Alisa is five years old, but she doesn’t know it. She cannot say her age as her speech is limited to three words: mama, baba (for babushka or “grandmother” in Russian), and dai (“give” in Russian). Yet she smiles a lot, in a true tribute to her being a “sunny girl” as children with Down syndrome are often described.

She holds tight onto her baba’s hand as they walk into a bookstore in downtown Sukhum, Abkhazia’s main town. Next stop, the playground. Like any other child, Alisa loves playing, but, more often than not, other children keep her at a distance.

“It’s their parents. They don’t want Alisa to play with their kids,” the girl’s grandmother, Lyuba Vartagava, says regretfully. “They don’t know how to treat a child with Down syndrome. It is not so difficult, though. You should just not pay attention to it.”

Alisa is one of 26 children in Abkhazia with Down syndrome, a genetic condition that causes a mild to moderate intellectual disability and is associated with a distinctive facial appearance. These children account for a tiny percentage of the 568 disabled children under the age of 16 who are registered by the Ministry of Health. Unlike Alisa, they are rarely seen on Abkhazia’s playgrounds. Here, the stigma surrounding disabilities runs strong.