Martuni

Goris

Armavir

The second Round Table organized by "Havat" NGO took place on Septenber 30, 2003. It was organized within the frameworks of the programs "The elaboration of Legal Reforms in the Taxpaying Policy for the Handicapped in RA" (Sponsor USAID American Congres for Armenians NGOs' training and information centre) and "The Integration of Deaf people into Society in RA" (Sponsor USAID "World Learning"). The purpose of the Round Table was the final discussions of the proposed legislative reforms before submitting it to the NA agendum. The Round Table was participated by representatives from NGOs, International Organizations, Ministry of Social Security,

The Pedagogical University, regional NGOs, the Mass Media, as well as beneficiaries and volunteers (around 70 people) and the newly established NA Commission Board dealing with the issues of people with disabilities, and the Chairman of the commission board, NA deputy Artak Arakelyan. The Round Table was being conducted in cooperation with the afore-mention commission.

The program called " Legislative Changes in the Taxpaying Policy for the Handicapped in RA" envisages the exemption of the employer from VAT in case if 50% of the working staff include people with disabilities, as well as parents of the children who have a disability status since early childhood.

The legislative project was greatly supported by different layers of the society, as result of the workshops and questionnaires conducted during the 6 months of the implementation of the program. As a result of the Round Table discussions, a great number of proposals were advanced.

The law is expected to be partially changed during the NA readings (to exempt the employer from VAT in part, not entirely). The Law will probably be enacted step by step, first including people with disabilities and later on the parents of children with disabilities.

The program called "The Integration of the Disabled People with Hearing Defects into Society" has already prepared the Bill concerning the application of sourdo-translation on different TV channels (including 1 children's program and 1 news report per day). The Bill was elaborated in cooperation with the NA corresponding Committees ans is completely prepared for further discussions.

According to the bill, all the TV programs reported with a simiulataneous taranslation of the sign language, will be considered programs of national production. It will be a stimulus for TV channels to apply sourdo-translations while reporting programs.

The issue of preparing sourdo-translators was also emphasized, since there exist only 10 sourdo-translators throught Armenia, for the deaf and dumb population of the whole Republic, consisting of 3500 people. In this respect, a great deal of cooperative activities is shared by the Chair of Defectology of the Armenian State Pedagogical University and the Ministry of Social Security of RA.

Wihtin the frameworks of the program, the film concernig the emoloyment opporunities of the handicapped was represented. It was pictured in Yerevan and in the regions and was quite impressive; the scenary was quite purposeful as it represented the every-day life of the handicapped, their needs and dificulties, combined with their strong will to work as well as their optimism towards new changes in the legislative field which will enable them to the best of their own opportunities to improve their living conditions.