Bulgarian state homes for abandoned children are one of the bad things that we inherited from the communism. During all those 50 years parents of mentally and physically disabled children were encouraged to leave them on the day they’re born. Doctors, relatives, friends, the whole society would tell them “Leave your disabled child and forget about him/her. The state will take care of him. You’ll not be able to raise him, your life will become a living nightmare. There are no special schools to satisfy the needs of these children in Bulgaria, no buses, no suitable sidewalks, ramps, the whole environment is hostile towards them.” So this is what these parents did and still do. The communists taught us that we are one healthy, hard-working society whose only aim is the prosperity of our communist country. They also taught us that we are all the same and equal and should not defer from each other. That’s why they have built those state homes outside the big cities, somewhere far away, in the mountains where there is no population, on places where they could stay hidden from the outside world, because they are different, “ugly”, sick, they are not able to work and we don’t need them. In fact it’s so much easier if we pretend that they don’ even exist.
Now some things begin to change. There are many parents who raise their disabled children at home. But they are forced to become slaves and servants to their children. Because they don’t receive any help from the government, from the society, from the doctors. In the western world these parents receive special help from the very beginning. There are psychologists who help them cope with the initial shock that their kid is disabled. There are medical specialists and institutions to help them educate and raise their children properly depending on their disability. There are employers who are ready to secure jobs to these people (and of course they receive money from the government for this). In Bulgaria there are not such things – no help, no specialists, no suitable environment, no benefits, no understanding.