Tamta Kurtskhalidze, 28, Batumi

“The family has never restricted my freedom or made me stay at home. Quite the opposite, as soon as I started walking I went out and have been out ever since. But I had some problems with finding a job. I sent my job applications for vacancies announced in Batumi for one whole year. I sent them almost everywhere. During job interviews they asked directly whether I would be able to perform my work. Then they told me that they would call but never did. They were not interested in my education or experience. The only thing they looked at was my appearance. This had been one of the biggest problems and barriers in my life, i. e. the fact that they thought I was not supposed to work because I was a PWD. But I have dealt with this problem and now I work as a bus attendant. When I first started working I heard people saying. “Poor girl… does not she have anyone to take care of her? Why do they let her go out?“ I used to ask them right there: “Why am I not supposed to work, because I am a PWD?!” I say to my friends all the time to go out and use their education and experience.

I love travelling. I have not travelled yet but I would like to study tourism to travel a lot. I am also quite interested in photography and I am going to study it in the future. I like playing sports a lot. For example, I like badminton so much that I can play it all day long. I remember at school, during physical education lessons, they made girls sit in the classroom. Only boys could play. We used to object so much. We wanted to play sports as well but we were not supposed to have a physical education lesson because we were girls.

As for my private life, this was a very long time ago. I had a boyfriend whose family members were not happy about our relationships because I was a PWD. But I have a friend now, his parents have accepted me as an ordinary person and I feel very happy.”