Artem and Ludwig - experiment

Artem Abramov has no vision and hearing, but there is mother, Ludwig and love of life

Help your interlocutor help

In the early morning, a young man with a cane in his right hand and a leash in his left leaves the house. The large chocolate dog confidently leads him to the minibus: here, on Sorge Street in Cheboksary, the final circle, and from here Artem Abramov, along with Ludwig, rides to the other end of the city daily, to his favorite university. At the ChSU, Chuvash State University, Artem studies a lawyer.

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He is just different

“Artem was born for a very early period - 29 weeks. Weighed a kilogram of 740 grams. 20 years ago, medicine was probably not so successful ... Then we were told that 90% of premature children are future disabled people, ”says Lyubov Nikolaevna, Artem’s mother. - Now, it seems to me, everything is different. And then the son lay in the light, without any points, and vision was injured due to early birth. He was not completely blind - a small percentage of view was preserved. We constantly went to Moscow for treatment and examination. Doctors did not accept us at all until three years old - there was no children's oculist in Cheboksary, and in Moscow we were told that if he reaches such vision until 14 years old, then you can not be afraid further, it will be held. But in the transitional age, cataracts developed, vision completely fell. In 2009-2010, Artem made a total of eight operations. Nothing helped. "

“I think: how does he live all his life in the dark?! But he never complained "

Artem sees a little with one eye. He sees - this means - distinguishes light and darkness. This is all. Since childhood, he had to recognize this world by touch. And in the second grade, the boy also lost his hearing.

Artem and Ludwig in the park near the house on the outskirts of Cheboksar Photo: Lesi Polyakova for TD

“Artem grew calm and patient - I never shouted“ My toy, give ”or“ I want this. ” I don’t know, maybe because I have not seen ... ”says Lyubov Nikolaevna. “But I tried to make my son everything.” I probably wanted to compensate for the situation. How do they live at all - people who do not see? I think about it very often. And for me it is very difficult to emotionally. It happens that the light will go out suddenly - darkness comes - and I immediately remember Artem. And I think: how does he live all his life in the dark?! But he never complained. I was always afraid of his question "Why?" But they told me: “He will never ask you. He is different. "

It must be seen

Artem never talks about his ailment and does not blame anyone. Only once did the case occurred, remembered by Lyubov Nikolaevna for life. An invisible boy wanted to touch everything with his hands. Mom, protecting her son, delayed the baby from everything. And somehow Artem said: “Mom, well, I don’t see. I want to touch. I want to understand what is around. "

“I am surprised how, with all the difficulties, he grew up so cheerful? When he went to school excursions, he always shared his impressions with enthusiasm: “Mom is so beautiful there! It is necessary to see it! " As if he saw himself. He never said: "Mom, they told me that it is very beautiful there." He is very smart and wise sincerely. "

With study, Artem never had problems. And for classes at the university, he flies like on wings. “If he needs a lecture by 8.40 in the morning, he is preparing in the evening:“ Mom, I have to get up early tomorrow. ”I have never heard from him“ I don’t want to go to class ”. He is very responsible. "

Ludwig is a very calm dog, they teach not to react to other domestic animals on the street photo: Lesya Polyakova for TD

“I decided at school that I would enter a law facet. I was purposefully preparing for the exam. I like this profession, ”says Artem. - I study like everyone else. The difference, perhaps, is that I do not record lectures. Sometimes I write down the main points on the recorder. In some subjects there are lectures in electronic form, and I can read them using special screen access programs. What do I think about my career? I think that in the criminal sphere I can’t work, without vision it is impossible there. Maybe it will be a lawyer in the civilian sphere. In our city, of course, this is not easy. But the Co-Union Foundation works in this direction, in the field of employment, and I will also make efforts. I think everything should work out. ”

Experimental dog

For almost a year, Ludwig accompanies Artem for almost a year to study. The dog was professional training at the school of guide-guides in Balashikha, Moscow Region. In fact, it was an experiment: four -legged guards for the blind have been prepared here for a long time, but to prepare a dog for a blind man - this was a new task. And Ludwig became such an experimental dog. The Co-Union Foundation, which helps deaf-blind people, paid expensive training. “When I received the first group of disability, a guide dog was also inscribed in individual rehabilitation agents. In 2015, the Co-Union Foundation allocated a grant for training dog-guides, and in November 2015 I went to this school. Four dogs were already trained there. In January 2016, I already knew that Ludwig would be my dog. If I received a dog according to the state program, I would still stand in line, but the fund helped. ”

At lectures and seminars, the dog calmly lies at the feet of the owner

Returning from Moscow to Cheboksary in May 2016 with Ludwig, next week Artem began to take a dog to study. “There were no problems. With accessibility, too, they let me with the dog everywhere. ” Artem and Ludwig became the heroes of the university - classmates photographed them, stroked the dog, Ludwig bathed in the rays of fame, says Artem. Now everyone is used to it. When lectures and seminars are going on, the dog calmly lies at the feet of the owner. When the lesson ends, the dog in the usual way leads Artem to another audience - the route is learned by a nazum.

