Veteran of the 24th "Aidar" battalion Stanislav Dekhtyar with the call sign "Vinegar" in an interview with Online.UA noted that Ukrainians have not yet realized the scale of the problem in our society, which is related to war veterans.
Points of attention
- Civilians often do not understand how veterans and people with disabilities should be treated.
- It is not necessary to impose your help on veterans, if they themselves did not ask for it.
- Stanislav Dekhtyar urges Ukrainians to use an inclusive dictionary if they have difficulties using certain terms and concepts.
A culture of treating veterans has not yet been formed in Ukraine
According to the defender, he is quite often annoyed by people's behavior that goes beyond what is allowed.
For example, these are cases when others try to impose their "help", ignoring the veteran's words that he does not need it at the moment.
And people on the streets can just come up and start talking to you. And you don't want to communicate with them. Why should I tell random passers-by about my life? If I need help, I will, of course, ask someone: bring me coffee, hold the door for me, lend a tentative hand, or something else. Because Lviv is actually not a very inclusive city: cobblestones, curbs, slippery cobblestones. But if I need help, I will ask for it myself, I will tell about it myself. If I say "no", it means "no".
Stanislav "Vinegar" Dekhtyar
Veteran of the 24th "Aidar" battalion
According to Dekhtyar, children always react best, because they are very sincere in their feelings and emotions and never hide them. If children are really interested, they approach and ask.
In addition, the veteran notes that an interesting tradition has already formed between soldiers with amputations: even if they see each other for the first time in their lives, they still greet each other.
How humor helps to communicate with tactless people
When we were in Galicia in the rehabilitation center, we sat on the street with the boys, drank coffee, smoked. At the same time, the ambulance arrived — the boys were simply transported from hospitals to us for rehabilitation. We always asked the drivers when they would start bringing normal ones — whole. She's a bit of a bitch, but it's normal, — Dekhtyar jokingly notes.
Since there are a lot of tactless people in Ukraine, quite often you have to answer them with humor.
The veteran realizes that it is not disrespectful — civilians simply do not realize the magnitude of the problem that is connected to veterans in our society.
I used to have a cool excuse: I always said that I cut my nails and went crazy. It works great with people.
Stanislav reminds Ukrainians that there is an inclusive dictionary that will eventually help to understand how to correctly call people: a person with a disability, or a person with limited opportunities, or a person who is inclusive.
But inclusiveness is the conditions that are created, not the human condition. And nobody has this conversation with people, people don't know how to react.
Stanislav "Vinegar" Dekhtyar
Veteran of the 24th "Aidar" battalion
