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WELCOME TO VERONIKA ON THE MOVE

Make a true impact

Welcome to our campaign website. Veronika needs your help! Veronika, young professional in European law, just got a job as an ombudsman in Czech Republic. But Veronika is disabled, she needs carers. She might be obliged to refuse the job because she can't afford them alone. Let's help Veronika get her dream job. Every contribution brings her closer to reaching her goal and truly making an impact. Keep reading to learn more and click here to help her!

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ABOUT ME

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Veronika Vítková and I suffer from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, type II. Spinal muscular atrophy is a disease of the neurons, which are responsible for guiding the movement of muscles throughout the body. My type of disability is therefore leads to the almost complete inability to move. I am not able to walk, so I only use a mobile electric wheelchair. My disease also affects my upper extremities where my mobility is also very limited. It is currently incurable. I hate having to introduce myself through my disability, I have so much more to say and offer (such as I graduated as a lawyer and have experience in an international environment, in particular, the European Parliament in Brussels.

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Since the fall of communism in 1989, the Czech Republic – and Prague in particular – has evolved into one of Europe’s most popular travel destinations. Because of the way the government system currently works (Or more to the point, doesn't work) for people with more complex disabilities, in need of 24 hour care, I dream a lot about travelling away from here and seeing what the rest of the world has to offer.

I live in Postřelmov, a village in Šumperk District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has a population of 3,276. Postřelmov is approximately 43 km away from Olomouc, where I went to university and 180 km away from Prague.

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I've travelled to Paris in France, I've worked in the European Parliament in Brussels, I've studied for my PhD. in Liverpool. Each time I go home I feel confined, not only to my country, or my small village, but usually to my parents house.

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The benefits I receive from the Czech government is enough to pay for about 5 days care a month. Really it's not even a good amount of time for respite for my parents. When I can afford the care I usually visit Olomouc and sometimes save up a couple of months benefit to stay the night there as well. I love my parents dearly, but it is as hard for them as it is for me, to spend every waking hour with them. Of course due to having to be turned during the night as well (between 2 and 6 times), it's not only every waking hour but all night as well. When I was small I dreamt of having my own room in the house to sleep, at the age of 30 I still share the same room with my parents.

We have an overhead hoist that helps a lot, but there is still a lot of manual lifting that needs to be done, usually by my mum (67yrs). My dad (73yrs) sometimes can't manage it. There were a few occasions before the hoist where I have been dropped on the floor by accident.

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When I've travelled, particularly to the UK, I've been amazed at the things that have been put in place, to make the life of people with disabilities more comfortable. At the same time, one of my UK carers, Tony, assures me that things could be improved and that I'm STILL not in the best situation I could be. He has 13 years experience in the care industry and I have to take his word for it. Of course he means if I was from the UK also, if I lived there and was able to benefit from their Occupational Health teams and other NHS funded programmes. He was thoroughly annoyed by the lack of support for people with 24 hour needs and accessibility whilst working with me in Brussels. As I believe so were a few of my fellow trainees when they had to walk down the middle of main busy roads with me, because we couldn't get my wheelchair back onto the pavement. However I was just glad of the chance and experience.

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