Statistics of the Union of Visually Impaired People in Bulgaria says that it has a bit over 15,000 members with a vision loss in the 70 – 100 percent range. 2/3 of those are over 90 percent visually impaired. 5,600 of the union’s members are economically active, aged 18 – 64, but only 640 of them are currently employed, says Mr. Vassil Dolapchiev, chair of the union. These people work at the few left specialized enterprises in the system of the union, as well as at the national rehab centers – about 150 are employed there. 400 visually impaired people work on the free market as lawyers, judges, researchers, teachers at specialized schools for visually impaired children etc. To sum up – unemployment and low incomes are the main problems of this part of the Bulgarian society that is doomed to misery and isolation. Their pensions are too small and that is why each of those persons tries to find some job, no matter how low the payment is. Solitude is the main enemy of the rest, as they spend their life in between four walls. Of course, the younger generation is braver, the expert goes on to say.

“There is no doubt that some of these people show substantial energy, optimism and strive for success. I am really glad that there are young people, who manage to do it, to get the respect of their employers and to serve as an example. However, the percentage is too low. Yes, they are more adaptive, more creative and find it harder to fall in desperation – they have a bit better chances, with computers, foreign languages…”

There were 110 enterprises for visually impaired people before 1989 and the start of the transition process, with some 80,000 people employed there. The annual production of these enterprises was to the tune of EUR 75 mln., a major part of it for export purposes. Only 2,000 are working now with the remaining specialized enterprises, about 1,000 of them being with disabilities, statistics of the Agency for People with Disabilities shows. These enterprises cannot exist without a more serious support on the part of the state and the current one is not enough, the expert goes on to say. They are income tax-free, but the production is not enough and this makes it insignificant, in fact.

“The second thing is that social securities have been remised for those. However, the Salaries fund is low, because the number of employed is 15 – 20 to 50 and the remised tax amounts to EUR 400 – 500 per month, depending on the size of the company and its fund. One should bear in mind that most of these people work for the minimum wage and a large part of the employees are periodically sent to unpaid leave, so the Salary fund is too small to cumulate a more serious sum. The other relief, if I may call it so, is that the Agency of People with Disabilities runs a resource of some EUR 1 mln. annually, which is allocated to social projects. Those are to do with safety, devices for the purpose of implementation of these people’s labor, accessible environment etc. These are social and business projects for investment, which is to the tune of EUR 20,000 for the first ones and up to EUR 40,000 for the second, per company. This money is totally insufficient for the development of these enterprises. That is the support of the state…”

Several companies are still functioning in the system of the Union of Visually Impaired People, Vassil Dolapchiev says. One of them is in Sofia and produces filters for internal combustion engines, while over the recent years it has turned into almost the biggest producer of filters for ventilation and air conditioning systems. Visually impaired people are employed as installers there. A Pleven-based company produces jar caps for the canning industry and the union members are packers there. In Dryanovo and Varna those are employed as installers in the production of wiring devices. About a dozen visually impaired people can be found at a Shumen-based company, with facilities for veneering and printing on metal and this is the last of the union’s enterprises…

English version: Zhivko Stanchev