Hürriyet, Turkey
Jan 17 2009

Challenging the world’s perspective

ISTANBUL – The legal system should work in favor of disabled people,
says Å?afak Pavey, the communications coordinator at the UN High
Commission for Refuges. ‘Not everyone ¤ıis as lucky as I
am’

It was more than 10 years ago when UN communications coordinator
Å?afak Pavey lost her left leg and arm, the result of a train
accident in Zurich.

Pavey sees herself as fortunate. "Not everyone is as lucky as I am
because I had the chance to have a prosthetic leg with an operation in
Germany," said the coordinator of public relations and strategic
communications in United Nations High Commission for Refugees, or
UNHCR.

The first few years after the incident she spent undergoing operations
due to one complication after another. "I had all my operations abroad
because in Turkey they do not have a basic prosthetic sector, except
in the military hospitals," she said. Since then she has used a
prosthetic leg and arm.

She attended the London School of Economics in a wheelchair. She said
she learned to live independently in London. "The system works
perfectly for disabled people in England," she said. "In Turkey we are
like sacks of potatoes. We need to help people but even disabled
people should learn to live alone."

Working for UNHCR during the last four years, she started as the
consultant for child rights and education from the Middle East to
North Africa. Then she was appointed as external relations officer in
Iran, which covers both the Afghan and Iraqi refugee situations and
repatriation programs. Pavey has also lived in Algeria and worked with
Sahrawi refugees for UNHCR while trying to change people’s point of
view toward the disabled.

A model for change
It’s not easy to lose a leg and arm, Pavey said smiling. She admits to
seeing herself both as more vulnerable and privileged than most
disabled people. That’s why, she said, she had to do something
significant. It took time for her to accept that problems can be
brought forth in a more influential way by those who live with
them. "This came to mind ten years after the incident," she said with
a laugh.

She was employed by a disabled member of staff and was inspired by
her. One of very few people with disabilities hired by UNHCR, Pavey
said after some lobbying by staff, UNHCR’s hiring her was encouraged
by the spirit of the new human rights convention that supports the
rights of people with disabilities. It was adopted by the UN General
Assembly in 2006.

"We aim to better the world and make it suitable for disabled people
to live. Each company should give job opportunities to disabled people
and the cities should be designed accordingly considering there are
many disabled people in the world," she said. New opportunities will
fall under important principles ranging from recruitment and
anti-discrimination to accessibility in buildings, protection and
assistance, Pavey added.

But it takes time for states to take action on the issue. After being
harassed in many countries she has visited and facing difficulties
both for being a disabled person and a woman, she was determined to
change the landscape. "The legal system should work in favor of
disabled people in the world."

Turkey needs new mindset Addressing the situation in Turkey, she said
disabled people need a new face and the public needs a new
understanding. "They should not lock themselves inside and
non-disabled people should start integrating." Turkey first needs to
change its mindset toward disabled people, she asserted.

"Disability is like throwing a stone in a lake and the waves keep
getting bigger. It affects the entire household of a disabled
person. Family members face the same attitude from society. People
look at you in another way,"she said.

"Everything is segregated. And the sad thing is that there is no
concrete action or initiative by the government. Whatever is done in
Turkey is done by private individuals."

She was invited to Turkey in 2003, the European Year for Disabled
People, to receive the Presidential Award for outstanding persons with
disabilities. But the route to the ceremony was troubled. When she got
off the plane she asked for a wheelchair but Turkish Airlines agents
informed her that she wasn’t disabled. When she explained that she was
on her way to receive an award for being a successful disabled
journalist, they explained that the government’s new definition of
‘disabled’ was limited to people who had lost two of the same
appendages. Pavey sued the airline and sought a report from a Turkish
doctor only to find that it too read that she, in fact, was not
disabled. She is full of sad stories but she tells them with a chuckle
rather than anger. Her motto is "whatever you experience is an example
to others.’

"That’s what I faced in my own country," Pavey said, adding that she
was also harassed by security officers at Bushehr Airport in south
western Iran. "One of my legs was taken. They took away my passport
and said they wouldn’t let me on the flight unless I took off my leg,"
she recalled, adding that she understood security measures but it was
nonetheless very difficult for her.

Her fight for people and their rights started when she was only
eight-years-old. She received awards for the stories she wrote on
world peace. As a teenager, she wrote for Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos
newspaper. The editor-in-chief Hrant Dink who was assassinated outside
his office two years ago was a mentor to her. The only Muslim Turk in
the newspaper, Pavey wrote a column about minority rights and social
rights. Now she is working with UN goodwill ambassadors Mick Jagger,
Ben Affleck and Angelina Jolie. Through her continued fight for the
rights of people, it is clear that Pavey sees her disability as a
source of strength, and an advantage rather than a disadvantage.