History of Creation
On May 24, 2019, at the initiative of three organizations that have been working for many years with children and adults with various mental disabilities, the Alliance of Professional Organizations Supporting Children and Adults with Intellectual and Mental Disabilities was established. Its purpose is to consolidate efforts aimed at normalizing the lives of this group of people.
The initiative was proposed by:
- Center for Curative Pedagogics “Osoboe Detstvo” (Special Childhood) (Moscow)
- St. Petersburg Charitable Public Organization “Perspektivy” (St. Petersburg)
- Autonomous Nonprofit Organization Development Center “Prikosnovenie” (Orenburg)
The Main Goals of the Alliance:
- To create normal living conditions for children and adults with special needs in our country;
- To ensure access to curative and pedagogical practices throughout Russia, as well as access to diagnostic, preventive, and treatment methods;
- To eliminate all forms of discrimination against children and adults with special needs;
- To train and improve the qualifications of specialists working with children and adults with special needs;
- To promote the inclusive approach in education and social adaptation for people with special needs;
- To create an effective legal framework regulating the entire “special needs” sphere.
Anna Bitova,
Chair of the Board, Center for Curative Pedagogics “Osoboe Detstvo”:
“We are creating an Alliance of professional organizations that support children and adults with various mental disabilities. The ‘Value of Everyone’ Alliance addresses professional organizations with a proposal to unite their expertise and enlightened views to have a meaningful impact on the existing system that governs the social sphere.
We want the concepts, roadmaps, accumulated experience, and understanding of the lives of people with mental disabilities to be recognized and applied — in the near future. The efforts of individual NGOs are not enough to transform the current system.
A serious alternative lies in the joint efforts of organizations united by shared values and vision, capable of expressing and defending their position. We are confident that the voice of such an alliance will be heard — both by the state and by society.
Together with parent associations, we are becoming a force capable of advancing reform. Uniting our efforts also means taking on great responsibility: our success in achieving our common high goals depends on the coherence of our positions and actions.”
Maria Ostrovskaya,
President, St. Petersburg Charitable Public Organization “Perspektivy”:
“In those countries where the situation of people with intellectual disabilities has improved, two driving forces have always been at the forefront — parent and professional public organizations.
It is clear that both understand the needs of ‘special’ people best — parents with their hearts, professionals with their minds. Both can and should serve as a bridge between those who are often hard to understand and society.
The Alliance of professional NGOs working for people with mental disabilities is a way to make this work more effective — to make the bridge strong enough for people with any, even the most severe, disabilities to cross it and live ordinary lives among everyone else.
Why an alliance? Because systemic change is needed at all levels of public life and government, and this cannot be achieved alone. Because every NGO creates something unique and valuable — this must be shared, accumulated, and structured.
Because there is a need for competent and independent assessment of various approaches, projects, and participants in the social services market for people with mental disabilities. And finally, because professional NGOs need stability, which can be achieved through mutual support and cooperation.”
Natalia Kaliman,
Director, Autonomous Nonprofit Organization Development Center “Prikosnovenie”:
“I choose the ‘Value of Everyone’ Alliance because people always unite for good — acting in the interests of others, understanding the value of every person.
We can come together and help one another make the world a better place, to ensure that the philosophy of dignity triumphs for every individual.”
