Stanislaw Duszynski

This profile is dedicated to the memory of late Stanislaw Duszynski. It was prepared when Stanislaw was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2002. Stanislaw Duszynski is empowering people with disabilities to become independent and self-sufficient members of society. He creates opportunities in which the disabled stand on equal footing with the fully able in terms of developing their professional careers and social and family lives.

Stanislaw is applying a new approach to integrate disabled people into mainstream life. His approach–which he calls "polyvalent"– combines different types of physical and emotional rehabilitation that lead to disabled people gaining independence and self-sufficiency.
Stanislaw's work enables disabled people to experience realities and challenges that people without disabilities confront on a regular basis. He has created a unique "natural rehabilitation" approach that focuses on the parts of disabled persons that are damaged either by sickness or by injury. This approach integrates physical and mental functions, allowing disabled people to enjoy life as "do-able-bodied" people. Through participation in everything from highly sophisticated classical music concerts to extreme sports like rock-climbing, Stanislaw enhances the ability and confidence of the disabled to be self-sufficient in all aspects of life. His organization not only helps the disabled regain physical strength, mobility, and psychological balance, but also supports and mobilizes them to pursue degrees, education, and employment.
Stanislaw is changing people's attitudes toward physically and mentally disabled persons by proving to fully able people that disabled persons are members of society equal to them and should be regarded as such in every moment of their lives. To spread and reach the public at large, Stanislaw has designed a comprehensive model that can be replicated in other communities–nationally and internationally–where the disabled need assistance in developing their full potential.

In Poland, 14 percent of the population are mentally or physically disabled. At least another 10 percent are indirectly involved with the disabled. Under communism, people with disabilities were treated as invisible or were actively ostracized from society. Today, because of architectural barriers, disabled people have virtually no access to many facilities and they are restricted from attending events and traveling. They often feel they are a burden to other people, and are simply not courageous enough or too shy to demand that their needs be taken into consideration.

The disabled are confronted with many negative stereotypes because fully able people have trouble accepting them in society and integrating them into their activities. Physically disabled people are, for example, often perceived as mentally retarded or incapable of participating in social or professional life.

The majority of rehabilitation programs focus on helping the disabled gain physical strength; these programs often overlook the psychological challenges involved. In order for physical rehabilitation to be effective, it must be complemented by psychological rehabilitation.

Stanislaw focuses on providing disabled people with learning situations and experiences that will leverage their independence. He defines his approach as polyvalent because it combines activities engaging the physical and mental abilities of disabled persons.

First, he provides opportunities whereby the disabled can participate in and enjoy all the aspects of life that fully able people participate in and enjoy. Second, he builds physical strength in the disabled through a unique rehabilitation program called natural rehabilitation that combines cultural aspects and education with physical training using horses and rock-climbing.

In 1989 Stanislaw started organizing summer camps for disabled people that involved kayaking on lakes, traveling through forests, and visiting some of the most spectacular areas in Poland. Stanislaw mobilized doctors and specialists of different professions to help him plan the trips in terms of security and health protection. The summer camps gave the disabled many aesthetic and educational opportunities. The participants quickly gained both self-confidence and physical strength. He now organizes six to nine camps annually for children, with 50 to 90 participants each.

In 1992 he established the Foundation Ducha for Natural Rehabilitation of Disabled People and introduced therapy using horses as a rehabilitation program for kids with cerebral palsy, blindness, half-paralysis, and mental retardation. With support from doctors and professional rock-climbers, Stanislaw designed a unique natural rehabilitation method of climbing. At present, this method is successfully used at all the camps that he organizes at the lakeside, in the mountains, and at the foundation, where he constructed a climbing wall. During the 12 years of the foundation's operation, Stanislaw took people in their wheelchairs higher than 2,000 meters above sea level and introduced 10 disabled people to the prestigious High Mountain Club.

To address stereotypes about the disabled and to change the attitude of the fully able toward the disabled, Stanislaw exposes the disabled to cultural events and sport activities that fully able people normally experience. He invites representatives of different professions to introduce disabled people to science, history, and art. Additionally, in his polyvalent approach the disabled become readers during religious masses.

Convinced of the benefits of his program, Stanislaw creatively mobilizes local and national authorities to support his work. With a program that he developed several years ago with the city council, Stanislaw assured stable and continuous funding for part of his activities. To carry out all the programs, Stanislaw cooperates with a number of volunteers who work as therapists and psychologists.

He is spreading his new approach and sharing his experiences by educating medical personnel and helping set policies with governmental officials dealing with social services. Stanislaw gives many lectures and presentations about his therapeutic methods, inviting domestic and international volunteers to learn at the rehabilitation camps. He has organized a traveling exhibition that presents his methods and the results of his work. Stanislaw is expanding his program to other countries and recently invited volunteers from Ukraine to be trained by his organization to implement similar approaches in their organizations back home.

For years Stanislaw has been a passionate teacher and educator who focused on his students' intellectual, social, and emotional needs. In the early 1980s, he developed a modern model for infant daycare. He noticed that babies are under a lot of stress in existing daycare centers, and that the condition weakened their health and caused frequent sickness. He saw that the atmosphere and design of the centers was foreign and unnatural in comparison to their homes. He redesigned them to be more homelike. Stanislaw convinced local government of the effectiveness of this idea, and six new nurseries were created based on his plan, which was then replicated in three other cities. His program was recognized with several prestigious awards, including Best Nonprofit Organization in Poland by the Soros Foundation.

In 1989 the sudden death of a paralyzed friend inspired Stanislaw to organize activities for disabled people. He started with 10 people with severe disabilities. At that time Stanislaw had no knowledge or experience in dealing with the mentally or physically disabled. He realized that it is not only depression that holds back proper rehabilitation, but also–perhaps mainly–lack of confidence that prevents the disabled from actively participating in regular social life. He wanted to make people independent and self-sufficient and to enable them to live the way fully able people live, with access to facilities, events, family life, and career opportunities. He observed that this can only be achieved when people become aware of their strengths, become more confident of themselves, and are provided with equal learning opportunities. Stanislaw is cooperating with Ashoka Fellow Krzysztof Liszcz who is working with children with cerebral palsy.