Portrait: It is normal to be different

ÉFOÉSZ is an organisation working for the rights of people with intellectual disabilities in Hungary. They made an album of pictures. These pictures show 10 people with intellectual disability doing everyday activities, like working, doing sports and others. This way, the album wants to show that intellectual disability is not a barrier for people t o live their lives as everybody else.

A new photography album containing positive pictures of persons with intellectual disabilities exercising everyday tasks is out! By sharing these moments, the album intends to show that intellectual disability is not a barrier for people to live like everyone else. “We all see the difficulties persons with intellectual disabilities face and we know their everyday lives. It is time that the whole society discovers what is common in all of us!”

To point out the human diversity is the aim of the new bilingual photography book prepared by the Hungarian association for the persons with intellectual disability ÉFOÉSZ. In its 120 pages, the album contains black and white pictures of 10 people with intellectual disability. They are portraits presenting moments of their everyday lives; when they are at work, they are in the library, they do sports, they go to concerts and so on.

In these terms, the album focuses on the similarities that the lives of people with and without disabilities have, instead of the differences intending to show a bright side of disability in total contrast with negative images and stereotypes existing in our society.

The album contains little text leaving plenty of room for the pictures to speak up on their own. It only contains introductory sentences and a short description of every picture explaining who the depicted person is, his/her job, age etc. Everything is in both English and Hungarian. Either seen as a tool for raising consciousness and changing attitudes towards people with intellectual disability or as a present for anyone who might be interested, this album is also a way to contribute to the work of Shelter Foundation’s group home in Érd, Hungary.

To order the album, you can contact ÉFOÉSZ.