Melike Aydın

 

İZMİR -Türkan and D.C., who live in Ahırdır Neighborhood and are disabled, only want to live in a better order.

 

According to the data of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation (OECD), at least 1,000,000,000 people with disabilities live in the world. In Turkey, although official figures are not known due to the lack of effective research yet, at least 8,500,000 disabled people live at a level corresponding to 13 percent of the population of Turkey, according to the assessment of the Confederation of Disabled Persons. Two disabled women living in Ahırdır Neighborhood of Menemen district of İzmir also experience the difficulties of being disabled in Turkey.

 

While the hearing impaired Türkan Karagöz cannot go to the school for the hearing impaired, D. C., who divorced her spouse after the accident, does not even have a wheelchair. Women who sustain their lives with the solidarity of their neighbors want a better order.

 

Most of her life is spent in the kitchen

 

Hearing impaired Türkan Karagöz says that she spent most of her life in the kitchen of her home. Having communicated with people through her 16-year-old daughter Gözde Karagöz, Türkan has never attended a school for the hearing impaired. 47-year-old Türkan, who has four children, lives with her two daughters. Saying that she does seasonal agricultural work as she finds a job, Türkan states that her husband's small income earned by collecting scrap and the support she received from Izmir Metropolitan Municipality is not enough.

 

‘I want to have a separate room with my sibling’

 

Gözde, who has been translating since she learned to speak to her mother who does not speak the language of the hearing impaired, spends most of her day in the kitchen with her mother. Stating that what she most wanted was to have a different room with her sibling, Gözde said: “When we moved to this neighborhood last year, because the school was far away, I failed my class due to absence and never went to school. Our financial situation is bad. I help my mother at home. My mother does not have many friends anyway, she can only get along with those in the neighborhood. When she goes to the bazaar, I go with her. We receive food aid from the association. One of my siblings is in the third grade.’’

 

Getting support from neighbors

 

D.C., who lost her legs after apoplexed in a traffic accident one and a half years ago, does not even have a wheelchair. Stating that she does not receive support from any institution, D.C. cannot go to health checks due to both the transportation and the coronavirus. Noting that she divorced with her husband, who is in prison, after the accident, D.C. said: “I have three kids. I get support from my neighbors. We hardly pay for electricity and water. We had food from the soup kitchen. I live in a rent house. I cannot work. My father is working hard, the old man. We make our daily livelihood difficult. I do not get support from anywhere. Maybe if I get surgery in a private hospital, I can get better, but it is too expensive.’’

Expressing that she wants the state to provide a regular income because she cannot work, D.C. underlines that she wants a better order for her children.