Active Members of the Alliance:
- Regional Charitable Public Organization Center for Curative Pedagogics “Osoboe Detstvo (Special Childhood)”, Moscow
- Petersburg Charitable Public Organization “Perspektivy (Perspectives)”, St. Petersburg
- Autonomous Nonprofit Organization Development Center “Prikosnovenie (Touch)”, Orenburg
- Charitable Foundation for Support of Deafblind People “So-edinenie (Co-union)”, Moscow
- Regional Public Organization of Parents of Children with Disabilities “Dorogoyu dobra (The Road of Goodness)”, Kirov, Kirov Region
- Interregional Public Organization Center for Diagnostics and Counseling “Poisk (Search)”, Kazan
- Charitable Foundation “Dom s Mayakom (House with a Lighthouse)”, Moscow
- Charitable Foundation “Ya est’! (I Exist!)”, Moscow
- Regional Charitable Public Organization “Izumrudny Gorod (Emerald City)”, Moscow
- Society “Down Syndrome”, Samara
- Regional Public Organization “Krasnoyarsk Center for Curative Pedagogics”, Krasnoyarsk
- Nonprofit Partnership of Child Psychologists and Remedial Teachers “Sodeystvie (Assistance)”, Tula
- Regional Nonprofit Public Organization “Movement of Rural Women”, Valday
- Charitable Foundation “Zhiznenny Put’ (Life’s Path)”, Moscow
- Charitable Foundation “Dedmorozim”, Perm
- Charitable Educational Foundation “Marhamat”, Ufa
- Charitable Foundation “Children’s Palliative Care”, Moscow
- Regional Public Charitable Organization “Rostok (Sprout)”, Pskov
- Petersburg Charitable Public Organization for Assistance to Children and Adults with Disabilities “Odin, Dva, Vse (One, Two, All)”, St. Petersburg
- Tomsk Regional Charitable Public Organization “Spryatanny Mir (Hidden World)”, Tomsk
- Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “Irkutsk Center for Abilitation”, Irkutsk
- Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “Obychnoye Detstvo (Ordinary Childhood)”, Moscow
- Charitable Foundation for Support of People with Severe Developmental Disorders “Blizkie Drugie (Close Others)”, St. Petersburg
- Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “Luch Nadezhdy (Ray of Hope)”, Taganrog
- Charitable Foundation “Obraz Zhizni (Way of Life)”, Moscow
- Charitable Foundation “Prosto Lyudi (Just People)”, Moscow
- Charitable Foundation “Downside Up”, Moscow
- Center “Garmoniya (Harmony)”, Bryansk
- Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “Shkola Druzhby (School of Friendship)”, Vladivostok
- Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “Center for Assistance to Families of Children with Disabilities ‘Sodeystvie (Assistance)’”, Rostov-on-Don
- Sevastopol Regional Public Organization of Parents of Children with Disabilities “Osobye Deti (Special Children)”, Sevastopol
- Charitable Foundation “Ya Osobennyy (I Am Special)”, Yekaterinburg
- Regional Nonprofit Public Organization Research and Support Center ‘UMka’, Chkalovsk
- Dagestan Regional Public Organization “Zhizn bez Slez (Life Without Tears)”, Makhachkala
- Association of Specialists in Support of Curative Pedagogics and Social Therapy “Rafail”, Moscow
- Charitable Foundation for Assistance to People with Developmental Disorders “Kazhdyy Osobennyy (Everyone Is Special)”, Belgorod
- Autonomous Nonprofit Organization for Social Adaptation “Kvartal Lui (Louis Quarter)”, Penza
- Regional Public Organization for Assistance to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders “Kontakt (Contact)”, Moscow
- Regional Public Charitable Organization “Society of Parents of Children with Autism ‘Ya i Ty (You and I)’”, Pskov
- Yaroslavl Regional Public Organization “Litsom k Miru (Facing the World)”, Yaroslavl
- Association of Public Organizations of Parents of Children with Disabilities “GAOORDI”, St. Petersburg
- Charitable Foundation “Raul”, St. Petersburg
- Autonomous Nonprofit Organization for Assistance to Children with Severe and Multiple Developmental Disabilities “Vse Deti Mogut (All Children Can)”, Novorossiysk
- Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “Blagoye Delo (A Good Deed)”, Yekaterinburg
- Autonomous Nonprofit Organization of Continuing Professional Education “St. Petersburg Institute of Early Intervention (SPb IREI)”, St. Petersburg
- Association “Mir Obshcheniya (World of Communication)”, Moscow
- Nonprofit Regional Public Organization Family Center “LADA”, Nizhny Novgorod
- Autonomous Nonprofit Organization Center for Support ‘Osobennoye Detstvo (Special Childhood)’, Khabarovsk
- Charitable Foundation “Zvezda (Star)”, Kazan
- Charitable Foundation “Volunteers Helping Orphans”, Moscow
- Autonomous Nonprofit Organization Center “Prostranstvo Obshcheniya (Communication Space)”, Moscow
- Charitable Foundation “Iskusstvo Byt Ryadom (The Art of Being Near)”, Moscow
- Charitable Public Organization “Apelsin (Orange)”, St. Petersburg
- Kemerovo City Public Organization for Assistance to Children and Adults with Autism “Integratsiya (Integration)”, Kemerovo
- Association “Kraski Etogo Mira (Colors of This World)”, Moscow
- Center for Social Assistance to People with Disabilities, Families and Children “Preobrazhenie (Transformation)”, Davydovo, Yaroslavl Region
- Charitable Organization — Resource Center “Yaseneva Polyana”, Moscow
- Krasnodar Krai Charitable Public Organization “Otkrytaya Sreda (Open Environment)”, Krasnodar
- Interregional Public Organization “Integratsiya (Integration)”, Novosibirsk