A high-profile incident in which Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova’s sister Oksana, who has autism and cerebral palsy, was told to leave a cafe for “scaring off clients” has elicited outrage on social media and high-level charges against the perpetrators. But people with disabilties and campaigners say the incident is far from isolated, and only illustrates widespread discrimination across the country.

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“In our country, disabled people are regularly not allowed into expensive establishments or on planes, and are refused all sorts of services,” said Yevgenia Voskoboinikova, a Russian journalist and wheelchair user. “If it wasn’t for Oksana [Vodianova] being the relative of a model known everywhere around the world, no one would have known of the incident.”

The episode took place at a cafe in the sisters’ native city of Nizhny Novgorod. Oksana Vodianova, 27, and her carer were asked to leave the premises of the Flamingo cafe for “scaring off their clients”, the supermodel recounted in a Facebook post published Wednesday.

“Go get treatment, and get your kid treated too – and only then show up in a public place,” the owner of the cafe allegedly told the carer, threatening to call a mental hospital and lock Oksana Vodianova in a basement.

“What happened to my sister Oksana ... is not an isolated case,” Vodianova wrote. “This is unfortunately the reality all families raising children with special needs experience. It’s difficult for me to talk about this, but I understand that this is an alarm bell for society that must be heard.”

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Tip of the iceberg

Vodianova, who set up the children’s charity Naked Heart Foundation in 2004, urged the readers “help people with special needs and their families be happy”. Her foundation has set up nearly 150 disabled-friendly playgrounds and more than 50 support centres around Russia for families raising children with special needs.

The post solicited outpourings of anger and solidarity, as well as debate about the wayspeople with disabilities and special needs are treated in Russia today.

“Nobody listens until the stars speak out on the topic. That’s probably normal. But we need to use the chance to bring about change,” Russian playwright Yevgeny Kazachkov wrote on his Facebook page.

The incident also elicited responses at an official level. Russia’s federal Investigative Committee has charged the owner with the public violation of human dignity with the threat of violence, a crime which carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail, with a spokesperson condemning the actions of the cafe as “outrageous”. Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko released a statement on the upper chamber of parliament’s website.

“We need to remember that laws and multiple projects, large and small, such as wheelchair ramps, use of special symbols and other measures helping [people] to use urban infrastructure is only a part of the effort required,” the statement said.

The readiness to communicate with those with special needs as equals is the main indicator of a society's moral health Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko

“We all need to understand that the psychological and moral readiness of society to accept people with special needs, and to communicate with them as with equals, without stereotypes, is the main indicator of the moral health of society and its development.”

Changing attitudes

Activists said that the stigma against people with disabilities could only be defeated with a culture shift. “The society should be aware that accessibility relates not only to technical issues, but also to the elimination of barriers in perception and communication,” said Dmitry Polikanov, president of the Coyedininiye support foundation for the deaf.

“One of the striking examples for me was the attitude in supermarkets, which prefer to isolate deaf and blind people and not let them in, rather than try to assist them with their shopping,” said Polikanov. “Shops are not equipped with Braille signs, and security personnel and shop assistants are not trained.”

Anna Mikhailenko, a coordinator of inclusive education programs at the ngo Perspektiva, said it was important to raise awareness about disability. “I was personally diagnosed with autism, so I am familiar with the situation,” she said. “Many problems derive from a lack of knowledge, not from the evil nature of some people.”

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Soviet legacy

Part of the problem, experts say, is a hangover from Soviet times when people with disabilities often lived segregated lives.

“Overall, the Soviet state’s policy toward people with disabilities was to hide them from view, often warehousing them in special boarding schools and nursing homes, and provide them with the minimum needed to exist – a small pension and a few services, but not much else,” Sarah Phillips, a professor at Indiana University said.

Phillips, a specialist in disability in the Soviet Union, said the situation has improved in recent years, with people with disabilities receiving improved living conditions, as well as educational and employment opportunities.

But cases of neglect and abuse are still widespread. A report published by Human Rights Watch in 2014 showed that 30% of children with disabilities in Russia live in state orphanages.

“Children described how orphanage staff beat them, used physical restraints to tie them to furniture, or gave them powerful sedatives in efforts to control behaviour that staff deemed undesirable,” the report reads.

Right direction

During the past few years, however, Russia has seen improvement in the lot of its disabled. Ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 (for which Vodianova was Paralympic ambassador), the International Paralympic Committee praised Russia for its efforts in creating a city-wide barrier-free environment.

Last March, the government introduced new housing rules making it obligatory for all new Russian real estate to have disability access.

Denise Roza, director of Perspektiva, said her organisation had taken to court two cases in which people with disabilities – one in a wheelchair and one who was blind – were not allowed on a plane unaccompanied. The organisation won both cases and subsequently, discrimination legislation was amended, she said.

Roza said she believes that incidents like that involving Vodianova happen often, but go unreported.

“It was a good thing, because it’s going to raise awareness,” she said. “It’s an alarm going off that there’s a lot of changes to be [made].”

A version of this article appeared on The Moscow Times