Lyudmila Gortinskaya
Chelyabinsk
Chelyabinsk Regional Research Library
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IDEA Gives People with Disabilities Hope of Social Rehabilitation
Success
Lyudmila Gortinskaya who is raising an autistic child has completed Microsoft Unlimited Potential courses in Computer Fundamentals and Internet and World Wide Web Fundamentals at the IDEA Center in Chelyabinsk. Her new e-skills have already helped her and her son Vladislav regain self-confidence, find helpful information on physical and social rehabilitation, make new friends and overcome loneliness and isolation.
Overview
Strong, smart and educated, Lyudmila Gortinskaya realized that computer and Internet skills could be her and her son’s ticket out of isolation and loneliness. Her son Vladislav, who is now fourteen, never goes out alone, doesn’t know what it’s like to play soccer, and has no friends. He suffers from autism, one of the least understood disabilities, that has no effective and humane ways of rehabilitation, very few knowledgeable specialists, little affordable literature or treatment information. Often there seems to be no way out of debilitating despair and resignation, and only Vladislav’s mother can read in his eyes a silent longing to be like his peers, her heart burning with desire to reach out to him, make real contact, and help him hear and understand.
It was with great hope and inspiration that Lyudmila Gortinskaya attended IDEA training at the municipal public library. New Internet skills enabled her to find much useful information on her son’s disability, rehabilitation centers and specialists. She found support in virtual interaction with other parents whose children suffer from autism and slowly gained new hope for Vladislav’s improvement. Now she is trying to teach him computer skills that will enable him to use online social networks and expand his horizons through various web resources.
The IDEA Project, aimed at improving life quality of underserved and disadvantaged populations including people with disabilities, has helped Lyudmila Gortinskaya and her son Vladislav to regain optimism and self-confidence, find helpful information on physical and social rehabilitation, make new friends and overcome loneliness and isolation.
Lyudmila Gortinskaya would love to meet and exchange messages with any IDEA alumni who face a similar problem and/or have any contact with autism support networks.
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