was not happy with that and therefore, never worked in that profession. Initially, I worked mainly on non-governmental projects, and in addition, I joined the Tskaltubo Art Festival as a member of the organizing group. This festival, which is organized by ‘’Tskaltubo IDP Women’’, was held for the eighth time this year.

After graduating, I went through training in creating a blog conducted by Dodi Kharkheli. I learned then for the first time what a blog was all about. The training turned out to be very useful and interesting and when I got home, I spent two nights creating my personal blog. It was a huge achievement for me, I was so happy – I was actively writing my personal views and sketches on this blog. Then there was the project for ‘’Open Maps Caucasus’’, where we were drawing maps of western Georgia using GPS technology. Back then it was a new technology and we traveled all over Imereti with GPS. We entered this data into the computer with a special tool and, in short, I felt very comfortable with new technologies. However, there wasn’t any opportunity to get additional knowledge in Tskaltubo and it was difficult for me to go to Kutaisi because there is no transport coming back in the evening. Then I got married and had to stay at home during my pregnancy, which turned out to be very difficult for me.

One day, by accident, I found a statement from UN Women about a social media marketing and web programming course for women. I decided to try it but didn’t have high hopes that I would be selected from so many people. I had almost forgotten about this when I received a letter announcing that I had passed the second stage and now I had to pass the test. At this point, I already had hopes that I might have made it to the end and completed the test very motivated. I received another message that I was selected and invited to the opening in Batumi. It made me very happy. I already had two children and I remember thinking, how I could say that I’m going to Batumi for three days for this great occasion?! In the beginning, of course, there was skepticism – ‘’Why do you go to such a training?’’, ‘’Why do you waste your time?!’’, ‘’Will it be useful at all?!’’, etc. I have always proved to such people that I really made use of every training I ever went to.

I arrived in Batumi very motivated and full of enthusiasm. I was very happy and completed the course so successfully, that in the end, I was among the 40 best women who were selected for an internship. I remember very well what we were told at the opening of this course – ‘’By joining this program, you’ll be able to change your professions.’’ I immediately thought that I would do it, and now, I can say that my dream came true. My second profession became programming, which is all I ever wanted. I made the first website for a relative, and later, got a paid order too. I was unconditionally happy. When my kids get older, I plan to learn to write code and write websites from beginning to end.

In addition to private orders, these new skills have also helped me to find a job. The first one who believed in me and hired me was the director of the St. Gabriel Bishop Tskaltubo Theological Gymnasium. I teach information and communication technologies at the gymnasium, and I’m also an art teacher. The director of the fourth school was also interested in my skills – he said, “I heard that you feel in technology like a fish in water and I need someone like you”. That’s how I became an information manager in a public school. At school, I always try not to limit myself only to books – by telling stories about successful women, I teach children that girls can also succeed in information technology. Nowadays, unfortunately, many families convince girls that they can’t do it and that’s why women are less interested in technologies.

All of this, of course, affected my income, but on the other hand, I’m always happy when helping those in need. For example, I gladly help teachers and they take private lessons with me, I help them improve their technical skills because now they desperately need it. Since I share my knowledge with other women, my self-esteem has increased. Because I know a foreign language, I work in the art field, I have a small handmade toy business and web programming has already become my profession, I didn’t stop during the pandemic. New knowledge has given me important skills and I know that no matter what, I won’t be lost anymore.

My motivation in technology and particularly in the UN women program, was Lily Pulariani, with whom we also have a volunteer Facebook page – “Women Sharing Digital Knowledge.” During this pandemic, we have big plans – we want to help women use online technologies. For me, as an entrepreneur, my knowledge has helped me a lot in online sales and in doing online marketing. Therefore, I really want to help many entrepreneurial women we have in Tskaltubo and teach them everything I know about social media marketing.’’

‘’I was completely healthy until I was two years old. When I was two, I started having high fever, doctors in Georgia couldn’t tell what was wrong with me and a year later I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in Russia. In Georgia, every tenth elderly person has this disease, but I got it at an early age and after some time it had progressed to difficult forms. I could move independently until I was 15, but it was possible because of treatment that was very hard on me. Sometimes I even joke that there were methods used that could equate to torture and inhuman treatment. I was taking treatment therapies in Russia.

Then I had to stop the treatment because a visa was required to enter Russia and we were no longer allowed to visit the country. The second factor was that I was tired of the life of a patient and refused to continue the treatment. This slowly caused me to lose the ability to move independently. Normally, I should have used a wheelchair, but I couldn’t see myself with the wheelchair and I told my family that I wouldn’t go outside with it. My attitude to a wheelchair has lasted for 10 years and I regret it very much – the sooner we accept ourselves and learn to live with what’s necessary to stay mobile (which is important for our independence) the better.

My family decided that I would graduate the first school and then university carried in someone’s hands. For ten years, I struggled and so did my parents and my brother. My mom and dad alternated with each other, who would lift me. My lecture room at the university was on the third floor, but the saddest thing is that I didn’t realize that I had my rights. I was studying law but didn’t know how to protect my rights in life. When I graduated from university, my family didn’t want me to be locked at home, they wanted me to start an internship somewhere. My father asked at his job for an internship for me, and then the head of the city council declined this request. Probably due to the stereotypes that exist in society toward people with disabilities. My father decided to start his own business and get a job for me there as a lawyer. And I had to go to work every day.

