M. N. Adamov Memorial Fund  home| biography| activity| donate| photos| links| about

Our Purpose: To facilitate support for blind students and professionals in Russia in the spirit of Professor M. N. Adamov of St. Petersburg (1920-2005)   We are the only international assistance for blind students and their teachers in Russia. We are now in our 7th year of operation We have directly helped more than 900 blind and visually impaired people in cities across Russia: St. Petersburg (our home base), Volokolamsk, Essentuki, Pskov, Novosibirsk, Yaroslavl, Moscow, and Ulan Ude. We put folding white canes, digital voice recorders, used computers (65 so far), talking watches, Braille books, musical instruments, and educational materials directly into the hands of blind people. Everything is hand-carried and personally delivered. Nothing has been lost or stolen. We pay for Internet connection. We put people in touch with each other. 1600 people who are blind or have low vision are registered at the Novosibirsk Special Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired. 13,000 are registered at the St. Petersburg Library for the Blind.

Blind students of Novosibirsk State University/Siberia, with canes and voice recorders we gave them   "I'm Julia. I finished Novosibirsk State University two years ago. I'm a clinical psychologist. I work in the special library for the blind. Also I work as a telephone consultant for children and their parents. I began to use a white cane about five years ago. Before it was difficult for me to go somewhere. I had to ask my friends to accompany me. After I learnt to use a cane a new world opened for me. Now I use my cane every day. I can go to work, to the shops, to visit my friends and even walk by myself. But the roads in our country are in a very bad condition that's why canes often break. Sometimes people can break your cane and don't even stop to help. That's why it's necessary to have several canes. I thank Harris and Svetlana for the cane. It's a very necessary and useful present."

"When we get a white cane from you it's like receiving a pair of eyes"--Denis, St. Petersburg, April 19, 2011

--a folding white graphite cane costs us $34.00

--a reconditioned Olympus digital voice recorder costs us $35.00

We need your help:

51 Craigie Street/Somerville MA 02143 USA

617-629-0048

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Gratitude letter to the Sussman fund on occasion of giving free canes to the visually impaired people in Novosibirsk

I am an orientation and mobility specialist, living and working at Novosibirsk, Russia. My job is to teach people with visual impairments how to use a cane to move around and so I do know how inaccessible canes are for the visually impaired travelers in Russia. That is why I do thank the Sussman fond for donating canes to visually impaired people in Novosibirsk. These canes made independent travel possible for two of my present clients and for a few people who received orientation and mobility training before. One of my present clients is a lady with low vision who didn’t have a cane at all. Another one is an elderly blind lady who did have a 105 cm cane which was too short for her and had no hope to get a longer one. Both of them had just got the orientation and mobility training and were ready and willing to use a cane but they did not have a cane and had no opportunity to get one. It seemed to be such a problem they couldn’t get a cane to use after the training. Now they are able to move independently thanks to the canes given by the Sussman fund. These canes have really made a difference in the lives of the ladies allowing them to go to the places they want using the skills of the cane travel that they have.

I let myself to explain why canes are so inaccessible for the people with visual impairments in Russia and they treasure so much any opportunity to get a cane. Although a blind person is to receive a cane for free from the Federal Social Insurance Fund, all the canes given by the Fund are the equal lengths. The length of the cane is very important for the safety of travel and is unique for every single person. Besides, the length of the given canes is less than 120 cm which is too short for the most of people, so even in case such a cane is given it is often useless.  The people with low vision are not supposed to have a cane at all.

Many people with visual impairments are ready to buy a cane for themselves but there is no place where it is possible to buy a cane except if a person lives in Moscow or Saint-Petersburg. For instance, if you live in Novosibirsk you won’t find any canes in the city and so you will have to buy them in the capitals.

The canes that there are in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg special shops are expensive. They usually are imported from Canada and Chechen and so they cost more than the same canes in the Canada or US. A person that lives somewhere not in Moscow has to pay for the delivery as well (which is expensive too). The prices matter because the incomes of the people with visual impairments in Russia are usually not very high (it’s difficult to get a job if a person has visual impairment and disability benefit paid by the government is really low).

So the visually impaired people who received canes in Novosibirsk are really grateful to the givers, i.e. the Sussman fund. As an O&M specialist I am really appreciate the Sussman’s fund’s efforts on improving the quality of life of the people with visual impairments in Russia. Your contributions change life of the visually impaired people.

July 15, 2011

Ekaterina, an orientation and mobility specialist, Novosibirsk, Russia

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Hello, dear Harris and Svetlana!

I greet you with feelings of deep gratitude and sincere appreciation. I am a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, family therapy adviser. Thank you very much for the help you provide for blind people in Russia and for me personally. I lost my sight completely several years ago, but I still live an active life. By helping people who are in a difficult situation you fulfill in practice the moral task of every person to make our world more humane.

My active life style means that I have to move quickly and frequently on my own like any sighted person, which is especially difficult when you live in a big and crowded city. But it is possible only with the help of an exceptional cane. And that was the big problem, that is, that there were no such canes. Canes made in Russia and in other countries, which were available in our stores, were not so good, to put it mildly. They either got bent, deformed or broken by various obstacles or they were broken by careless people who accidentally stepped over them. In this case you had to pass the strenuous test of continuing your journey without a cane. So without exaggeration you can say as “life in the theatre starts in the dressing room, so the life of a blind man starts with a cane." So I was greatly impressed by your gift in the form of a great cane. It is indeed a very well-built and ergonomic cane, but, most importantly, it is very strong, yet resilient. It can survive intensive use and is durable against damage.  It many times protected me from falling and direct impacts with different objects which you often encounter on your way, when you move quickly like me, such as automobiles, posts, signs placed directly in the sidewalk. Sometimes other people stepped on the cane or it was struck by the heavy doors in the subway, and then I thought that's it, it's broken, but to my surprise and delight it would stay whole and unscathed.  To tell the truth, during the 6 months of intensive use in the big city it got some scratches, as reminders of the indifferent attitude of other people toward a man who walks on the street with a white cane.

Dear Harris and Svetlana! I thank you so much with all my heart for your attention and concern thanks to which I followed the biblical metaphor that the path is made by walking--but I would add, only with the help of your cane. 

With best regards,