Ombudswoman Jana Dubovcová (source: TASR)
To have equal treatment means that all people are provided with the same means, according to Lýdia Šuchová, chair of the civic association Equity, one of the initiators of the new campaign launched on March 30. Titled “Všetci sme neNORMÁLni” (We are all abNORMAL), its main aim is to clarify the difference between the equal and the equitable treatment of people.
Equal treatment does not always take into consideration the specific conditions of people, be it social, physical, mental, intellectual, gender, age or ethnical.
“The equal treatment is fair only if people are in the same or comparable situation,” Šuchová said, as quoted by the SITA newswire.
Along with Equity, the campaign was authored by the office of Ombudswoman Jana Dubovcová and Fair Foundation of telecommunication operator O2.
“Sooner or later I also have to meet with this phenomenon as it is wide-spread, but I do not encounter it in ordinary life since my task is to check the state bodies,” Dubovcová said, as quoted by SITA, adding that this only worsens the situation as the state discriminates against some groups of people.
The biggest discrimination occurs in education, for example when assessing children’s abilities to go to ordinary schools, she added.
Part of the campaign is also the competition for pupils of primary, secondary and art schools, but also children from children’s homes and community centres. The aim is to make them talk about the normality in ordinary life.
The campaign’s authors also hope that it will start a discussion about equality and equity as we encounter them in our everyday lives, as reported by SITA.