In the municipality where I lived, there was a humid climate and because I have rheumatism and my bones become sore a lot, we were forced to live on the other side of the tunnel. We decided to move to Tbilisi. At first, my mother and I moved here, my father stayed in Samegrelo because it was difficult to find a job here. It was then that I realized that life could no longer continue like this – my mother could no longer carry me alone and I decided finally to sit in a wheelchair – it was a very difficult time for me.

The situation is relatively better now, but ten years ago it was a very bad situation in terms of attitude towards people with disabilities. The first time I went out on the street, a citizen gave me some coins – he thought that I was a beggar. When I asked if he had dropped the coins, he answered with a question that if I was not a beggar, why did I go outside? There was another case I’ll never forget – a young boy suddenly threw a lighted matchstick at my lap and told me that people like me are shaming our nation and that I shouldn’t go out. There were many such incidents and psychologically it was very difficult for me. My mother was asked if she had another child other than this ‘’sick’’ child (me), and when they found out that she did, they wondered – then why would she take care of me, if there’s another healthy child and moreover, when he’s a boy. I remember cases when I called a taxi, it came and when they saw that I was using a wheelchair, the driver would leave and refuse to service. The reason was that they didn’t want to put the wheelchair in the car because it’s dirty, or that it’s heavy, and so on. How many times was that the driver didn’t help my mother and she, a person weighing 42 kilograms, lifted the wheelchair alone, and put it in the car. We’ve been left outside many times, on a road, in the rain, in the snow… Life wasn’t easy, but I still went out; in such a condition and environment I continued my studies and I started my master’s.

All of this was because of my mother. She always believed that I would be a successful and independent person. She was my psychologist, my friend, my hands, my legs, my everything. Since I got sick, my mother and I became one body, I can say that she sacrificed her life for me. My mother died two years ago, unexpectedly for everyone. She needed heart surgery and unfortunately, she couldn’t get out of anesthesia. When I think about the pain, I can compare it to falling from a height, when all of your bones break at the same time and you realize that you still survived. Before the surgery, as if she was feeling what was going to happen, her last ask was for me to finish the Ph.D. and bring the diploma to her grave. It’s very difficult for me without her, but I try to make her last wish happen, and therefore, I continue to live. After my mother’s death, my father took the responsibility for me. However, he can’t help me with everything, so I have to hire a personal assistant since the state doesn’t have such a program. I think that the state has to do at least so much that mothers don’t have to sacrifice themselves for their children, and we must be able to independently achieve something that is achievable for children or adults without disabilities.

People often wonder, when I say that society doesn’t accept people with disabilities. They’ll smile at you, laugh with you, but think that you are a pity and they don’t perceive you as a fully realized person. This is a huge problem and by the way, this problem is more acute for women with disabilities. I have male friends with disabilities, who find a place in society more easily. But we – women, girls, somehow find it harder to establish ourselves and to prove that we are ordinary people and limited ability isn’t an obstacle, be it in friendships, business or even in personal relationships. I think that reason for this is the stereotypes that exist in society in general in terms of gender. When it comes to women with disabilities, these stereotypes become more acute and self-evident.

We have also a terrible situation in the medical field, the doctors themselves don’t accept people with disabilities as regular patients.

When I went to the doctor with my mother, I didn’t take it seriously – my mother was my friend and I thought, okay, that’s fine if they talk to her, but now when my father is in the corridor, waiting for me and he is asked to come in, I feel protest – yes, he will not come in, because I’m the patient and you have to talk to me! They don’t have proper skills, but how couldn’t they learn over so many years?! There is not a single state insurance program which would help me, I have the same insurance as the people without restrictions, which is useless for me. I have to make research once a quarter and my regular test costs up to 300 GEL. There isn’t an adult rehabilitation program that is necessary for me so that the disease doesn’t progress… Also, I need a personal assistant. For my independent life and for me to be in an equal situation with others. I don’t ask for privileges, I ask for equality and that’s my right. In order to put people with disabilities in an equal position, it’s essential for the state to use positive equalization mechanisms. Society calls it ‘’positive discrimination’’, but in fact, positive discrimination is something else.

When I see such things, I want more and more to be active in protecting the rights of people with disabilities to change something. I don’t know what comes out, but I try my best. I’m a lawyer by profession and now I’m employed in one of the public agencies, I’m an invited member of the Implementation Monitoring and Promoting Council of the Convention on the Rights of persons with a disability under the Public Defender. At the same time, I study at the Caucasus University Ph.D. and I’m an activist for the rights of people with disabilities. The state is making some changes, but not actively. We have problems in absolutely every field – starting from the environment adaptation to the right of the education. For example, now that I’m studying for my Ph.D., I have, in fact, been forced to choose ‘’Caucasus University’’ because there are just a few universities that are adapted for me. The role of the state regarding the rights of persons with disabilities is of course huge, but unfortunately, the state doesn’t fulfill the obligations properly. They published the law about the right of people with disabilities, to which we, people with disabilities, gave feedback, but, unfortunately, they didn’t consider what we really needed, as if we were told that they wrote it on paper and now they don’t care how we use it in practice. The law for us is at this level, remains on the paper and things don’t change.

When I finish my studies, I want to be a lecturer. I wish there was a better situation for people with disabilities to find their place and I want to see more such people outside. When I first got outside in the wheelchair, people looked at me mockingly and considered me a pity, and I thought to myself that I deserved it. I’d like to tell to people with disabilities: no one deserves it, we are not a pity, we are ordinary people, who have to fight for their rights. I woke up and felt protest and it’s first thanks to my mother and then thanks to my friends around me. I want to ask people to show support and not make us feel pity. Their support would be helpful if they join us in advocacy and awareness campaign for people with disabilities.’