Report: People don't want disabled neighbors

A recent survey jointly conducted by the Sabanci Foundation, the Association of Visually Impaired People (GÖZDER) and the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Turkey (KASDER) shows that 70 percent of Turks surveyed do not want to have a disabled neighbor and 57.3 percent believe disabled children should be educated in separate schools, media outlets reported on Tuesday.

As part of a project funded by the Sabanci Foundation that aims to fight discrimination against people with disabilities, the survey took place in nine provinces across the country to get a better representation of the population's views on problems faced by the disabled. To conduct the "Perception and Discrimination Survey,” in-depth interviews were conducted with 241 disabled and 178 fully abled people.

According to the results of the survey, 57.3 percent of those surveyed endorse the idea of establishing separate buildings for disabled children, news website ntvmsnbc.com reported. The survey indicates that 67.5 percent of those surveyed are uneasy with building special facilities for the disabled.

Although a large proportion of the respondents support the integration of the disabled into society, 70.3 percent of interviewees don't want to have a physically disabled neighbor.

According to the survey, 98.9 percent of those surveyed think that the disabled should work and 80.4 percent support the idea that they should be able to work from home. (...)