“With Ludwig, I feel confident one hundred percent. Without him, I already miss something in my left hand, ”Artem smiles. “When Ludwig appeared in our family, my life was greatly easier,” says Lyubov Nikolaevna. - Now I am calm for my son's safety. Previously, when I was at work, Artem was sitting at home, went out only with friends. Now he is mobile. Maybe go to the store, and study, and take a walk. Once he went without a dog, only with a cane - and immediately lost his orientation, climbed into a snowdrift. I looked at him from the window. I did not interfere because Artem is against it. " Somehow in the courtyard, when Lyubov Nikolaevna wanted to help her son once again, he remarked: “Mom, if you will see me and follow me all the time, I will never learn to walk on your own.”

Lyubov Nikolaevna, Artem's mother, and Artem, walk with Ludwig. Or together

The involuntary witness of the dialogue, neighbor, remarked: “This is Artem! This is a character! "
Ludwig's work is to be the eyes of Artem. “Without a dog, it was more difficult. Now I know - before the curb, he will stop me, the obstacle will go around, I rely completely on him, ”says Artem. - We work out all the teams with him daily. At first he did not know the city. The first time we trained to get to the stop with someone sighted. You go and repeat: "Stop, stop." At the destination, the dog finds for himself a landmark-a pillar or bench, for example, and so the route is fixed in its memory. And so on. Now Ludwig himself knows everything. There are routes-teams-“house”, “city”, “shop”, “stop”, “library”, “university”, he knows more than 10 routes. In principle, guide dogs can remember up to 40 routes. ”

Now Artem dreams of going, accompanied by Ludwig to rest. In general, every three years, a free ticket is laid for a person with disabilities, but Artem has not been given this for seven years.

The gadgets are outdated

Artem Abramov says that the problem of environmental accessibility and urban infrastructure for a person like him still exists, especially in the regions, in Cheboksary too. “It seems to be a lot to do for the disabled - but there are questions that you should work on. For example, tiflo -means of rehabilitation. They are given to disabled people, but they are either outdated or help them. I was given, for example, an electronic magnifying magnitude. Why is she a person who does not see at all? There are also Braylevo boards, but it is much more productive to use the portable Braylev organizer with a built-in line: it would be convenient to record lectures, and everything would be stored on the disk ... But we have given old flash players who cannot read information from electronic media. We don’t even have elementary sound or speech traffic lights everywhere - although there are already a lot of them in Moscow or St. Petersburg, ”Artem lists. - Or, for example, the Smart City system.

The problem of environmental availability for people like Artem still exists, especially in the regions

In St. Petersburg, she works at 90 percent. This is very convenient: a special device is given out to the person, and when public transport drives up, he hears the bus number, and if it is his bus, you just need to press the button in his pocket, the driver finds out that there is a blind passenger at the stop who wants to get into transport and wait for him. This is not in Moscow, because many use the metro. But in regions where only ground transport, it would be very in demand. After all, mostly blind people use buses and trolleybuses, and not minibuses-you won’t really get there with a guide dog. On our street I am one blind, all the drivers of minibuses already know me. Here we have a final stop, I sit in an empty minibus. But when Ludwig and I find ourselves in the city center, where we have to use several types of minibuses and buses, it’s already hard. ”

Let everyone find out

Last year, Artem and Ludwig became the heroes of one of the reports of the magazine for the deaf -blind “Your interlocutor”. “We really need such a publication,” explains Artem. - We get it by subscription. Think for yourself: sometimes there is simply no more to get information from a blind and deaf person. Ordinary media are not published with Braylevsky font. Radio and television are not available. And it is very important for us not to close in our world. “Your interlocutor” motivates us, talking about the fate of the same deaf -blind people, and enlightens - here you can draw important information in the social and legal sphere, which concerns our lives, our capabilities. ” “We even have a neighbor, although she has no disability, asks every new issue of the magazine,” says Lyubov Nikolaevna. - And cries, reading stories such as Artem, surprised at the power of the spirit of these people. Thanks to the “your interlocutor”, the deaf ground at least for a short while breaking out of their loneliness. From the darkness. "

The only place where Ludwig cannot be shown is a kitchen. He loves to enter the owner’s room at any time of the day photo: Lesya Polyakova for TD

“How did it all start? Suddenly, a completely crazy, fantastic idea came to my mind - to publish a magazine. I had neither publishing experience, nor modern technology (only ordinary and Braille writing machines), and most importantly - no finance! - says Natalya Kremenna, the editor -in -chief of your interlocutor magazine, also having a disability in vision and hearing. “But there were people who supported this idea,” Elena Volokh (a weakly visible, deaf talented poetess) and Nina Solovtsova (inauding the journalist), and there was also a great desire to help deaf -engraved people, unite them on the pages of the magazine, give them the opportunity to tell about themselves. ”

13 years have passed. The magazine has changed unrecognizably - it has become buried, it has become modern. The circulation has increased, geography has expanded, and with each number there are more and more new readers and authors. But this is still the only publication for the blind men in the country. And all these years, “your interlocutor” has been published only by supporting philanthropists.
Now the magazine is helping to survive the Support Fund “Co-Union” and the “Need help” fund. Even a hundred rubles of monthly donations will be invaluable support for the magazine. Artem, Lyubov Nikolaevna, their neighbor, as well as editor -in -chief Natalya Kremneva and subscribers throughout the country, will be grateful to you from the heart!