First, some background: My home country, Cyprus, is in the Mediterranean sea, south of Turkey. The southern two-thirds of the island is referred to as the Greek side, with a population of about 1,142,000. The northern third is referred to as the Turkish side (where I am from), with a population of about 302,000. Though Cyprus gained independence from the British Empire in 1960, an attempt by the Greek majority in 1974 to take governmental control of the whole island was met with Turkish military resistance. That’s when the de facto division occurred. In 1993, the northern third declared itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus but the government is recognized only by Turkey. There is still some hostility and little association between residents of the two sides.
People with disabilities have some legal rights. Both sides provide disability pensions for those who can’t work. All new public buildings and tourist facilities are supposed to be accessible and qualified people with disabilities are supposed to have hiring preference for public sector jobs. But, enforcement is very weak.
A photo of Serdar, taken by me during my last visit to Cyprus.
When it comes to people with serious mental disabilities, it is known that their needs are not met in the community. Since in Cyprus families have a strong bond, most people are being taken care of by families and these families have a burden. They need support, they need information, and they need benefits. We have a family friend (55-year-old lady), and her 31-year-old psychotic son, Serdar, is still living with her. We know that she doesn’t even have the support of her neighbors. They think her son is lazy and he doesn’t want to work. People are ignorant because it is an invisible disability. It’s also not easy for families to accept, and they want to keep it quiet.
Nobody is talking to people with these disabilities. We need to find a voice for them, and we want to raise awareness in the public also.
Thank you for this post, advocating for people with invisible disabilities is indeed an extremely important issue. Is there a stigma surrounding mental health and intellectual disabilities in Cyprus like is often seen in the US? It seems that progress needs to start with acceptance at the family level in order for a societal change to occur, but it is so hard to make a personal change in the face of societal pressures. Always seems like there is the chicken and egg problem… Overall nice post, thank you.