Natasha sees 

Natalia Kavalevich  can not see anything from birth. She has cerebral palsy and a number of other diagnoses. Despite this, she graduated with honours from the History Department, and now she is studying to be a lawyer. As a member of a disabled group 1, Natalia receives a pension - 1.6 million rubles a month (almost 160 dollars). She is also paying back bank loans: for a netbook and for tutoring in English language.

Natasha lives and studies in Minsk, and her family, mother and brother are in Brest (354 km from the capital). Mom is already retired, but she works part-time to pay for Natasha's studies  ($ 1,800 per year). In Minsk Natasha lives in a university dorm, she shares  a double room and there are three more students in the block. Kitchen and bathroom are common, but almost all domestic problems Natasha learned to cope with by herself.

Now Natasha is a third-year student, she is preparing for exams. But the prospect to move to the fourth year is so far obscure - it all depends on if her mother, a pensioner, could pay a tuition fees for 18 million rubles per year.

Despite all the difficulties, Natasha is very open and cheerful girl. She wants to get married, live in her own house and get a good job. But in Belarus it is very difficult to get a job if you are disabled - many employers are afraid that such people can not cope with all the duties. But despite all those troubles, Natasha feels like she is an ordinary member of society, she even says sometimes ‘Oh, I SAW something or somebody’. 

"We should not try to associate disability with the need for help, but to give the disabled an opportunity to earn by themselves - says Natasha. - And we should start with the integration of children with disabilities. They are the same as everyone else. Just in order to achieve something, they need to put a bit more effort". 

Nastasia Khrolovich (Belarus, 1993) is a young documentary photographer based in Minsk, Belarus. She has been working as a photographer since 2011. After covering various events for Belarusian web-sites and newspapers, Nastasia has focused on social issues and multimedia production. Now she is also working for a weekly newspaper "Nasha Niva". 

EDUCATION 

2013

Workshop of Stanley Greene (NOOR), Vilnius

Workshop of Pieter Ten Hoopen (VU Agency), Moscow

A half-year course conducted by Andrei Polikanov, Yuri Kozyrev (Noor) and Tatiana Plotnikova (Russkiy Reporter) 

2010 – 2016 Institute of Journalism, Belorussian State University.

Specialization: print media. 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS 

2014 "Process", an exhibition of young Belarusian photographers in CEH, Minsk, Belarus.