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Ukraine’s karate kids strike blow at Down’s syndrome stereotypes

KIEV — Little Vova Tkachuk has difficulty speaking because of Down’s syndrome but still loves practising devastating elbow strikes on the gym floor.

A photo taken on February 26, 2016 in Kiev shows nine-year-old Artyom , affected by a Down syndrome, taking part in a karate training session with karate coach Nataliya Milko. In 2013 Nataliya Milko, founded the first group for children with Down syndrome as an experiment. Photo: AFP

A photo taken on February 26, 2016 in Kiev shows nine-year-old Artyom , affected by a Down syndrome, taking part in a karate training session with karate coach Nataliya Milko. In 2013 Nataliya Milko, founded the first group for children with Down syndrome as an experiment. Photo: AFP

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KIEV — Little Vova Tkachuk has difficulty speaking because of Down’s syndrome but still loves practising devastating elbow strikes on the gym floor.

The six-year-old boy has bravely overcome the inherent genetic disease and become one of Ukraine’s latest karate kids — a vibrant group of children challenging stereotypes that have held on for generations in the conservative ex-Soviet state.

“He still does not speak very well, but he gestures that he wants to go to karate,” Vova’s mother Maryna says, while helping him pull a white sports shirt over his head before he sets off to the exercise mat.

“Every morning he wakes up and knows that he has a workout in the evening and it makes him happy.”

Vova is getting psyched up for his third karate class in an average Kiev secondary school gym packed with tumbling and screaming children who are running around before their coach arrives.

The shy, ginger-haired boy looks excited and waves to the other children — who wave back and in a gesture that visibly moves his mother.

This is practically the only place in Ukraine where a boy like Vova can interact with kids who do not have mental and physical development problems caused by the addition of an extra chromosome at the time the child is conceived.

Parents like Madam Maryna believe that taking part in social activities with other children is essential for their kids’ healthy and happy growth.

Mixed groups like these have a murky legal status in Ukraine due to a bureaucratic system that has been in place since communist times.

Both parents and coaches need to procure a myriad of permits from various health and other oversight institutions before allowing Down’s kids to join sports groups.

This laborious and energy-sapping process takes so much time and effort that Down’s kids’ parents and the director of the Kiev school visited by AFP decided to ignore the rules and simply open the classes to the handicapped kids.

But it also asked that its location and last names of the instructors be kept private to avoid potential problems with the law.

BREAKING THE ISOLATION

Vova is one of six Down’s children in this particular karate group.

His coach Nataliya opened the first one in 2013 as an experiment to see if any social progress can be made.

The kids spent the first two years working out in separate sections while getting used to each other and comfortable with how each group behaves and performs.

Ms Nataliya liked what she saw and made the radical decision to create mixed groups in 2015.

“Children like these are isolated in Ukraine,” says the pioneering 48-year-old instructor.

“They know how to coexist with other people only through their parents or special schools, where they are surrounded by kids with the same syndrome,” Ms Nataliya says.

“But the other children are like their senior comrades, they are very helpful. These (special) kids have to learn to be together with everyone else.”

The success of her novel approach has exceeded even her own expectations.

Children with the syndrome made physical progress and developed a keen interest for sports.

Many have joined off-site trainings and perform in competitions almost at the same level with the other children.

Vova’s mother says she is not worried about her son’s performance in these mixed sessions but is always nervous about how the other parents might react.

“Unfortunately, very few people in our country know what this syndrome really is or understand that these children are very friendly”.

A CHILD ISN’T A TOY

Madam Lyudmyla Nazarenko says she had spent ages looking for a sports activity for 10-year-old Denys — another Down’s syndrome member of the school’s karate class.

“I have a hyperactive child. He lacked an outlet for all his energy when he was in the kindergarten,” Mdm Nazarenko says.

“I would have sent him to a sports class earlier, but there was none. And we are always ready to go wherever they take us”.

Coach Nataliya stresses that there are no problems with her classes except for the red tape standing in the way.

“Unfortunately, our legislation lags behind civil society,” she sighs.

A child must bring a stack of permits to join the group while the school prepares its own separate set of documentation.

Ukraine has special classes for handicapped children that bars them from attending mixed classes — even if the doctor says that the child is healthy enough to do sports.

“Ultimately, his parents and I are the ones who assume all the responsibility”, the coach says.

But Denys’ mother is certain that all this effort is worth the trouble.

She says her son has become much calmer and more thoughtful and attentive since joining the karate class.

“The point is not just to dress a child in the outfit, parade him before everyone and applaud”, coach Nataliya says.

“The child is not a toy”. AFP

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