by Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- As the International Day of Persons with Disabilities will be marked on Saturday, thousands of disabled Greeks and their family members took to the streets of Athens and other cities across Greece on Friday to protest against the latest round of austerity cuts on their pensions and benefits.
"We claim our right to life in dignity," demonstrators in wheelchairs chanted in front of the parliament. "We fight for equality and justice. No decisions made for us without us," read banners raised by others.
"We declare our determination to keep fighting to reverse the adverse conditions under which we are living due to the painful and tough measures of prolonged austerity.... We will not pay for a crisis we did not create," read a press statement issued by the National Confederation of Disabled People of Greece (ESAMEA).
ESAMEA President Yannis Vardakastanis and protesters explained to Xinhua that in the past seven years of the debt crisis, the disabled in Greece, one of the most vulnerable groups of Greek society, have suffered several rounds of tax hikes and cuts on benefits and healthcare provisions.
"We are gathering at the centre of Athens to protest against the crisis, to protest against the impoverishment, the exclusion and the discrimination that the crisis has brought to persons with disabilities in Greece," Vardakastanis said.
"We are here to protest against the inability of our government, of our political system to take the necessary measures to protect the living conditions of persons with disabilities," he added.
Grigoris Moussos, the head of the Panhellenic Association of paraplegics, was also among the protesters.
"We receive on a daily basis several telephone calls of people complaining. We are talking about pensions of 500 euros (per month) which have shrunk to 420-430 euros. You can understand. How can one lives, especially when we have increased needs?" he asked.
Moussos is struggling to live on a 420 euro pension with the support of his wife. It is a Herculean task, he explained, giving Xinhua an example of the financial costs they need to deal with and the state's aid.
A special pillow his doctors have prescribed for his condition costs 600 euros and the state covers 245 euros.
Nikos Kakaidis is the father of a 31-year-old mentally handicapped man. He took part in Friday's rally to defend the rights of his son and other disabled who cannot speak for themselves, he told Xinhua.
He urged the government to provide more assistance to the disabled and their families, taking into account the extra burdens they need to shoulder.
"They need the support of the state in addition to our help... We are obliged to leave our jobs to focus exclusively on taking care of these children. But how can we make a living?" he asked. (1 euro= 1.06 U.S. dollars)
