Kalevala x Disabled girls
Girls and women with disabilities are still invisible and marginalized in Finnish society
Silent, invisible, branded. Girls and women with disabilities are still invisible and marginalized in Finnish society.
The cooperation between Kalevala Jewelry and Rusetti promotes the visibility of disabled women and girls - by encouraging and strengthening faith in oneself, one's own abilities and possibilities.
Kalevala Koru has funded the digital vammaisettyttöt.fi website and media, which improves interaction, sharing experiences and a sense of belonging between girls and young people with disabilities. The project's website vammaisettytöt.fi is a platform where girls and women produce content for each other, meet, find their own strengths and be seen.
The vammaisettytöt.fi project is aimed at people identified as disabled girls or women aged 13–29.
The Vammaisettytöt.fi website is the first media from disabled girls for disabled girls in Finland. The goal of the cooperation between Kalevala Jewelry and Rusetti is to make disabled girls and women visible.
With the funding, camps are also organized for girls with disabilities. The purpose of the camps is to create encounters and discuss life openly, in the company of peers, and find opportunities for empowerment.
This peer-to-peer activity aims to reach girls and women with disabilities in Finland as widely as possible.
Check out disabled girls' own media www.vammaisettytot.fi
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The position of disabled girls and women in Finland is still weak.
What problems should be talked about more in Finland?
Three interesting social debaters answer the question in the Kalevala Journal article.
One of them is a young and talented top athlete, Ronja Hampf, a swimmer aiming for the Paralympics, who hopes that a person would always be seen as a person and not through a minority filter. "Whether you're disabled, gay, transgender, or whatever, in the end you're just human."
Read Ronja Hampf, Anni Täckmani and Sanni Purhonen's arresting speeches about minority rights in the Kalevala Journal article.
For people with disabilities, Finland is still not a model country of equality
"The discussion about disability in Finland is generally plagued by a strange lack of ambition and analytical ability. There is still a long way to go from being an object of care to a full-fledged citizen. As if disability is not a part of humanity, but more of a problem that is forcibly fixed with the same template for everyone. Once the minimum level of well-being has been reached, one should not hope for more. You shouldn't always say your wishes out loud".
This is how Sanni Purhonen, a journalist and spokesperson for the human rights organization Kynnys for the disabled, describes the situation of the disabled in an article he wrote.
Read the "From words to deeds" article in Kalevala Journal.
What is Rusetti?
Rusetti, the national association of disabled women, was founded in 2016 to encourage disabled girls, women and those who identify as women to take care of their own well-being, realize their dreams and become empowered.
In its social influence work, Rusetti brings out a female-specific perspective in terms of girls and women with disabilities and especially promotes the implementation of the UN Convention on Disability for women in Finland.
Get to know Ruset's operations.